ADMISSION TO INDEPENDENT SCHOOLS (Government assistance for needy pupils)

Dr Lau Teik Soon asked the Minister for Education how the establishment of independent schools will benefit other schools in Singapore and what measures will be taken to ensure that admission to the independent schools will be available to all children who qualify regardless of the financial circumstances.

Dr Tony Tan Keng Yam: Mr Speaker, Sir, the Government has repeatedly explained that the establishment of independent schools will not be solely for the benefit of the children in these schools. The purpose of establishing independent schools is to have role models to enable us to see how the education system can be improved in order to help each pupil to realize his or her full potential. This, Sir, must be our ultimate objective.

Independent schools can do many things. They will be able to innovate and introduce creative educational programmes with the minimum of bureaucracy. These innovations can then be extended to other schools. Also, in recruiting principals and teachers in a competitive market, independent schools will also help to set the market value of good principals and good teachers. This in turn will help us to determine what remuneration the Government must offer in order to attract good people to join the teaching service and, just as important, to retain them.

In providing quality education for their pupils, independent schools will therefore set high standards which will serve as benchmarks for schools in Singapore. In this way, the benefits of the independent schools can be spread throughout our whole education system.

Now, Sir, admission to independent schools will not depend on the financial circumstances of parents or their ability to pay fees. To ensure that bright but needy children who cannot pay the fees are not denied admission to independent schools, the Government has set up a financial assistance scheme for these pupils. The Government will provide the full subsidy of school fees for pupils from families with a monthly household income of $800 or less or with a monthly household income per dependent child of $400 or less. There will also be a half-subsidy of school fees for pupils from families with a monthly household income of between $800 and $1,200 or a monthly household income per dependent child of between $400 and $600. Pupils can apply for financial assistance at any point in their school career and they will enjoy the assistance throughout their entire school career. They will also be eligible to apply for other assistance schemes.

Sir, the independent schools are also setting up their own endowment funds which, among other objectives, will seek to provide financial assistance to needy pupils over and above that which is provided by the Government. The Government will encourage the establishment of these endowment funds by, first, making the donations to the endowment funds tax exempt and, secondly, making a start- up donation of $1 million on a dollar-for-dollar basis to each of the endowment funds.

Sir, with the financial assistance provided by the Government and the further assistance to be provided by the endowment funds of the independent schools, there should be no doubt in anyone's mind that admission to the independent schools will be open to all pupils who qualify regardless of their financial circumstances.

Dr Lau Teik Soon (Serangoon Gardens): Sir, the Government support for the endowment funds is a very positive move. Can I ask the Minister whether the Government support for the independent schools' endowment fund will be extended to other schools which would like to set up their own funds, regardless of whether they are independent or Government?

Dr Tony Tan Keng Yam: Mr Speaker, Sir, the Member has asked a very important question which is a natural follow-up of his first question and I believe it deserves a careful answer. With your permission, Sir, I would like to read out the answer which I have prepared.

The answer to the Member's supplementary question, Sir, is, in principle, yes, provided that the school comes up with a well-conceived plan for the management and for the use of the school's endowment fund. This would be open to other schools as well, not only the independent schools.

Let me give you an example. Raffles Institution. The school has informed the Ministry that the majority of parents of RI students and the Old Rafflesians are of the view that Raffles Institution should build up an endowment fund to help defray the cost of improving RI's educational programmes before the school considers changing its present status as a Government school. With an endowment fund, RI would then be in a better position at some future date to decide whether or not to go independent.

Consequently, the Old Rafflesians Association and the Raffles Institution School Advisory Committee have decided to take the necessary action to build up an endowment fund. I am happy to inform Members that the Government will support RI's efforts in the same way as for the independent schools.