CARING PROFESSION

Mdm Claire Chiang See Ngoh asked the Minister for Education, in our new focus on the heartware of Singapore, what national policies can be developed at the junior college, polytechnic and university levels to attract young Singaporeans into the caring profession to meet staffing needs at various social services.

Dr Aline Wong (for the Minister for Education): Mdm Chiang has rightly pointed out that developing the "heartware" of Singapore should begin with our young people.

Education is fundamentally about developing the whole person. An educated person, in addition to acquiring skills and knowledge, should be morally upright, socially adept, and responsible to his family, community and country. Imparting values and inculcating social responsibility are integral components of the education process.

As the Member knows, we have recently introduced the Community Involvement Programme in our schools. This programme was introduced earlier this year to drive home the point that caring for the less privileged in society is the responsibility of every Singaporean, not just of those with a special calling. This complements existing community service efforts by schools and tertiary institutions, like the fund-raising projects and blood donation drives which these institutions regularly do.

However, choosing a profession is a matter of individual choice. Education policies cannot dictate what professions our students eventually choose. Choices are influenced by a variety of factors, including perception of monetary and non-monetary rewards, inclinations of the individuals and, in particular, a person's aptitudes and values. By providing sound moral education, as we do in our schools, we may encourage more of our young to consider the caring professions.

There is much that education can do to shape the values of the society. But what we can do in the schools and tertiary institutions must be reinforced by the home and society at large. It is a shared responsibility to encourage people to go into the caring professions.

Mdm Claire Chiang See Ngoh (Nominated Member): I agree that it is a shared responsibility. I merely was asking if there were provisions made in terms of expanding the intake into the polytechnics and in giving certificates or diplomas for particular fields created within the polytechnics. So it is not just aptitudes. It is really providing at the curriculum level and meeting the needs of manpower in the social services.

Dr Aline Wong: Yes, indeed at the polytechnic level, about five years ago, at the Nanyang Polytechnic we set up a School of Health Sciences in the areas of nursing, physiotherapy, occupational therapy, radiography and so on. This programme has met with substantial success and we were able to attract quite a large number of people into nursing. But this was after quite a lot of efforts on the part of the professional associations and the polytechnic. So now we are having a steady stream of polytechnic students doing these allied health courses.

For the Member's information, in July 1997, the Nanyang Polytechnic also introduced a 3-year full-time diploma course in Community Services Management. This has attracted 44 students. The course aims to train students to operate community-based organisations and also work in other types of organisations with a humanistic orientation in society. The expected career paths of these diploma holders include youth development officers, probation officers, social development officers and rehabilitation officers. In this way, through curriculum planning and expansion of courses, we are making it more accessible and more recognised among the school population to choose the caring professions as a career.

Mdm Claire Chiang See Ngoh: Will the Minister clarify that under the University Act, the Department of Social Work can then become a School of Social Work? Does the Minister think that this is an appropriate course of development in the long run to attract students to the Department to meet the manpower needs in social services?

Dr Aline Wong: In the planning for higher level manpower, one has to take into consideration the overall picture, eg, the proportion of tertiary educated people in our workforce and how they should be distributed among the different professions. This is something that we can certainly look at in the long run, ie, how to increase the proportion of people who are in the caring professions. I must stress again that no amount of education planning can force people to take a certain profession. There is a whole host of factors being taken into consideration by the students and parents. So it depends on whether over the years our society changes its attitude towards the position, the status and the worth of the work of the caring professions. Then we have to change and adapt accordingly.

Dr Lee Tsao Yuan: If the policy is to increase the supply of manpower to train specialists for the caring profession, then in as much as income is also one factor in considering working in the caring profession, should not measures also be taken to look into the salary structures for the people in the caring profession?

Dr Aline Wong: As far as the health care profession is concerned, MOH has been continuously revising its salary scales. As far as social workers are concerned, I am afraid the Member has to ask the Minister for Community Development.

1.30 pm

Mr Speaker: Order. End of Question time.

[Pursuant to Standing Order No. 21(3), Written answers to Question Nos. 10 to 18 on the Order Paper are reproduced in the section, "Written Answers to Questions for Oral Answer Not Answered by 1.30 pm" (Cols. 259-70). Question No. 19 has been postponed to the next sitting of Parliament.]