ESTIMATES OF EXPENDITURE FOR THE FINANCIAL YEAR 1ST APRIL, 1999 TO 31ST MARCH, 2000

Order read for consideration in Committee of Supply [7th Allotted Day].

[Mr Speaker in the Chair]

Head L (cont). -

Resumption of Debate on Question [17th March, 1999].

"That the total sum to be allocated for Head L of the Main Estimates be reduced by $100." - [Mr Loh Meng See].

Question again proposed.

Mr Peh Chin Hua (Jalan Besar): (In Mandarin): Sir, if we had not preserved our own language and tried to learn our culture through the use of another language, can we retain the essence of our own culture? I think it will be very difficult.

When I read the Chinese version of Shakespeare's works, I must first of all find out whether it was translated by the best translator. Even then, I cannot be sure whether the best translator can translate 100% of the quintessence of Shakespeare's works and the intricacies of the English culture at that time. Sir, it may not be very difficult to find a good Chinese translator. But, to get a very good Chinese translator who can genuinely understand the famous works of Shakespeare and the English culture will be extremely difficult.

If, after reading the Chinese translation of Shakespeare's works, I tell my English-educated friends that I have already understood the quintessence and intricacies of the English culture, I will certainly make a laughing stock of myself. Likewise, if my English-educated friend tells me that he has read the English translation of the Chinese classics, and has therefore fully understood the quitessence of the Chinese culture, I will just dismiss it with a laugh.

Sir, the bilingual language system implemented by the Singapore Government all these years is a very important education policy. It has at least trained Singaporeans to concurrently know two languages. If we say now that they know two languages (with English as the main language and mother tongue as the supplementary language) and our students will be able to understand the essence and intricacies of their own culture, it will hardly be convincing.

Today, only very few Singaporeans are truly effectively bilingual. Most Singaporeans are proficient only in one language and concurrently know another language. If they only "concurrently know" and are not proficient in Chinese, they can speak and listen, but not so good in reading and writing, it will be very difficult for them to genuinely understand and preserve the quintessence of Chinese culture. They may perhaps feel that although they are not proficient in Chinese, they can still preserve the essence of Chinese culture through the use of other languages. This is unrealistic. I have spent a lot of time reading and studying a Chinese translation of the Holy Quoran. Until now, I can only say that I know the Islamic teachings of my Malay compatriots a bit more than before.

Sir, personally I feel that people from different language backgrounds may be able to understand another language and culture through translation, but it will still be extremely difficult for them to fully comprehend the quintessence of that culture and strike up a sympathetic chord with it. In my view, most people can acquire only superficial understanding this way.

In the ancient Chinese classic "Chronicles by Zuo Qiuming", there is a saying, " With the skin gone, what can the hair adhere to?" - meaning a person or thing cannot exist without a basis. Therefore, I urge the Ministry of Education to avoid thinking that one could learn the quintessence of his own culture through another language. Only if our students can make conscientious efforts to pragmatically learn their own mother tongue, can they preserve the essence of their own culture. Moreover, Chinese culture is rich and profound with great compatibility with and accommodation for other foreign cultures. This will indeed be very important for a multi-racial, multi-lingual society in Singapore. This will indeed be of great help to Singapore's future development.

Mr Ang Mong Seng (Bukit Gombak): (In Mandarin): Sir, the Prime Minister said in his National Day Message in 1997 that our standard of Chinese should be enhanced so that we can nurture our Chinese elite. This is very important because of the regional needs. The Chinese market is now open. To establish better trade relations with China, we need to have people who have good command of the Chinese language. The Chinese elite can also contribute in the fields of journalism, politics, education, the arts and the community.

Every Chinese family should cultivate and practise Confucian teachings, such as honour the elder and respect the wise, filial piety and harmonious relations. In order to let the 5% of our students who have difficulties learning Chinese, the Government has proposed to set up a CL (B) programme to encourage them to carry on studying Chinese and learn their mother tongue. On the other hand, to attract more people to learn Chinese at a higher level, more students will be given the opportunity to take Higher Chinese.

In a recent dialogue session of the Feedback Unit, out of 32 attendees, 27, ie, 85%, supported this move. I hope that the Ministry of Education would ensure that the principals and teachers of our schools will understand the intention of this new policy, give it their full support so that the new policy can achieve the desired results. 12.45 pm

Sir, to produce students with a high Chinese standard, we need to have high quality teachers. As such, the Ministry of Education should take the training of Chinese teachers strictly and seriously. I would propose that the Ministry of Education set up a special college with Chinese elite lecturers to train our Chinese teachers to enhance their quality. At the same time, those who are now serving as Chinese teachers should be sent to this college or even overseas for specialised training, so that their standard of Chinese and their pedagogy can be further improved, and their professionalism enhanced. This is particularly important for Chinese teachers who are now 40 years of age and above. By now, they would have been teaching for some 20 years or more. They should be given the opportunity to attend some refresher courses to upgrade themselves.

