LEMBAGA GERAKAN PELAJARAN DEWASA BILL

Order for Second Reading read.

4.28 p.m.

The Minister for Education (Mr Yong Nyuk Lin): Mr Speaker, Sir, I beg to move, "That the Bill be now read a Second time."

Sir, every country in Asia and Africa, which has recently obtained self-government, finds itself confronted with the twofold problem of finding the wherewithal to provide a formal education for its children and to eliminate illiteracy amongst the majority of its adult population. During the budget session of this Assembly, I outlined the Government's plans to deal with the first half of the problem. The Bill before the Assembly is designed to establish the machinery by which the Government hopes to implement its policies to tackle the second half of the problem.

For the past few years, the running of adult education classes has been largely the work of the Singapore Council for Adult Education, a body established in 1950, which received exemption from registration under the Societies Ordinance. The Council received an annual grant from the Government, which in recent years amounted to $500,000. Its work has been satisfactory in a limited way. But as I told the Annual Conference of the Singapore Council for Adult Education held last December, private and voluntary agencies, which in the past had catered to the needs of education, health and social services of all kinds, have today given way to much wider and more extensive state enterprise in these fields, not only in Singapore, but all over the world. Clearly, state enterprise in these fields is essential if the benefits of civilisation and of knowledge are to reach the greatest number of people in the shortest possible time. The time has now come in Singapore for the State to assume full responsibility for adult education. This must be regarded as an inevitable development, if adult education in our society is to attain yet greater heights. A country engaged in the task of nation building must rally all forces which can assist in this work under one banner, so that there can be proper direction of policies and utilisation of limited resources of finance and manpower.

The Bill before the Assembly is designed to set up a corporate body on which there will be strong Government representation and which will work closely with the Ministry of Education.

Clause 3 of this Bill is designed to establish the Lembaga Gerakan Pelajaran Dewasa, which will be a corporate body to promote adult education in Singapore. This Board will take over the functions, assets and property of the Singapore Council for Adult Education. Clause 4 of this Bill is designed to effect this. Discussions have taken place with the Singapore Council for Adult Education, and the Council passed the following resolution at its 38th Meeting held on 23rd December 1959:

The Singapore Council for Adult Education resolves to dissolve itself on 1st March 1960, and hand over its assets to the new Statutory Board for Adult Education to be appointed in 1960. In the event of the Board not being appointed by the said date, the Council shall hand over its assets to the Ministry of Education to be held in trust by them for purposes of adult education.

One property, which will pass to the new Board, will be the building known as the Cultural Centre at Fort Canning. This Centre, which has been used by the Council as its headquarters was built on State land with financial assistance from the Colonial Development and Welfare Fund. When transferred, the Centre will become the focal point for use in connection with adult education and for the promotion of cultural activities in Singapore.

Clause 5 of the Bill sets out the constitution of the Board, which will consist of eleven members. The Chairman and Deputy Chairman are to be appointed directly by the Minister for Education, together with one other member, while three members are to be appointed on the nominations of the Minister for Culture, the Minister for Labour and Law, and the Minister for Finance. Another two members are to be appointed by the Minister for Education on the nominations of the Trades Union Congress in Singapore, and there will be three members from the tutorial staff of the Teachers' Training College, the University of Malaya and the Nanyang University respectively. The Board will therefore have strong Government representation as well as a leavening of professional opinion from the higher seats of learning; while Trades Union Congress representation will ensure that the education of workers will not be overlooked.

Clause 7 sets out the powers of the Board, the most important of which are to receive fees from students and contributions from Government and other sources as well as to raise funds by lawful means. The Board is also empowered to administer these funds and to acquire and sell movable and immovable property with the approval of the Minister for Education. It is not intended that the Board should engage in any political or religious activities, but the Board will not be precluded from organising classes, talks and debates pertaining to politics or religion if this is considered desirable in the public interest. Clause 11 is to ensure this.

The Bill will not involve the expenditure of additional public money, there being provision in the 1960 Estimates for half a million dollars for the promotion of adult education. It is pertinent to mention here that in the 1959 grant of half a million dollars, the Singapore Council for Adult Education were conducting 549 classes with a student enrolment of 15,947. With the absorption of these classes by Government this year, the total number of adult classes now conducted by Government is 1,088 with a student population of nearly 37,000. In other words, Government is already doing twice as much work in adult education than before on the same budget.

