TEMPORARY GRADUATE TEACHERS SCHEME (Recruitment and training)

Mr Philip Tan Tee Yong asked the Minister for Education, with reference to the recruitment of temporary untrained graduate teachers, (a) what alternatives have been considered; (b) why graduates, who read non-teaching subjects at university and previously were considered not suitable for teaching, are now considered suitable; (c) whether the two-week training is sufficient for them to cope with Secondary 5 pupils; and (d) why 600 teachers are needed for 8,000 pupils in the two levels in 1986, as it works out to a teacher/pupil ratio of 1:6.66, assuming that the 4,000 Secondary 5 students are an addition to the present 4,000 Secondary 4 students.

The Minister for Education (Dr Tony Tan Keng Yam): Mr Speaker, Sir, the purpose of introducing the Temporary Graduate Teachers Scheme is to help redress the general shortage of graduate teachers in our secondary schools. The scheme was not introduced simply to meet the shortfall of teachers required to teach the larger number of Secondary 5N pupils expected as a result of the recent relaxation of the promotion criteria to Secondary 5N.

Sir, instead of introducing the Temporary Graduate Teachers Scheme, the Ministry could have recruited more relief teachers or recruited teachers from overseas. Of these two options, recruiting more relief teachers is hardly a solution. Relief teachers should be employed to cover short-term vacancies due to permanent staff going on sick leave or maternity leave or short courses or to meet exigencies of service. The majority of our relief teachers are untrained and turnover is high. Sir, I do not see how this option has any advantage over the Temporary Graduate Teachers Scheme which has at least the benefit of proper and standardized selection procedures.

The next option - the recruitment of teachers from overseas - is certainly one possibility. However, Sir, I see no reason why we should adopt this option until we have exhausted the possibility of recruiting enough teachers from our own graduates in Singapore. Only, Sir, if we are unable to attract enough teachers from our own graduates should we resort to recruiting from overseas.

Some hon. Members: Hear, hear!

Dr Tony Tan Keng Yam: The Ministry would of course prefer that all graduate teachers, including the temporary teachers, should have taken teaching subjects as part of their university courses. However, graduates in Engineering, for example, could teach Mathematics and Physics, and some of these graduates may find that even if they had not previously considered being teachers they may be well disposed, after a year in the scheme, to take up teaching as a career.

All the teachers to be recruited under this scheme will be given a two-week training course which is meant to give the graduates some basic knowledge about pupil and class management. These graduate teachers will be deployed mainly to teach the lower secondary levels. They will be supervised by the principals and the senior teachers. Students who are preparing for the 'N' level and the 'O' level examinations will be taught by experienced teachers.