I would like to ask the Minister whether there is a long-term plan to ensure that we have sufficient qualified Chinese teachers to teach Chinese and Higher Chinese to meet our future challenge.

Encik Ibrahim bin Othman (Bishan-Toa Payoh): (In Malay): Sir, I wish to declare my interest. I am a teacher.

Sir, the learning of the mother tongue has been made compulsory for students in all schools. Proficiency in the mother tongue will enable our students to inherit the culture of this community from the older generation. Recently, the Ministry of Education has decided to allow more Malay students to study Malay at Higher Malay level (HML) in secondary schools. This is most welcome by the Malay community. Today, 30% of the best Malay students at PSLE are allowed to take HML. More Malay students will have the opportunity to study Higher Malay at Secondary One level.

Sir, in view of the increasing number of students, I would like to ask if the Ministry of Education has provided competent teachers to teach Higher Malay effectively. Following that move, I would like to ask if Higher Malay will continue to be taught at Junior College and whether Malay Studies in the National University of Singapore can be taught at Honours level.

Sir, the Malay community needs students who are proficient in Malay who would take over from the current specialists in Malay such as Cikgu Mohamed Arif, Cikgu Masuri, Cikgu Suratman, and so on. I would like to ask the Minister for Education if the Ministry of Education will set up a committee to study the teaching and learning of Malay language in Singapore. This committee, I feel, will be able to make a study as to whether the Malay community wants an SAP school for Malay students or not.

In my view, we do not need a SAP school for Malay students. What has happened to the two well-known Malay schools, ie, Sang Nila Utama and Tun Sri Lanang Secondary Schools, will be a lesson for our community. To me, the move by the Ministry of Education today to place the top Malay students in 12 of the best schools such as Raffles Institution, RGS, Tanjong Katong, Cedar and Victoria Schools, and so on, is a wise move. And I feel that if there are 30% of the top Malay students, the number will be about 500. Certainly, the number of schools allocated will be increased. At these schools, they will be able to compete with students from other races of equal calibre and maybe even better. So they will have the opportunity to study and interact with other races. We can expect this group of students, who will be scholars of the community, to be the professionals who will be the pride of the Malay community in future.

I would like to propose that the Ministry provide additional teachers to teach Higher Malay (HML) in these schools. These schools will not only be able to teach Higher Malay and also outside the curriculum hours, they can introduce the Malay students to the culture, literature and heritage of the Malay community. In this way, we will ensure a group of Malay scholars who will be the role models of the younger generation.

I hope the Minister could give consideration to these proposals.

Mr S. Iswaran (West Coast): (In Tamil): Sir, the Indian community welcomes the recent announcement by the Ministry of Education of a review of the teaching and learning of Tamil. In recent times, the Indian students, parents as well as Tamil teachers, have expressed much concern over this matter. The feedback is that the standard and content of Tamil language should reflect the fact that it is being taught and learned as a second language within the Singaporean context. Otherwise, students would lose the interest in their mother tongue and culture.

I would like to ask for the Minister's response to some key questions that are being raised at this early stage of the review. Firstly, will the review be completed in time for implementation in the year 2000 so that another academic year is not lost? Secondly, will the eligibility criteria to do Higher Tamil at the primary and secondary levels be broadened as it has been for Mandarin and Malay? Thirdly, will the scope of the review cover the recruitment, deployment and development of Tamil teachers? In particular, will the Ministry be considering initiatives to enable students to learn Tamil in their school during curriculum time rather than having to go to Tamil centres after school?

I would like to ask the Minister for an update on the establishment of a Department for South-Asian Studies at the tertiary level. When will it start offering courses and will a Tamil module be included?

Mr Sin Boon Ann (Tampines): Sir, at a recent sitting of this House last year, I had said that the learning of our mother tongue gives us a sense of identity and bearing in our moral conduct. I thought then, and I still maintain now, that learning the mother tongue would help us preserve our cultural roots and give us a sense of identity. I also said then that the experience of the Chinese in Singapore is unique, only because we are geographically cut off from the others. Our experience may not be compared with the experience of the other ethnic Chinese in Taiwan, China or Hong Kong. There is, therefore, an increasing divergence in the manner in which cultural norms and practices are carried out. Two, three or four generations down the road, I am not sure if the Chinese in Singapore can say that we are culturally the same as the Chinese elsewhere in the world. Just take a look at the third and fourth generations of American born Chinese. If you listened to them speak with your eyes closed, you would be forgiven for mistaking that it is a non-Chinese who is speaking. How Chinese are they? Could their parents have prevented the tide of change by forcing the learning of the second language on them? Will their children or their grandchildren be as Chinese as they are 20 to 30 years down the road?

