CHINESE LANGUAGE TEACHERS (Promotions)

Mr Cheo Chai Chen asked the Minister for Education how many Chinese language teachers there are and how many have been promoted during the recent promotion exercise.

Mr Lee Yock Suan: The criteria for promotion are strictly based on merit. They are the same for all teachers regardless of the subject they teach. Officers are promoted because they rank well among other officers and deserve to be promoted. It is not useful to categorise the number of teachers promoted according to the subjects they teach since this will vary from school to school and from one promotion exercise to the next. Nevertheless, I can assure the Member that in the October 1995 promotion exercise, teachers who teach Chinese are very well represented among those promoted.