COMPUTER CLUBS IN SECONDARY SCHOOLS (Teaching of computer programmes)

Mr S. Chandra Das asked the First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Education how many computer clubs here are in secondary schools and what steps his Ministry is taking to ensure that he computers are being used for the eaching of computer programmes and not for computer games.

Dr Tay Eng Soon (for the First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Education): Mr Speaker, Sir, there are at present 91 computer clubs in secondary schools.

My Ministry is preparing guidelines for the management and control of computer club activities in secondary schools. Micro- computers will be used for educational purposes and not for video-games.

Teachers have been trained to manage the computer clubs in schools and they will ensure that the microcomputers provided for the clubs are used for learning purposes, Computer games which are purely psychomotor in nature, e.g. Space Invaders and the like, will be disallowed. The average computer time available per student per week is about 30 minutes. This is barely enough for the pupils to complete their computer programming exercises and assignments, let alone play games.

Mr S. Chandra Das (Chong Boon): Sir, can the Minister of State of Education inform the House how many teachers have been trained in computer programming?

Dr Tay Eng Soon: Sir, so far, we have trained 192 teachers for these computer clubs. Another 420 teachers will be trained this year and next year to provide the full complement.