With the creation of the new Board, it is intended that adult education will be brought to the masses not only in the City areas but to kampong folk in rural areas as well. I wish to. announce that although it was originally hoped that the bulk of literacy classes would be borne by teachers doing the extra half session work gratis, it has now been decided that with effect from Monday, 15th February, 1960, all teachers who are required to do extra half session work outside of their normal schools either in the day or in the night would be eligible for a flat $2 per session for transport and/or out-of-pocket expenses. This will work out at roughly $25 per month. As there are about 3,000 teachers involved so far, 1,000 for night sessions and 2,000 for day sessions, the total cost is estimated at $750,000 per annum. Since no provision was made for this in the 1960 Estimates, it will mean that this sum will have to come out of the Education Development Estimates, and therefore the loss of four primary schools for 1961. Needless to say, the 201 voluntary teachers from the Police Force in our adult classes will also be eligible for the allowance mentioned above. It would not be fair to leave them out of the scheme of things or for us to take advantage of their inspiring example to offer their voluntary services in teaching work which is outside the scope of their normal employment.

It is worth mentioning at this stage, Sir, that undue publicity given to the so-called strain on teachers in respect of extra session work is not justified. In 1959, 1,017 teachers obtained. permission to do additional paid employment, which was then limited to six hours per week. Despite the imposition of extra session work this year, up to date we have in hand 122 applications (29 from the English stream, 38 from the Malay stream and 55 from the Chinese stream) for additional paid employment, also with the limit of six hours per week, which we are now considering. We are expecting more applications to come, which will be duly considered.

The Government is confident that the establishment of the Lembaga Gerakan Pelajaran Dewasa will bring about a co-ordination and unity of effort towards early attainment of the object of universal literacy in Singapore. May the illiterate half million, or one-third of our population, be wiped out so that suspicion and fear will be banished, and in their place will come a true understanding and appreciation of our democratic system based on adult franchise.

Sir, I beg to move.

Question proposed.

4.43 p.m.

Mr Thio Chan Bee: Mr Speaker, Sir, the history of education in Singapore and Malaya shows that private enterprise has very often played a very great part in starting endeavours in new fields of education, and that the State comes in to give encouragement and help and gradually more and more help. Naturally, Sir, as the one who pays the piper, Government wants to have more and more control. It is only natural. However, we must not forget that too much control can deaden the spirit of the individual, so that if he has a new idea he may not be able freely to express that idea to a superior officer, or even if he expresses the idea freely the officer may not be receptive enough to be willing to accept that suggestion and that idea becomes still-born.

Sir, the Hon. Minister for Education himself has had experience sitting in the Council of the University as an unofficial member. He must have seen how Government official nominees were working under a great handicap, and that very often revolutionary suggestions had to come from these so-called unofficial nominees. Therefore, Sir, we felt when we read the Bill that the composition of the Board is too heavily weighted on the side of Government appointees. Even in the case of the members who represent the University of Nanyang and the University of Malaya, they are to be appointed by the Minister from among the tutorial staff of these institutions. It does not say here that the members are to be appointed by the Minister on the nomination of the University. The public will thus think that those appointed are just part of the Government rubber stamp. That, Sir, would make the Board less respectable in appearance in the eyes of the public.

[Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER (Mr G. Kandasamy) in the Chair]

4.45 p.m.

Mr Thio Chan Bee: We feel, Sir, that in order that the Board might have the support of all those interested in adult education and are willing to help in it, it should be so composed that at least half the members of the Board should be freely elected by outside organisations interested in the project. My suggestion would be along these lines: that the Minister for Education could appoint the first two members, and the various Ministers could appoint as stated here, one each. In the case of the Teachers' Training College, if it is regarded as a purely Government institution, of course the appointment may have to be made by the Minister. But if it is regarded as not quite a Government department, then the tutorial staff could be allowed to nominate and the Minister could appoint. But in the case of representation from the University of Malaya, the Nanyang University and the Trades Union Congress, I definitely think that nominations should come from them.

Sir, I notice there is no reference made to unions, such as the Singapore Teachers' Union. I take it that it is implied that the T.U.C. representation should include a teachers' representative. But unless specified, it could well mean that in the operation of this Bill, the T.U.C. might not want to appoint teachers who are respected or who have the support of the Teachers' Union. In that case then, those representatives will not be able to give to the Board the views of the teaching body in Singapore. We believe that if adult education classes are to function properly, the teachers who have to play a most important part should have a say, a good say, in the Board. So if the Teachers' Union or any national union of teachers recognised by the teachers in Singapore is not represented, then, Sir, the Minister and the Board would not be able to hear what goes on at the ground level.

