DIFFICULTIES IN ATTENDING SCHOOL

Mr Goh Tong Liang asked the Minister for Education to state the number of children of both sexes who now cannot go to school at all on account of the difficulties of transport and of expense involved in having to go to schools far away from their homes.

Mr Chew Swee Kee: Sir, I am sorry I cannot give the Member for Bukit Panjang an accurate answer to this question. However, children who could not be accommodated in schools in the densely populated urban districts were directed to suburban schools, and it is known that some 1,600 places which were there made available have not been taken up. There are several reasons for this. First, the distance is too great for the very young children concerned. Second, the parents could not afford the cost of transport. Third, they had applied for places in other schools aided or private which they had subsequently accepted, without informing the Government or the Ministry. And, fourth, they had already been posted to schools nearer their homes.