The introduction of the SAP schools and the policy of producing a new breed of Chinese cultural elites to my mind only serves to slow down the inevitable tide of change. The cultural norms of the Chinese in Singapore will continue to evolve in a way that is totally divorced from the developments in Taiwan, China and Hong Kong. Yes, there will be the external influences from these countries. However, the development of the Chinese culture in Singapore will not be the same. We have to accept it. Up until now, there has to my mind never been any clear policy statement on the part of our Government as to the extent to which Chinese in Singapore should preserve their Chineseness vis-a-vis their mainland counterparts. Be that as it may, there are clear indications that we are losing our edge on our Chinese speaking ability. We learn that an increasing number of households in Singapore are using English as the language of communication rather than Chinese. Even in households where the parents speak Chinese well, English is often substituted as the language of choice. Just looking at some of the programmes hosted by our Chinese comperes, many Chinese-speaking friends of mine had commented that they are still some distance away from their counterparts in mainland China or Taiwan. Someone once said in an exaggerated manner if only to prove a point, that our counterparts on television in China rattle off at 1,500 words a minute whereas we rattle off at 800 words a minute, and even then, we make mistakes. This limitation on our ability in the Chinese language did not come by chance. Our people suffer from a real handicap from speaking Chinese well, compared to the ethnic speakers of the language.

This is why we decided on the policy of ensuring that our standard in the Chinese language is not diluted further through the effluxion of time. We have decided therefore that the Chinese language should be preserved in the form of SAP schools and recently the promotion of the Chinese cultural elites that was perhaps to serve as a bulwark against the further erosion of our culture and heritage.

It is perhaps unfortunate, Sir, that the promotion and discussion of the teaching of Chinese in schools in a high profile and significant manner, such as the promotion of SAP schools, cannot yet be carried out in Singapore at the moment without the risk of being misunderstood. As it is, the very suggestion of promoting Chinese cultural elites is seen by others as possibly raising a new generation of Chinese leaders in Singapore who have little or no contact with minority members and who then, when placed in a position of public policy making, make decisions which show very little sympathy for the others.

Such fears, with all due respect, do not appear to be founded. In the first place, I believe that raising a new breed of cultural elites or the Chinese elites is not the same as raising political elites, or civil service elites. I have understood the term to mean, in the context of our recent debates, raising a group of Singaporeans who are highly skilled in the Chinese language, so that they in turn can act as custodians of the standard and quality of the spoken and written Chinese in Singapore.

Secondly, even if some of these cultural elites do become policy makers, it would be wrong to assume that having spent six to 12 years in a Chinese speaking environment, these people will not have any sympathy for the minorities. We seem to assume that these people live in a vacuum and would have no contact with the minority races. We have forgotten that 80% of our Chinese in Singapore live in housing estates which are multi-racial in composition. We have also forgotten that we have to do National Service which is also multi-racial in composition. In my own experience, I went to a school that did not have many members of the minority groups. Most of my friends then were predominantly Chinese. It did not matter for me, because right from young, the school taught me to respect the customs and beliefs of others who are not like me. The society that I operated in believes in the multi-racial principle and expects me to conduct myself accordingly. When I served my country in national service, I had plenty of opportunity to interact with the minority members and I got along well with them. I never had any problem if I had to fight to save my fellow Singaporean who may not be a Chinese.

Sir, Singapore is a multi-racial country and will continue to be so. Having said that, I would like to say that there are a number of principles that we should observe.

First, we are never a melting pot of cultures and should never be.

Secondly, we should maintain our distinct identity and let it evolve in its natural and different way. As I have said earlier, we can never be as Chinese as the Chinese in mainland China; and I am not sure whether we want to be. We should therefore not insist on maintaining standards at all costs, as it may come across as being chauvinistic to others. We should not be ashamed to say that as Chinese, our cultural practices have evolved in its own unique way.

