CONSTRUCTION BRIGADE NATIONAL SERVICEMEN (Training and Performance)

Encik Abbas Abu Amin asked the Minister for Home Affairs what steps have been taken by the Civil Defence Unit to improve the training and performance of Construction Brigade National Servicemen.

The Senior Minister of State for Home Affairs (Dr Lee Boon Yang)(for the Minister for Home Affairs): Mr Speaker, Sir, the training scheme and general performance of the Construction Brigade servicemen have improved significantly. Sir, the training scheme consists of 3 phases, namely, Basic Para-military Training, Construction Trade Training and Supervised Field Training.

The following steps have been taken to enhance the training and performance of the servicemen:

(a) Site Representatives

Apart from the Civil Defence Officers who monitor the performance of servicemen attached to construction sites, a scheme was recently introduced to select "site representatives" from exemplary national servicemen to provide feedback and ideas on how the welfare of fellow servicemen at specific worksites can be enhanced. This has helped to build up a sense of camaraderie, team spirit and good discipline among the servicemen according to the locality they are in. Contractors have also responded positively to the scheme and found it beneficial as a motivating factor for the servicemen working under them.

(b) Trade Test Preparatory Course

The Construction Brigade has also implemented a "Trade Test Preparatory Course" at the Construction Industry Training Centre since February 1989. The objective of this course is to reinforce the construction skills which the servicemen have acquired at the worksites and prepare them for the skills test. If they pass the tests, they will then have certified skills which will increase their market value should they take on construction work as a career upon their ROD.

(c) Language Proficiency

Language proficiency classes under the WISE programme have also been introduced for servicemen with Secondary education to supplement the existing BEST programme for servicemen with primary education. Such language proficiency courses build up Construction Brigade men's self-confidence, help them to better understand the lessons taught at CITC and also improve their interaction with contractors and fellow workers at worksites.

Sir, as a result of these improvements and refinement, the discipline and performance of NS men has improved. The absenteeism rate in worksites was 16.5% under the Old Scheme and 5.4% under the Revised Scheme which is a significant drop from that of 30.5% and 14.2% respectively a year ago.

Mr Chiam See Tong: Sir, how many of these Construction Brigade national servicemen have been trained to date and how many of these trainees have, in fact, gone into the construction industry?

Dr Lee Boon Yang: Up to date, Sir, 8,888 Construction Brigade National Servicemen have been enlisted from the 1st to 30th intake under the Construction Brigade scheme. At present, 2,546 are active NS men under the Construction Brigade scheme while another 5,625 are in reservists and 700-odd of them have been transferred out of service or are already exempted under the scheme.

As to the number who have actually remained in the construction industry, I do not have the figures with me at the moment but it is somewhere in the region of around 30% who have remained in the industry. There is also a certain percentage of them who have remained in allied industry to the construction trade, ie, not directly working on the site but in some way the work is linked to the construction industry.

Mr Loh Meng See (Kampong Glam): Sir, we heard yesterday about the integration of the Civil Defence Force and the Singapore Fire Service. Will the Construction Brigade National Servicemen's training be modified in view of the integration process, and will they have training at the combined school that we heard about yesterday?

Dr Lee Boon Yang: Mr Speaker, Sir, most of the training of the Construction Brigade at the Jalan Bahar Civil Defence Training Centre is for para-military training. When it comes to learning about construction skills, they attend the courses conducted at the construction industry training centre which is a different training school. After the integration of the Civil Defence Force and the Fire Service, the Construction Brigade will continue to focus its attention on training a core of national servicemen who have some basic construction skills and experience in construction trade.