CITY COUNCIL MASS HEALTH MOVEMENT (Instructions to principals and staff of schools)

Mr Lee Kuan Yew asked the Minister for Education whether he gave instructions to the principals and staff of schools in connection with the City Council's mass health movement; and whether he will make a statement in connection with those instructions.

Mr Chew Swee Kee: Mr Speaker, Sir, on 4th July, 1958, the Mayor wrote direct to the school principals asking from one to twenty representatives to attend a meeting at the Victoria Memorial Hall on 7th July, 1958. He did this before any permission was granted to him by me. As the anti-spitting campaign has been conducted in all schools for some years now, it is nothing new and in view of the improper procedure adopted by the Mayor, I gave instructions to the principals not to send representatives to the scheduled meeting. Any campaign in the school should be conducted by my Ministry through the principals who are individually responsible for the administration of their own schools.

Mr Lee Kuan Yew: Does it follow that the Minister is not in principle against the mass health movement, but that he has taken offence because he has not been first consulted before the schools were approached?

Mr Chew Swee Kee: In principle, I am not against the mass health movement nor against the anti-spitting campaign.

Mr Lee Kuan Yew: In that case, does he see any objection to students writing essays in a competition to show why spitting is a bad and pernicious habit?

Mr Chew Swee Kee: It does not form part of the question.

Mr Lee Kuan Yew: May I put it more bluntly to the not very alert Minister? Does he find any objection to school children writing essays on spitting, if he in fact opposes spitting?

Mr Speaker: The Minister has answered that it does not form part of the question. It is another question.