Thirdly, each ethnic group in Singapore must accept and respect the desire of other ethnic groups to maintain its own identity through its cultural practices, including the teaching of the mother tongue so long as these practices do not harm or affect the interest of the larger society. In this regard, we cannot demand, for instance, that schools run by the clan associations and which have a history of providing a total environment for the teaching of the mother tongue be required to teach non-Chinese as second language and, in the process, alter the character of the school. As long as there are enough schools in the area, there is no compelling reason why long established policies should change. 1.00 pm

Fourthly, our belief in maintaining our separate and distinct identity should always be subordinated to the demands of national and social cohesion. While we want to preserve and promote our mother tongue and prevent it from being adulterated, we should be aware that rifts may be created within our society as well. We are at the moment beginning to see indications of this. Take the teaching of Chinese language, for instance. We have over the years evolved the teaching of the Chinese language to the extent that we have differentiated between those who are able to take Chinese at first level and those who are not. In class and status conscious Singapore, this is a constant source of pressure and unhappiness. And now, we have created a new super class of the Chinese elites, giving much concern to the others about how this would affect our multiracial society as we know it.

Additionally, care should be given when relocating clan schools that do not offer Chinese as a second language to the residential neighbourhoods. It would surely be a recipe for unhappiness if the school was the only school within a one kilometre radius and the minority groups are told that they are not eligible to apply and would have to go elsewhere where they may not have any priority in admitting their children. I am not saying that our language policies at the moment have resulted in any undermining of our national unity that we enjoy today. However, I would say that if in maintaining our present language policies, there is a great deal of unhappiness to a point where social cohesion is eroded in the process, the Government should step back and reassess its bearings to see if it is worth the sacrifice.

Sir, in reviewing the Ministry's policy on the teaching of mother tongue, I would urge the Minister to bear in mind what I have just said.

Mr Hawazi Daipi (Sembawang): (In Malay): Sir, in the Ministry's efforts to improve the teaching of mother tongues, the quality of teachers should be given emphasis. This is relevant to all mother tongues.

On the issue of Malay language teaching in schools, the younger Malay teachers, like most other young teachers in Singapore, are likely to have had an English-based education and most would have taken Malay as a second language. With regard to this, how competent are they in teaching ML1 or higher level Malay?

The Minister for Education has stated that the percentage of students taking ML1 will be increased from 20% to 30%. Are there currently enough Malay Language teachers to be able to cope with an increase of students from 350 at present levels to 500 in the next year? If we are short of Malay language teachers, how will the Ministry increase the number?

Like other professions that are based on vernacular languages, for example, journalism in Mandarin, Tamil and Malay in Singapore, we are likely to see continued shortage of capable people to teach the mother tongues, particularly at the higher language level. We can always look at the possibility of recruiting suitable teachers from overseas to fill the need for such teachers. But we can actually still tap the local talent pool for language teaching if we provide the proper incentives. The Ministry should consider offering scholarship to `A' level holders who are deemed capable to teach the mother tongues at a higher level. At the same time, the Ministry should also state clearly that second language teachers who have the leadership potential stand a chance to be promoted not just up to the level of senior subject teacher, but also to the level of Principal or Vice-Principal.

Mr Tay Beng Chuan (Nominated Member): (In Mandarin): Sir, last year, the Government announced a new policy on the teaching of Chinese Language. Since then, there have been numerous debates, and both educators and laymen have expressed keen interest on the subject. Judging from the new policy promulgated, the Government's approach is very pragmatic for it not only concerns itself with the nurturing of Chinese elite, but also takes heed of the need for Chinese language to be learnt by everybody, and to create an environment conducive to the learning and application of Chinese. In this regard, the policy has laid down a solid foundation. However, I would like to raise a question on the CL `B' course which many people are concerned with.

In Singapore, there are indeed some students who have found the learning of Chinese an uphill struggle because of certain special background and lack of conducive conditions, and have therefore lost interest. Some people are even worried that this will affect the future prospects of these students. In order to help these students, the Government has devised an easier CL `B' course.

However, in reply to my question on 11th February, the Minister for Education stated categorically that no student will be deprived of a place in the university just because of poor performance in his mother tongue. Students who have failed their mother tongue were not successful in gaining admission to the university because their results in the other subjects were also not up to the required standard.

Furthermore, relevant figures published by the Ministry of Education in the newspapers on 1st February showed that only 1% of the O' level and A' level students failed in Chinese. According to the Ministry, only 260 students out of last year's cohort of 26,000 failed their Chinese papers. This shows that the vast majority of students do not face too much of an obstacle in learning Chinese.

