RECRUITMENT OF TEACHERS IN 1994

Dr Kanwaljit Soin asked the Minister for Education (a) whether the target of recruiting 800 more teachers for secondary schools in 1994 was met and (b) how many of these teachers are polytechnic graduates.

Mr Lee Yock Suan: In March 1993, I mentioned that 800 more teachers would be needed in our secondary schools in 1994 with the implementation of the Improved Education System. This estimate was based on the assumption that all pupils who sat for the PSLE in October 1993 would proceed to Secondary 1 in 1994. However, this was not so as about 4,500 pupils did not perform well in the PSLE and had to remain in primary schools or be channelled to vocational training at ITE. As a result, the additional number of teachers required in secondary schools was revised downwards to about 650.

In 1993, the Ministry managed to recruit a total of 678 teachers for deployment to secondary schools.

The Ministry mounted the first exercise to recruit polytechnic graduates for primary school teaching in 1994. A total of 75 polytechnic graduates accepted the offer and are currently undergoing teacher training at the National Institute of Education.