FEMALE "A" LEVEL STUDENTS (Job attachments before entering universities)

Mr Chia Shi Teck asked the Minister for Education, for female A-level students immediately after their A-level examinations and before entering universities (about six to eight months), whether he will consider organising job attachments with proper training such as (i) nursing - caring for babies, the aged and the sick; (ii) teaching - nursery and kindergarten; (iii) homemaking - cooking and sewing; and (iv) any other jobs that will help them in their later lives as mothers.

The Minister of State for Education (Dr Ker Sin Tze)(for the Minister for Education): Mr Speaker, Sir, many 'A' level school leavers, both boys and girls, do work after their examinations and before they enter university. This work is usually carried out on a part-time or temporary basis. Some of them take up relief teaching in schools. In the current tight labour market, there is no difficulty for them to find jobs which suit their interest.

As the students have already left school and would prefer to pursue their own interests, it is not necessary or practical for my Ministry to organise programmes to channel them to specific vocations.

Mr Chia Shi Teck: The question is to prepare the girls, after the 'A' level, for some jobs that will get them ready for motherhood later on. Because the fear is that while the schools are chasing for As in academic achievements they might divert their attention from the basic motherhood later on.

Dr Ker Sin Tze: Girls in school do learn home-making from their home economics. I would think that girls would learn more from their mothers to be good mothers in future.