We cannot help asking, "Why do we go through all the trouble and mobilize so much resources to set up the CL `B' course just to cater for this small group of 200-odd students?" Some people may even say that the Government is "making a mountain out of a mole-hill". Moreover, the failure of these students may well be due to some complex factors, involving the learning environment and the attitude of the students. This is a problem that cannot be resolved just by lowering the standard of the curriculum.

Of course, we must not neglect the plight of this small group of students and their future. But looking at it from a wider perspective, to formulate a new course will entail a huge amount of manpower, financial and material resources. Will this be in keeping with practical economic efficiency? Moreover, under our present secondary education system, the Chinese language course has already been split into "Higher Chinese" and "Ordinary Chinese" to suit the progress of learning of the students. Now, we are going to have yet another lower-standard CL B'. Will this not lead to uneven standards in the Chinese language in our schools? Besides, will the students who opt to take CL B' not become "extra-territorial beings" and be alienated from the present mainstream Chinese? What is more worrying is that by the use of this "downgrading" method to help the students learn their Chinese, the effect may well be counter-productive. The end-result is: students will avoid learning their mother tongue, become opportunistic and take the easy way out.

To students who are weak in Chinese, we must suit the medicine to the illness, and give them ample opportunities of study and immersion. Use more counselling and flexible methods of teaching, to enable them to master Chinese by following the prescribed order according to the curriculum indicators, thereby enhancing their interest in the learning of the Chinese language and literature.

I fully agree with the Government's decision to set the university admission criteria based on a point system, and students who fail to obtain the minimum pass of a D7 in their mother tongue will be granted a provisional admission, provided the said students enrol for a one-month mother tongue course during the University Year I vacation and pass the prescribed examination thereof.

I firmly believe that if the university can continue to implement this norm of strengthening the students' learning of their mother tongue, ensure that the students have adequate time to learn their mother tongue, and adopt flexible teaching methods, it can prevent the students from alienating themselves from the Chinese mainstream, and at the same time enable the students to master their Chinese in an environment conducive to learning.

Sir, today we are able to live harmoniously with our brothers of various races, and together contribute to the development of our nation. This can be attributed to the mutual understanding and tolerance among the various ethnic communities. Therefore, we must continue to preserve and uphold the deep bonding among us and promote mutual cultural exchanges among ourselves. In view of this, apart from encouraging our people to learn their own mother tongue, we should also encourage everyone to learn the language and culture of the other races.

I suggest that the Ministry conduct non-examination courses on ethnic languages and cultures in the primary and secondary schools as an optional subject or an extra-curricular activity. This will provide our students with better understanding of the other ethnic communities and improve communications among them.

This is especially so for the Malay language. It is not only one of our official languages, but also the main working language of our immediate neighbours. Therefore, encouraging our people to learn Malay and understand the culture of our fellow citizens not only helps to enhance our social cohesiveness but is also an important way to promote friendly dealings with and better understanding of our people and the people of our neighbouring countries.

Sir, I hope that the Ministry of Education will give the proposal of offering the option of CL `B' a further and deeper re-thinking. Make an overall evaluation of the pros and cons, so as not to commit the mistake of "trying to save a little only to lose a lot". At the same time, please give my suggestion of having non-examination courses on ethnic languages and culture some serious consideration.

The Chairman: I would like to remind Members that "guillotine" time is at 1.55 pm and I urge them to be very brief in their speeches. Mr Rai.

Mr Shriniwas Rai (Nominated Member): Sir, I will forgo my text and speak.

The Chairman: As long as you are brief.

Mr Shriniwas Rai: Sir, let me congratulate Mr Iswaran for having spoken in Tamil. He has made us all proud and the Indian community proud. This is the first time I am hearing Tamil since I entered the House. I hope more Tamil will be heard. The only Tamil here is the translated Tamil.

Sir, Singapore's bilingual policy has been the cornerstone of our education. I applaud the Government's and Minister's assurance that it will be so, despite SAP schools and other measures.

Sir, I would like to continue where Mr Iswaran has left. As far as the Indian community is concerned, in fact last year, I rose to speak on the question of Tamil language, and being a small community, we do not have the resources to propagate Tamil language as the other communities have. Therefore, I would urge the Government to give us a helping hand which we need. Being the underdogs, we require some help and support from the Government and the community at large. 1.15 pm

Sir, there is this problem that, in many schools in Singapore, there are not enough Tamil teachers. So the children have to go to another school in the afternoon. May I make a suggestion to the Minister? Probably, we should appoint roving teachers who could cover two neighbouring schools. The other alternative is this. This has been experimented in the Hindi centre which runs Hindu classes. There are many expatriate teachers from India who have settled here. In fact, the experience of the Hindu Centre is that most of the teachers were trained in India and they have done very well. Could I suggest to the Minister to try and get these teachers on a part-time basis? They could cover many schools and, in this way, the Tamil students will not be disadvantaged.

