TRAINING SCHEME FOR KINDERGARTEN TEACHERS

Mr Yeo Toon Chia asked the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Education whether the Institute of Education plans to expand the present training scheme for kindergarten teachers.

Dr Tony Tan Keng Yam (for the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Education): Mr Speaker, Sir, the Institute of Education has no plans to expand the present training scheme for kindergarten teachers. In fact, it intends to stop these training courses after this year. The reason is that the IE is concentrating on the training of pre-primary teachers. It is recruiting and training 260 pre-primary teachers each year. At this rate of progress, we shall be able to introduce pre-primary classes in all schools by the end of this decade. This must take precedence over the training of kindergarten teachers.

Mr Ng Kah Ting (Punggol): Sir, would the Hon. Senior Minister of State for Education care to comment on the reply he gave to this House when I sought information on the question of providing pre-primary education to children in Singapore? If my memory serves me right, he said [Hansard, Vol. 38, col. 740] that this programme would be fully implemented by 1983, but now he says that it will be "by the end of this decade." Does that not seem to be a contradiction?

Dr Tony Tan Keng Yam: Sir, originally it was envisaged that we would be able to expand the pre-primary classes to cater for all five-year old children within the next few years. However, I did say that this would be subject to teachers being available. And now that we have been able to quantify the need more accurately, we are able to make a more realistic estimate.

Mr Ng Kah Ting: Sir, I do not see how the figure of 260 teachers to be trained in pre-primary education can be realistic enough if we take into account the number of parents who are anxious to see their children receive pre-primary education.

Dr Tony Tan Keng Yam: Sir, let me give some figures. In order to expand the pre-primary classes to cater for the whole cohort of five-year olds which number about 40,000 pupils each year, we will need some 2,000 teachers. At present, there are 364 non-graduate trainees in IE who are being trained to teach the pre-primary pupils. They are expected to graduate from IE by 1982.

As I have said, from this year the IE plans to recruit about 260 'A' level holders each year to be trained as pre-primary teachers. It takes about three years to train them into qualified pre-primary teachers. So this recruitment and training schedule means that we can only expand the pre-primary programme to all schools by the end of this decade.

Mr Ng Kah Ting: Sir, in that case, does the Ministry of Education have plans to ensure that there will be sufficient places in the schools?

Dr Tony Tan Keng Yam: I am not quite sure about the question asked by the hon. Member. If he means that we will make sure that there are sufficient pre-primary places in schools each year in order to keep in step with the number of teachers who are being trained, then the answer is yes.

Mr Ng Kah Ting: No, Sir, I am thinking in terms of availability of space. The Hon. Senior Minister of State mentioned that the schools will be expanded. In other words, we must find sufficient space for the expansion of the schools in order to provide pre-primary education.

Dr Tony Tan Keng Yam: Sir, the answer is yes. We have taken into account the number of places which will be required in the schools in order to accommodate the larger number of pre-primary pupils.

Mr Ng Kah Ting: In this case, would the Hon. Senior Minister of State inform this House as to the number of schools that are being expanded so that pre-primary education can be provided in those schools?

Dr Tony Tan Keng Yam: Sir, I regret I do not have these figures with me. In any case, the number of schools that will be built in this decade is not going to depend only on the expansion of the pre-primary programme. It will also depend on whether we will be introducing full-day schools in our education system within this decade. It will also depend upon the pupil-teacher ratio which we are aiming for within the next few years. All that I can assure the hon. Member is that the number of places necessary to accommodate the larger number of pre-primary pupils will be made available in line with the larger number of pre-primary teachers that we are now training.