Sir, I have the greatest admiration for the Minister for his great energy. I know he works long hours: but not all people can work as hard as he does. It has now come into the open that many teachers cannot stand the strain. The Chinese Schools' Conference apparently held a meeting and they wished to petition the Minister to allow them to invite donations from parents to enable them to secure the services of those unemployed teachers to teach and thereby prevent some of them from having a breakdown. Sir, this is not an exaggeration. We have lost teachers who, because they cannot stand the strain, in addition to a six-day week, of having to teach in adult education classes, have tendered their resignations.

We welcome the Minister's offer to pay transport expenses to those teachers who teach in these evening classes. But we would be glad also if he could give an assurance that there should be no compulsion in the case of those teachers who are unable to bear the strain, and on medical grounds ask to be excused from performing the extra hours per week. Sir, in implementing the principle which he has stated, maybe not in this House but outside, that these 4� hours include extra-mural duties, sometimes one branch official or one official in one section, not knowing the needs of another branch, allocates to certain teachers the full quota. If these teachers are already involved in important duties in organisations like the scouts organisation, then they find they are on the horns of a dilemma. If they do the 4� hours, they have to give up their duties in the scouts organisation. If they do not do the 4� hours, they would be regarded as negligent or showing a spirit of insubordination. The result, Sir, is that in sports work in the schools these teachers have not been able to find the time. We are told that for certain sports activities, they could deduct one hour; so the head masters in one district studying the question say, "It is impossible." Let us take the case of football and ask the teacher to devote that one-hour per week to it. But the preparation and training of the students, taking them out to the match, watching them through the match, and after that again giving them tips on how they could improve themselves, take more than one hour a week. I hope the Minister will go into the details if they are asking too much, but this is one of the causes which have made many teachers feel that the burden is becoming too great for them. I would not say all of them, because there are some of us who, for the sake of the country, are willing to work all out. But there are many who definitely cannot stand the strain. If the Teachers' Union were well represented, those members on the Board could express their views and be able to plan a programme so that the teachers who do teach in these classes will be able to do so physically fit and also, you might say, emotionally at one.

4.52 p.m.

Inche Mohd. Ali Bin Alwi (Kampong Kembangan): (In Malay): Mr Deputy Speaker, I do not know what views to express to the Minister concerned. I do not wish to bring allegations. However, I am prepared to be accused.

If we study this Bill, in my opinion, it can be said to be discriminatory. The composition of members of the Board provided in this Bill is not reasonable. However, I hope there will be an opportunity for the Minister for Education to reconsider this point, which I think, is very important. I believe this is not the way to bring about unity or to achieve the building of one nation, one language, one State, because in the provisions of this Bill there are bound to be slip-ups or oversights.

The Malay Education Council has not been mentioned anywhere in the Bill at all, if we want to educate half a million of our population who are illiterate, I believe that a representative of the Malay Education Council should sit on the Board. He can express his views and work together with other members of the Board. There is in the Bill opportunity given to the Trades Union Congress representation, but the opportunity is denied to the Malay Education Council.

Apart from this, Mr Deputy Speaker, I welcome what has been announced by the Minister for Education this afternoon that a fee of $2 per session will be paid to those who work extra hours, and also to members of the Police Force who have volunteered to teach in night classes. It is proper that the fees be paid to them, because of all the trouble they take. However, I hope that the Minister for Education would consider such payments retrospective to the time the extra sessions began. It will then show the definite stand of the Ministry of Education.

I neither wish to support the previous-Government nor pay tribute to the present Government, but I feel that it is-not surprising that being a self-governing State, we should all work and achieve results two-fold. I hope the Ministry of Education or the Board will work even harder than those in the past. But I do not mean to say that I do not agree with the work that has been carried out by Government. We should adopt the motto "Talk less, work more". Therefore, I do not expect that full results will be achieved, but it must nevertheless be achieved in the true sense of the word.

In view of what I have said, I plead with the Minister for Education to give an opportunity to the Malay Education Council to be represented on the Board. That is all, Mr Deputy Speaker.

Mr Deputy Speaker: It is now a convenient time to suspend. I therefore suspend the Assembly. The debate will be resumed at 5.30 p.m.

Sitting accordingly suspended at 5.00 p.m. until 5.30 p.m. Sitting resumed at 5.30 p.m.