The other problem, which I feel ought to be also addressed, is the question of standard, to which the Minister and BG Lee have both given assurance. It is important for the Indian community, especially the Tamil community, that the language which we are going to teach the students reflects the existing standard. Let us not take Tamil Nadu as our yardstick. Our linguistic requirements and our environment are different. So, we must nurture the Tamil language. I am glad that Tamil Murasu is doing its best and I am happy that its circulation is going up. But what is required is an effort to see that the Tamil language is reflective of our standard here.

Another area, which I would like to ask the Minister to consider, is Higher Tamil. Because, as my Malay friend, Mr Hawazi, earlier pointed out, most of the Indian students offer Tamil, as a second language, and unlike the SAP schools, the standard will definitely be lower. I would urge the Minister to consider ways and means of having more Tamil students offering Tamil at higher level.

Mr Zulkifli bin Baharudin (Nominated Member): Sir, I just like to ask the Minister whether he would consider allowing school premises to be used for religious classes after office hours at certain designated schools, and, of course, taught by religious teachers from outside. I say this because for some parents who want to have their children to have both religious and secular education, they can go to aided or mission schools. For others, they go to secular schools in the day, for example, and the later part of the day, they go to religious schools. The travelling time is quite difficult for the children. But on a broader side, I thought if we can somehow teach religion in a more secular environment, I think there is a wider benefit to students and to all of us. Of course, schools can be better utilised and perhaps we can keep these students longer in school.

The Minister for Education (RAdm Teo Chee Hean): Sir, first, I would like to acknowledge and thank Members and members of the public as well for the many useful suggestions and the feedback that they have provided. We will take this into account when we design our systems and recommendations for mother tongue languages.

Firstly, I wish to re-affirm our policy objective in the teaching of mother tongue, which is to have every Singaporean study his mother tongue for as long as possible, and to as high a level as possible. I note the concerns expressed by Mr Tay Beng Chuan on the CL B' syllabus. I would like to reassure Members that strong incentives and disincentives will be put in place to encourage students to offer CL, rather than CL B', if they have the ability to handle the CL. The reason why we are doing this, as we have stated earlier in this House, is that out of the top 30% of students, one in 10 of them is in the bottom 30% for CL. Out of the top 30% of students in English, Mathematics and Science, one out of 10 is at the bottom 30% of CL. So there is some concern in this area, and it leads us to believe that there is a difference in distribution of ability when it comes to language versus other subjects. The Ministry is studying the design and implementation of the CL `B' syllabus, and we should be ready to announce the details later this year. Yesterday, I have already explained the reasons for arriving at our current bilingual policy in our schools and I do not propose to go through that again.

Mr Peh Chin Hua has said that to imbibe culture properly, students must master the language, and being able to listen, understand and speak the language are not good enough. They must possess good, perhaps outstanding reading and writing skills as well. I completely agree with Mr Peh. Obviously, if you have the mastery of the language, you can imbibe and absorb the culture much better. But that is not the point. The point that we are trying to address, at least in part of the proposal for the CL programme, is that for those who have difficulties coping with the language, are we better off also to give them some sense of the richness of the culture, even though it is via other languages than not to try at all? I think that is the point. But it is quite clear that if you want to completely imbibe the culture and the richness of the culture, it is best done in its own language.

There are also other non-language written sources of culture which are very good. For example, there are a lot of audio-visual materials, and a great deal about Chinese culture has been written by people who have studied in other languages. I think we should not confine ourselves to just insisting on transmitting culture and cultural values via this medium. I think we will be unnecessarily limiting ourselves. And, in fact, during the Chinese Language Review, many parents have provided feedback of how they got their children, who are weak in Chinese, to be interested in learning more about Chinese culture and folklore through reading translated versions of famous works, such as "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" and so on. And perhaps, subsequently, they will then pick up some interest and a greater interest in the language and they want to go back to the language. So I think these are mutually supporting pillars.

One incentive we have in place today to encourage students to offer Higher mother tongue at the secondary level is the award of two bonus points for admission to junior colleges, for students who pass higher mother tongue in the GCE `O' level examinations. This has increased the pipeline of students who are doing higher mother tongue.

We have recently announced the expansion of the Chinese Language Elective Programme to a third junior college. This will allow these students to develop themselves at a higher level and to go on to be able to become part of the Chinese literary elite which we are talking about.

