PRE-UNIVERSITY CLASSES IN MALAY SCHOOLS (Sufficient number from 1971)

Inche Rahmat Bin Kenap asked the Minister for Education if his Ministry is satisfied that the number of pre-university classes in Malay schools will be sufficient to meet the demands as from 1971.

The Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Education (Inche Mohd. Ghazali Bin Ismail) (for the Minister for Education): Mr Speaker, Sir, admission to our pre-university classes in all language streams is based upon the applicants' performance in the relevant public examination for Secondary 4 pupils as well as their extra-curricular activities. According to our estimates, sufficient places will be available in and after 1971 for all candidates who possess the requisite qualifications for admission to pre-university classes in the Malay stream.

Inche Rahmat Bin Kenap (Geylang Serai): (In Malay): Mr Speaker, Sir, can the Parliamentary Secretary clarify why the pre-university classes in the Malay stream are for Arts and not for Science?

Inche Mohd. Ghazali: Sir, no provision is made for the Science stream in pre-university Malay-medium classes because, firstly, in the early years of Malay secondary education, Malay-medium students normally offered General Science as a science subject. It was, therefore, felt that the provision of a Science stream could be considered only when the Malay stream students were able to do pure sciences up to Secondary 4 level.

Secondly, at present the students in Secondary 3 and Secondary 4 at the Sekolah Menengah Tun Seri Lanang study their pure science subjects in English. These students can therefore be eventually channelled to the English-medium pre-university classes.

Mr Teong Eng Siong (Sembawang): (In Mandarin): Mr Speaker, Sir, I would like to ask the Parliamentary Secretary why the Malay stream pre-university classes are only in the Sang Nila Utama Secondary School. Will the Minister also consider the setting up of Malay pre-university classes in the Ahmad Ibrahim Integrated Secondary School? This is because in the Sembawang area, there are many Malay stream students. If pre-university classes are established there, it will be convenient to all of them.

Inche Mohd. Ghazali: Mr Speaker, Sir, to have more than one centre would mean the redeployment of staff resources concentrated at the Sang Nila Utama Secondary School to the second centre. It is considered that this would not be advisable if a high standard of performance of the pre-university students is to be achieved. Furthermore, I think to date the need to open another pre-university centre for Malay-medium students does not arise.