ANNUAL ESTIMATES OF EXPENDITURE FOR PUBLIC SERVICES AND DEVELOPMENT ESTIMATES FOR 1961

Debate in Committee of Supply resumed.

7.35 p.m.

Mr Rajah: Mr Speaker, Sir, as time is pressing on, I will confine my remarks to two main points which I wish to touch upon this evening.

Sir, listening to the debate on the Ministry of Education Estimates, it appears to me that the main trouble seems to stem from the fact that the Ministry officials do not seem to have the confidence of the teachers of our schools in Singapore. It seems that the officials in their pettifogging officialdom do not seem to understand the problems of school teachers, school-masters and head-masters. If they can concede the point that the teachers and schoolmasters, being nearer the school children, are in a better position to appreciate educational problems than Ministry officials, perhaps we might be able to restore some sort of peace and thereby ensure some sort of progress in the educational field. It seems to me that all that is happening in Singapore today is a lot of frustration caused by unnecessary circulars, petty regulations, such as the one which was read out this evening, all of which seem to show that the whole point of education is being missed. Perhaps the Ministry officials have nothing else better to do than seem to be interested in tuckshops and spend their time drafting regulations which run to 20 pages.

The second point I wish to touch upon is the question of the six-day week for primary schools. I do not wish to speak on the six-day week for secondary schools, because I do not feel that I am sufficiently competent to do so on that subject. But on the question of primary schools, I would ask the Minister for Education respectfully to re-consider the whole position in the light of what has happened in the last year or so. Sir, I submit, with respect, that in so far as the primary schools are concerned, the six-day week has served no useful purpose. If anything, it has acted in a way not in the best interest of the primary schools. We were made to understand that as the Chinese schools themselves have a six-day week, perhaps it is not out of place that the English schools should also fall into line. So I was surprised to read on page 1 of this afternoon's Free Press under the heading "Chinese primary school hours should be cut, Minister told" describing the hours that Chinese primary school teachers should be called upon to work. I have done some multiplication and division and find that it eventually comes to about 41 hours a day which, when multiplied by five, gives them the time they think that primary school teachers should be called upon to teach in Chinese schools. Therefore, it seems to me that we could quite easily get back into the five-day week in so far as the English stream is concerned.

I do not wish to take up any more time of the House. Perhaps the Minister might want to reply.

Mr Yong Nyuk Lin: Mr Speaker, Sir, I will quickly answer the points raised by the Member for Tanglin. The circular mentioned is not meant to be an army directive. We are the Ministry of Education. But, unfortunately, the hon. Member thinks that "shall" is a command. I could almost feel that he was clicking his heels every time the word "shall" was mentioned. He takes the view of Assemblymen being asked to take some part in the membership of a school tuckshop committee as political interference. It is far from that. I think it is important that Assemblymen, if they are prepared to offer their services, should know what goes on in their own constituencies. New schools are to be erected. After all, almost every parent has at least one or two children in school. The problem of how they are looked after in the tuckshop is not confined to P.A.P. Assemblymen but to the Assemblyman of the particular constituency in which the school is. We welcome the presence of Opposition Members to see that all is well, so that they can be happy with what is going on, far from interfering with the responsibilities and powers of the principal. Most of the difficulties that we come across are, of course, brought about by the desire of bringing the four streams into uniformity. A simple analogy is this. If we were dealing with only one stream of education, it would be like a ball rolling smoothly; but with four streams of education, it is like a cube. It does not roll but it just wobbles here and there.

We come next to the remarks of the Member for Farrer Park. I agree that officialdom could be somewhat stiff and officious in their bearing and also in the manner in which circulars and letters are sent out. That is why it is necessary for the officials to go through a political study course to understand that keeping in touch with the public is important, and I would welcome more discussion groups and meetings of inspectors, principals and teachers. These have already been started and I would encourage more of these discussions.

As for the six-day week for primary schools, I am afraid that there will be no change in the educational policy of Singapore, but I can inform the Member for Farrer Park that, at the moment, we are trying to devise new time-tables both for primary and secondary schools for 1961 whereby we will be bringing all activities, which in the past were considered as extra-mural activities, into the normal school curriculum. Since most schools are now normally working on two or three sessions, it becomes very difficult for the pupils in the morning session to turn up in the afternoon for their activities. So, many of the extra-mural activities will become part of the school curriculum.

Tun Lim Yew Hock: Mr Speaker, Sir, the Minister said that Assemblymen were asked to take part in the tuckshop committees. Our Assemblymen have never been asked, except maybe one Assemblywoman.

Mr Yong Nyuk Lin: Sir, the Member for Cairnhill has not been paying attention to what I have said. Or perhaps he was out having his coffee in the C.P.A. room. The regulation which was read out in extenso by the Member for Tanglin was that there will be school tuckshop committees in which the principal of the school will be the chairman. That is for 1961 and we are approaching 1961. I am afraid the Member for Tanglin-

7.45 p.m.

The Chairman: Order. It is 7.45 p.m.

Question on the amendment put, and negatived.

The sum of $68,157,820 for Head 56 ordered to stand part of the Estimates.

The Chairman: The final motions are in regard to the remaining Heads of Expenditure in respect of which no amendments stand on the Order Paper. They are Heads 3, 6, 10, 11, 14 to 18 inclusive, 22, 24, 26, 29, 30, 34, 35, 37, 38, 39, 42, 43, 44, 46, 48, 51, 52 and 55.

Question, "That the sums stated for those Heads as they appear in the last column of the Abstract of the Estimated Expenditure, on page 31 of Paper Cmd. 26 of 1960 stand part of the Estimates", put, and agreed to.

Question, "That the sum of $314,583,210 shall be supplied to the Government under the heads of expenditure for the public services shown in the Estimates contained in Paper Cmd. 26 of 1960", put and agreed to.

Resolution to be reported.

Thereupon Mr Speaker left the Chair of the Committee and took the Chair of the Assembly.