TRANSFER OF TEACHERS (Particulars)

Mr Sia Khoon Seong asked the Minister for Home Affairs and Education (a) how many teachers were transferred in the last three months; (b) how many of those transferred had not asked for transfer themselves and what was the basis of selection of such teachers for transfer; (c) how many of those who had asked for transfer were not transferred; and (d) how many were transferred to schools more than 10 kilometres from their homes.

Mr Chua Sian Chin: Mr Speaker, Sir, the number of teachers transferred in the last three months was 1,567 and out of this number 1,001 teachers were transferred owing to necessity and not because they had applied for transfer. It is not possible to consider all requests for transfer. Some teachers do not meet the requirements of the schools to which they wish to be transferred or the schools in question do not have vacancies to be filled.

Generally, the factors taken into consideration when selecting teachers for transfer are -

(i) matching of the specific needs of receiving schools to the teachers' teaching subjects and language of instruction;

(ii) the ability of the sending schools to release the teachers - in cases where teachers are key digits, the schools are reluctant to release them; and

(iii) proximity of teachers' homes to schools.

The number of teachers who applied for transfer in the last three months but who were not transferred was 873.

The number of teachers who were transferred to schools more than 10 km from their homes in the last three months was 267.

While every effort is made to post teachers to schools as close to their homes as possible, it must be appreciated that often teachers may be posted to schools which are 6 km or more from their homes. This is because in certain areas such as Katong and Marine Parade there is an over abundance of teacher; living there in relation to the available posts while in places like Jurong and Lim Chu Kang there are far more teaching posts available than there are teachers living there. Other factors such as matching the teachers' own abilities and preferences to the schools' requirements add to this problem.