SINGAPORE INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL IN HONG KONG AND OTHER CITIES (Establishment)

[Mr Speaker in the Chair]

Mr Leong Horn Kee asked the Minister for Education what is the progress of the establishment of a Singapore International School in Hong Kong and what are the plans to establish such schools in other cities such as Jakarta, Kuala Lumpur, London, Beijing and Shanghai where there is sufficient demand for schools for children of Singaporeans working abroad.

The Minister for Education (Mr Lee Yock Suan): Mr Speaker, Sir, the Singapore International School in Hong Kong was opened in September 1991 and for the first four years it functioned in temporary premises at Kennedy Town. In August 1995, it moved into its new premises in Aberdeen.

As of September 1995, the enrolment of primary school pupils was 523. Of these, 274 or 52% are Singapore citizens, and 100 or 19% are Singapore permanent residents making a total of 71% Singapore citizens and permanent residents.

The school offers a Singapore primary school curriculum and prepares pupils for our Primary School Leaving Examination. The school is staffed by 36 teaching staff. Of these, 17 are recruited from Singapore, the rest being Hong Kong residents.

My Ministry will consider setting up similar schools in other overseas locations if there is a sufficient number of Singaporean pupils so that such a school is feasible. It will be necessary for the school to recruit many of its teachers from that location as we are short of teachers in Singapore. At present, in locations other than Hong Kong there are insufficient Singaporean pupils to make up the bulk of a school.

Where private schools overseas are interested in offering the Singapore curriculum or private organisations are keen to set up private schools based on the Singapore model, they can approach my Ministry or the Singapore Teachers Union for assistance regarding syllabuses, textbooks and other aspects of the Singapore curriculum. My Ministry will also assist parents to facilitate the re-entry of their children into Singapore schools when they return.

Mr Leong Horn Kee (Thomson GRC): Sir, may I ask the Minister which is the next likely location for the Ministry to consider setting up another international school?

Mr Lee Yock Suan: I cannot give a definite answer because we have not decided where to locate the next school yet. As I have said, in all the other locations, there is an insufficient number of pupils and Singaporeans are scattered all over the place. For example, even in China which is a huge area, Singaporeans are in so many locations such as Suzhou, Wuxi and Shandong.

Mr Leong Horn Kee: At present, the international school only caters for primary school curriculum. Would the Ministry also consider extending it to secondary school curriculum because I understand there are many parents whose children are in secondary school and who would like to have this facility?

Mr Lee Yock Suan: Mr Speaker, Sir, at present my Ministry has no plans to provide secondary school facilities overseas. There are two main reasons for this. One is the shortage of teachers, which is especially significant in the secondary schools, because of our recent change in the school system. In fact, we have had to recruit more than 100 teachers from Australia, New Zealand and elsewhere to supplement our teacher resources.

The other reason is that we have built up boarding school facilities in Singapore. There are already two available - one in Raffles Institution and the other in Anglo Chinese School. These are for boys. Another boarding school for girls is being built in Nanyang Girls High School. There are excellent facilities being provided in the boarding schools. There will be supervision by teachers and I think it will be advantageous for the older children to come back to Singapore and be re-immersed into our school system in the boarding school. The boarding schools accept pupils whose parents are working overseas even if the pupils themselves do not study in these schools.

Dr Lee Tsao Yuan (Nominated Member): The establishment of a Singapore international school is to facilitate re-entry of the students as well as to provide them with a Singapore-based curriculum. Would the Minister elaborate on the provision for re-entry of students who have studied abroad into the Singapore school system?

Mr Lee Yock Suan: I think parents need not worry about this because my Ministry will assist them as far as possible. It is usually necessary for the pupils to take a test in English Language and Mathematics mainly to assess their level of competence and this is to look after the children's welfare because we do not want to put them in the wrong level. When parents go overseas, they have the advantage of exposing their children to the international situation and putting their children in international schools have its plus points. In certain places they may be worried about the second language. If they go to China, that should not be a concern if they are Chinese because that is the best place for them to get immersion in Chinese. But if there are other places like Indonesia or Brunei where the study of Chinese could be a problem, some parents have got together to organise tuition classes and recruit Chinese teachers, maybe even from China, to provide tuition. My Ministry is flexible in terms of the mother tongue language. If the children have been away for a number of years and they are due to sit for a major examination, eg, PSLE or the 'O' level, and it is quite obvious that they cannot catch up, we will not insist that they must take their mother tongue.

In terms of selection of schools, we will have to be fair to them as well as to other Singaporean children so that they compete on a similar basis. For example, if they live near a particular primary school, then they should have priority for re-entry into that school or if they came from a school and had left for a number of years, I think most schools will take them back. But they cannot, because they were away overseas, expect to come back to the good schools. These are all the areas, and if there are further ways where we can facilitate their re-entry, we will be happy to look into them.

Mr Leong Horn Kee: Sir, the Minister said that one of the difficulties for these students overseas is the second language. Perhaps the Ministry can consider facilitating the organisation at some of these centres overseas, not to function as full schools, but to provide courses for second languages; so that when the children come back to Singapore, they can get back to the Singapore system.

Mr Lee Yock Suan: Yes, that is a possibility. As I have said, some parents have, in fact, on their own done so. It is not so difficult just to hire a tutor for a number of children, say, 10 children, and if they need assistance from my Ministry we will be happy to consider it.