COMPULSORY TEACHING OF HOME ECONOMICS AND TECHNICAL STUDIES FOR ALL STUDENTS IN LOWER SECONDARY CLASSES

4.23 pm

Dr Kanwaljit Soin: Mr Speaker, Sir, I have laid claim to speak on the Motion for Adjournment today on a matter which, I believe, is of considerable importance and which I hope the Minister will look into and consider for immediate action.

[Mr Deputy Speaker in the Chair]

Dr Kanwaljit Soin: Could I have Mr Deputy Speaker's permission, Sir, to circulate to Members a letter from the Ministry of Education? [Copy of letter circulated to hon. Members.] I ask for the indulgence of Members to prolong the sitting of this House. The matter, Sir, which I am referring to is the compulsory teaching of Home Economics and Technical Studies for all students in lower secondary classes from 1994.

Let us start from 1983. At that time, boys in lower secondary classes pursued technical studies while girls could opt for either Technical Studies or Home Economics. In that year, about 50% of the girls opted for Technical Studies in the lower secondary classes.

Then in 1984, the Ministry of Education announced a drastic change in policy. The option of learning Technical Studies in the lower secondary classes was taken away from the girls and Home Economics became compulsory for them.

In the upper secondary classes, girls could offer Technical Studies for "N" and "O" levels and boys could offer Home Economics for "N" and "O" levels. However, in 1986, only 45 boys sat for the Home Economics subject at "N" and "O" levels. Only 24 did so in 1987. Therefore, almost all the boys could not and did not avail themselves of this opportunity of offering Home Economics at "N" and "O" levels as they lacked the basic knowledge of the subject, having been denied its teaching in the lower secondary classes. Similarly, the girls did not offer Technical Studies at "N" and "O" levels.

Therefore, at present, in general, school girls learn only Home Economics and school boys learn only Technical Studies.

Then in 1991, an enlightened and refreshing reversal of this policy was announced by Dr Seet Ai Mee. She promised that from 1994, both girls and boys in lower secondary classes will take up both Home Economics and Technical Studies. However, it appears that this promise is not going to be completely fulfilled.

I will refer Members now to the first paragraph of the letter from the Ministry of Education dated 3rd March 1993:

"In 1994, all Normal (Technical) pupils at Secondary 1 will learn both Home Economics and Technical Studies. This will be so at Secondary 2 as well. As for the Special, Express and Normal (Academic) course, MOE plans to implement a common Home Economics and Technical Education curriculum for all lower secondary pupils when facilities are made available in the next few years. At present, these pupils offer either Home Economics (for girls) or Technical Education (for boys)."

We must be cognisant of the fact that only 10-15% of the cohort of primary school pupils will go to the Normal (Technical) stream. This means that 85-90% of the students of each cohort will be left out of the teaching of the combined Home Economics and Technical Studies course as they will be in the Special, Express and Normal (Academic) streams and not just in the Normal (Technical) stream. We do not know when the combined course will be made available for the large proportion of students. The Ministry of Education says that it will happen in the next few years but Dr Seet Ai Mee promised in 1991 that this would materialise in 1994.

I would like to ask the Minister why we have not kept to the schedule that was announced in 1991 that full implementation would take place in 1994. We had three years to train teachers and to build the infrastructure but we have apparently not done so. We have lost valuable time as we did not prioritize our tasks and projects. The purpose of the announcement of the change of policy three years ahead of time was to ensure implementation by 1994.

Let me elaborate on why the teaching of the common course of Home Economics and Technical Studies is so important. With the changing economic scene in Singapore, over 50% of our women are in the workforce. Women should do Technical Studies. Our workforce of the future has to be technically literate so that we can make the transition to the value added skilled industries. Also in 1991, Dr Seet Ai Mee said:

"Singapore's changing social norms mean that men and women will now have to play complementary roles in managing the home."

She said that the change in curriculum was necessary "as wives no longer just stayed at home and looked after the house while their husbands went out to work. .... A Home Economics programme for girls and boys will pave the way towards shared responsibility in the home." Also, Home Economics has a far wider influence nowadays as its scope has broadened from the old components of cooking, sewing and housekeeping. "The Home Economics syllabus has been extended to include conservation and care of the environment", Dr Seet Ai Mee said.

Besides Dr Seet Ai Mee, other important bodies have made similar recommendations to change the mindset and attitudes of Singapore males so that they will begin to share domestic and parenting responsibilities with their parents.

In 1986, the Manpower subcommittee of the Economic Committee suggested the implementation of "changes in the educational system to promote the virtues of sharing housework."

In 1988, Mr Wong Kan Seng, in his keynote address to the 3rd General Assembly of the ASEAN Confederation of Women's Organisations, encouraged men to assume their new role in sharing responsibility in raising a family.

In 1989, our late Dr Tay Eng Soon, in his opening speech at the 5th Biennial Conference of the ASEAN Regional Association of Home Economics, said men must change from "The attitude that their role is simply to go out and earn the income and they can leave everything else, including bringing up the children to their working wives is simply not good enough any more. They have to help around the house and be involved with their children."

Also in 1989, the Advisory Council on Youth called for "Schools to teach children the importance of preparing for their future roles as spouses and responsible parents."

All these authorities quoted are heavyweights and cannot be mistaken or ignored. So let us heed their call. Let us start preparing our young men for their future role as husbands and fathers by teaching them Home Economics in school.

Now, we have our Prime Minister just recently voicing his concern over trends that show an increasing proportion of single women and a declining number of children per married woman. Unless and until we institute attitudinal changes in society towards shared parenting and housework, we will not be able to reverse the worrying trends mentioned by our Prime Minister. The education system and the school environment are best placed to effect changes in these attitudes. The introduction of Home Economics to boys would be a step in the right direction. Our boys urgently need to learn the skills of being a homemaker and a parent. Girls often learn these skills on their jobs at home, even if they are not taught Home Economics in school. Yet we persist in teaching this subject to girls and not to boys whose need is more acute.

We have lost enough time. If we wish to correct some of the trends which will weaken the family building block, then it is time to set our hearts and minds on this crucial issue as promised in 1991. We also have to upgrade the technical skills of the female labour force. Therefore, we must institute the learning of the common Home Economics and Technical Studies course for all students. We have to start training the teachers and getting the infrastructure ready today so that we are all set for 1994.

The Minister of State for Education (Dr Ker Sin Tze): Mr Speaker, Sir, I thank Dr Soin for her motion and we agree with her that it is important to introduce Home Economics and Technical Studies to our school system. The Ministry has been working very hard since Dr Seet Ai Mee's announcement in 1991. We have decided that, in 1994, a common Home Economics and Technical Studies curriculum will be introduced to Secondary One students in the Normal (Technical) course. Students will continue to take the subject at Secondary Two because it is a two-year course.

At the same time, the Ministry is also doing all that is necessary to equip more schools with adequate technical workshops and home economics rooms for the subject to be introduced to the Normal (Academic) course in 1996 and to Special and Express course students in 1997.

Dr Soin has asked why it has taken such a long time, three years, to prepare the course. We have to construct physical facilities such as the home economics rooms and also technical workshops in order that the course can be introduced. These involve the modification and addition of structures which will have to go through the normal process of application for approval to change, and these would take time.

At the same time, the course will be divided into phases. We will first introduce the course to students in the Normal (Technical) stream, then to the Normal (Academic) stream, and finally to the Special and Express students. So the Ministry has not forgotten what it has announced and it is continuing to work hard to expedite the introduction of the course.

Mr Low Thia Khiang (Hougang): Mr Deputy Speaker, may I say something in Mandarin?

Mr Deputy Speaker: No.