The recent announcement on the teaching and learning of Chinese language in schools has also elicited feedback from the minority communities. First, let me reiterate that students from the minority communities will not be disadvantaged by the changes. The Ministry of Education will apply the same philosophy for the Chinese language to our other mother tongue languages.

For the Malay language, I have discussed the current status of the teaching and learning of ML in schools with our Malay MPs, and we agreed that it would be useful to carry out a review, as suggested by a Member over there. It is timely for us to take a look at ML teaching to see if we can make improvements, and if we can do more for those doing Higher Malay. Our initial assessment is that Malay students are faring reasonably well in Malay language, but that some non-Malay students who are doing Malay language may be having difficulties. So, the study will look at this and other areas.

The Ministry of Education will spearhead this review. I have invited Minister Abdullah Tarmugi to sit on this Committee with me. Other members will include Parliamentary Secretary, Mr Mohamad Maidin, and our colleague, Mr Hawazi Daipi. It will also have Ministry of Education officials and language experts. The Committee will have access to all the resources of the Ministry, and will seek the views of parents, teachers and others where these are helpful.

The review is expected to be completed by about the end of March next year. Some of the recommendations on the teaching and learning of Chinese language can be considered for adoption for the Malay language. In any case, two specific recommendations that we will already be implementing, starting from the year 2000, are the relaxation of the criteria for students to offer Higher Chinese at Primary 5 and Secondary 1.

In the case of the Tamil language, a review is already under way. I expect that this review will take about a year to complete before it is ready to be implemented. A TL Advisory Committee, chaired by Mr Iswaran, is providing inputs and feedback to the Ministry.

One of the issues being studied is the standard of TL. Some members of the public have written to the press to share the difficulties that their children face in learning TL and, at the same time, we have other calls that suggest that the level of TL is not quite high enough. More than 50% of Primary 1 pupils offering TL today come from predominantly English-speaking homes. As part of the review, the Ministry of Education will carry out an in-depth evaluation of the current TL syllabus and textbooks, analyse performance at major examinations, and gather feedback from students, parents and teachers.

Besides reviewing the TL syllabus, we will also study whether there is a need for a second TL syllabus, or TL `B', for the small minority of students who, despite putting in a great amount of effort at school and at home, still do badly in TL.

For students who are strong in the language, the relaxation of the criteria at Primary 5 and Secondary 1 would also be implemented for Higher Tamil. The Ministry will also review the current standard of Higher Tamil, to ensure that it is pitched at an appropriate level, in relation to the international benchmark, Tamil Nadu, but at the same time, recognising the different context within which students learn Tamil in Singapore.

On Mr Tay Beng Chuan's point on learning yet more languages, Malay in particular. Those who are able are already encouraged to do so, and some students do three languages. But these are exceptionally able students. For most students, they have quite enough on their plate already, by trying to master two languages.

Mr Ang Mong Seng, Mr Ibrahim bin Othman, Mr Hawazi Daipi and Mr Shriniwas Rai have rightly pointed out whether we achieve our intended objectives in the teaching of mother tongues, depends critically on our mother tongue language teachers. I would like to assure Members that the Ministry has been stepping up its recruitment of mother tongue language teachers to meet the needs of our schools.

The number of graduates and `A' level holders recruited to teach Chinese language, for example, has increased by four-fold since 1995, to 193 in 1998. The increase is nearly two-fold for Malay language teachers, to 60 in 1998. In the case of Tamil language, the number of teachers recruited has decreased from 44 in 1995 to 18 in 1998. This is because of lower replacement needs, but the recruitment levels are still generally sufficient to cover our long-term replacement needs.

Due to the stepped up recruitment efforts over the past three years, the staffing situation for mother tongue teachers in the schools today is not perfect but relatively good. With the current batch of NIE trainees posted to schools in the middle of this year, the average teacher vacancy per school for the mother tongue languages will be about 0.3.

To further increase the pool of mother tongue teachers, especially for the primary schools, besides the graduates and A' level holders, we have introduced a 4-year Diploma in Mother Tongue Language Education, started in 1997. This is to recruit O' level holders who have done well academically in their mother tongue language, and have the interest to teach the language at the primary level. Over the past two years, about 30 CL candidates per year have been recruited into this programme. The figures for ML and TL are 60 and 20 per year respectively.

The training that teachers undergo in this programme is very rigorous. In the first two years, the mother tongue language proficiency of the trainee teachers will be raised to at least `A' level standard. They will study higher mother tongue and Literature intensively. In the final two years, the trainees will take pedagogical studies and continue to study higher mother tongue and Literature. The first batch of candidates from this programme will graduate from NIE and be deployed to our primary schools starting in the year 2001.

