(Cost per student)

Wednesday, 6th April, 1960

Failures of Electricity Supply

Inche Mohd. Ali Bin Alwi asked the Prime Minister what is the total number of failures of electricity supply between June, 1959, and 25th March, 1960, and what were the causes.

Mr Lee Kuan Yew: The total number of failures between June 1959 and 25th March, 1960 is 66, of which 37 were due to technical fault, 20 due to underground cable damage and 9 due to fault on overhead lines.

Schools

Inche Mohd. Ali Bin Alwi asked the Minister for Education what is the approximate monthly cost to the Government for 1960 of each student in (i) Government English Schools; (ii) Malay Schools; and (iii) Government-aided Schools.

Mr Yong Nyuk Lin: It is not possible to give separate figures of the cost of providing education for different categories of pupils either on the basis of the medium of instruction or on the basis of the type of school, Government or Government-aided. The Ministry of Education provides common services for all types of school and expenditure on these services must be taken into account in any calculation of cost per pupil. The total number of students in Government and Government-aided schools for 1960 is 341,500 and the cost of providing education services and facilities in all primary and secondary schools as approved in the current Estimates is $58.4 million. Allowing for a sum of about $4 million which is expected as revenue by way of school fees and the imposition of the Education rate of 4%, the total cost of providing education for 341,500 pupils is $54.4 million, which works out at about $160 per pupil per annum or $13 per mensem.

Malay Schools