1956-1957 SCHOOL DEVELOPMENT PLANS

Mr Lim Cher Kheng asked the Minister for Education whether he will give details of the 1956-1957 development plan for English schools and Vernacular schools; and whether he has any plan for building a Malay secondary school in the Siglap-Bedok area.

Mr Chew Swee Kee: Mr Speaker, Sir, in general the primary school programme provides for the building of 18 schools a year. The present standard type schools have 15 class-rooms. The new schools will have 18 class-rooms. In addition, a number of smaller schools will be built in the rural areas. Some of the new schools will be vernacular schools if the demand is sufficient and if competent teachers are available. Where the demand does not justify the use of a full school, the Government proposes, as an experiment, to introduce Chinese or Malay stream into some schools where the medium of instruction is English.

In addition to the two secondary technical schools which have been completed this year, work has just started on two academic secondary schools of which one is to be a Malay school. This will be at Dunman Road in Katong and not in the Siglap-Bedok area. Provision is being sought in the 1957 Estimates for the building of six more secondary schools of which the present intention is that two should be Chinese schools and one a technical school.