TEACHER TRAINING IN 1968 (Number of applicants accepted and rejected)

Mr L. P. Rodrigo asked the Minister for Education (a) how many persons applied for Teacher Training in 1968, and how many were accepted and how many rejected; and (b) what were the qualifications of those who were selected and those rejected.

The Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Education (Dr Lee Chiaw Meng) (for the Minister for Education): Mr Speaker, Sir, there were 5,547 applicants for 793 vacancies in teacher training. Seven hundred and fifty one appointments were made and 4,796 applicants were rejected. The number of appointments was slightly smaller than the number of vacancies because some graduate vacancies were left unfilled for lack of suitable applicants and a few selected candidates with School Certificate and Higher School Certificate qualifications declined appointment at the last minute.

As for the second part of the question, all the selected candidates satisfied the age and citizenship requirements and the great majority possessed educational qualifications higher than the minimum requirements which are specified in the recruitment advertisement and vary according to the type of training and the language medium. Some of the un successful candidates were rejected because they did not satisfy the age and citizenship requirements. Others were rejected owing to the limited number of vacancies in the particular type of training for which they were eligible.

Mr L. P. Rodrigo (Serangoon Gardens): Sir, can the Parliamentary Secretary inform the House how many of those rejected were in possession of the minimal required qualifications?

Dr Lee Chiaw Meng: Sir, the majority of those rejected had the minimum qualifications, but, off-hand, I cannot give the exact figure. If the hon. Member so desires, he can give notice of another question.