PRE-UNIVERSITY CLASSES IN SEMBAWANG AND NEE SOON SECONDARY SCHOOLS

Mr Teong Eng Siong asked the Minister for Education whether he will consider the conducting of pre-university classes in any one of the three secondary schools in the Sembawang and Nee Soon Constituencies for students residing in those Constituencies who have completed their secondary education.

Dr Lee Chiaw Meng (for the Minister for Education): Sir, our policy is to centralise Pre-University education as far as possible so that our limited resources of specialist teachers, teaching aids and other facilities may be used to the maximum advantage.

At present, Pre-University education is available in the National Junior College and in 44 Government and Government-Aided secondary schools.

The three secondary schools in the Sembawang and Nee Soon Constituencies had a combined enrolment of 834 Secondary Four students in 1969, of whom about 100 are expected to qualify for admission to Pre-University classes in 1970. In view of the need to distribute them according to language media and in Arts and Science courses, four Pre-University I classes would have to be formed for this small number of students, each class having an average enrolment of only about 20 students. This is not an economically-sized class to run, and there is therefore no case for setting up a Pre-University centre within the two constituencies. All the 100 students will be found places in Pre-University classes as close to their homes as possible.

Mr Teong Eng Siong (Sembawang): (In Mandarin): Mr Speaker, Sir, according to the reply given by the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Education, it is not possible to set up a Pre-University class in the two constituencies in question because of the small number of students. I hope that in future when the number of students increases, the Parliamentary Secretary will reconsider the question of setting, up Pre-University classes.

Dr Lee Chiaw Meng: Mr Speaker, Sir, when there is an increase of enrolment of students, we will consider the question of setting up Pre-University classes in these two constituencies.