TRANSFER OF TEACHERS (Government policy)

Mr L. P. Rodrigo asked the Minister for Education if he is aware that a considerable number of transfers of teachers are being made and some at an instant's notice through telephone calls from the Ministry; why these transfers are necessary and carried out in such manner; and if he will state his Ministry's policy on the transfer of teachers.

The Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Education (Dr Lee Chiaw Meng) (for the Minister for Education): Mr Speaker, Sir, I have been asked by the Minister to reply. In the first five months of this year 509 teachers, or only 2.6 per cent of the entire teaching force of 19,200 teachers, were transferred. Of this number, 352 transfers, or 70 per cent, were effected during the first two months as a result of transfers of pupils at the request of parents. Such transfers are unavoidable because my Ministry makes every effort to satisfy the wishes of parents in the choice of school for pupils who are entering primary or secondary school for the first time. Consequently, the number of classes authorised and the corresponding number of teachers assigned to each school at the end of the previous year have to be adjusted at the beginning of each school year. Moreover, the choice of a second language and the number and type of second language teachers needed for a particular school can only be ascertained when the pupils have settled down after the transfer exercise.

Apart from these unavoidable transfers at the beginning of the year, there are other reasons which account for transfers on a small scale throughout the year. These include the secondment of teachers to other Ministries and statutory boards; adjustment in the staffing quota as a result of trainees qualified as trained teachers and, consequently, taking in a full teaching load; changes in the curriculum resulting in different staffing needs; and requests from the teachers themselves.

Transfers at an instant's notice by telephone calls are made only when the situation warrants such action, as when a vacancy is created by death or unexpected retirement, or when teachers are rendered redundant in one school while classes in another school are without teachers as a result of a mass transfer of pupils.

The policy of my Ministry is to keep transfers of teachers down to a minimum consistent with the needs of the schools and the interest of the pupils. To minimise the number of transfers, my Ministry introduced a new scheme last year whereby primary teachers with at least five years' teaching experience could opt for a transfer to a school of their choice on the understanding that the Ministry would not transfer them out for the next five years, and the teachers themselves would not ask for a transfer during these five years unless the circumstances were altogether exceptional.

Of the 257 teachers who applied, 200 were accepted under this five-year no transfer scheme. However, with the greater emphasis on technical and vocational education, the consequential transfer of students from the academic to the technical stream and the proposed conversion of vocational schools into industrial training centres, more transfers of teachers in the next two or three years will be inevitable.