In the interim, to ensure enough mother tongue teachers for the schools, retired and retiring mother tongue teachers, who have a good performance record will be re-employed. The Ministry will, at the same time, also intensify its mother tongue teacher recruitment efforts, both locally and overseas, and we will take the various suggestions into account.

Apart from ensuring that a sufficient number of other mother tongue teachers are recruited, the Ministry also pays attention to the quality of the teachers recruited. The number of graduates recruited to teach the mother tongue languages has nearly doubled from 82 in 1995 to 154 in 1998.

The number of teaching scholarships and awards granted for other mother tongue language studies has also increased by four-fold, from 7 in 1995 to 29 in 1998. More serving non-graduate mother tongue teachers have also been granted study leave to pursue a university degree. A total of 183 applications were approved in 1998, and this is a significant increase from 1995 when only 20 applications were approved. 1.30 pm

Sir, the Ministry of Education recognises the importance of constantly upgrading our mother tongue teachers' proficiency, and ensuring that their teaching methodology remains relevant. Besides scholarships and awards, seminars, workshops, training courses and briefings are organised on a regular basis. Examples of recent training include workshops on the use of IT in the teaching of the mother tongue languages. And MOE's curriculum specialists also monitor the teaching of the mother tongue languages to provide teachers with the necessary guidance and advice.

I would like to assure Mr Hawazi that while it is true that the younger Malay teachers were educated in the English medium and most of them studied Malay at the second language level, these teachers are native speakers of Malay and have done well in the subject. Furthermore, the training at NIE for Malay language teaching is intensive and covers both knowledge of the language as well as appropriate methodology in language education. Our young Malay teachers are competent teachers of the Malay language. And those Malay language teachers who are more experienced or who have studied the language at higher levels are deployed to teach Higher Malay.

I would also like to assure Mr Hawazi that mother tongue teachers are considered for promotion to higher appointments, whether they are Heads of Departments, Vice Principals or Principals in the same way as any other teacher is considered for appointment to these posts. The Ministry is always looking for good Principals and Vice Principals and it will make no sense for us to exclude any group if they are able to perform these roles.

Sir, the Ministry will continue to intensify its efforts in both recruitment and training. The more mother tongue teachers we can recruit, and the better we can equip them with the skills to deliver lessons that are interesting and innovative, the higher the quality of mother tongue instruction in our schools.

Sir, may I proceed to some other specific areas that Members have raised? Firstly, with regard to various studies in the universities. There was a question on Malay Studies at Honours level. I think that really depends on whether there is a demand from the students. I will ask NUS to consider this.

As for the South Asian Studies Programme (SASP), this will be launched at NUS' Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences at the beginning of academic year 1999/2000. Preparations for the SASP's implementation have proceeded smoothly, and the Faculty will be ready to admit its first cohort of students in July. But we must remember that the South Asian Studies Programme is not a Tamil Studies Programme, but there will be Tamil language modules offered as electives. This will provide an opportunity for those students who wish to pursue Tamil language at a higher level to do so, but it is not primarily a Tamil language programme. Tamil language will also be available as cross faculty modules to students of other faculties in NUS.

Finally, Sir, on the question of religious education being conducted in schools. In fact, today, we do allow religious education to be conducted in schools for preparing students to take religious knowledge examinations in the approved courses at the 'N' or the 'O' level. For example, Islamic Religious Knowledge (IRK) is an elective subject taught outside curriculum time but in schools, and it may be offered in English or in Malay. In 1998, I am told there were four schools serving as IRK centres, but this year, because there are fewer pupils offering IRK, I think there is only one school offering IRK in Malay. So this is already possible, but this is only for students taking religious knowledge courses which are leading to an 'N' or an 'O' level programme.

Mr Loh Meng See (Kampong Glam): Sir, I wish to speak on technical education, specifically on the Institute of Technical Education (ITE).

Sir, ITE graduates provide the critical pool of technicians and skilled workers in Singapore's economy. In the knowledge-based economy, ITE needs to adjust and adapt their courses to suit the new requirements of the manufacturing and services sectors. I wish to ask how is ITE preparing the students for the new skills and competencies required.

Sir, language proficiency is important in the knowledge economy. Is language learning given due emphasis at ITE? A number of students are 'N' level students entering ITE. I would like to know for those who wish to pursue further to GCE 'O' levels, what arrangements are being made to help them to do the GCE 'O' levels? How well are ITE graduates doing to qualify for polytechnic education? Because if many ITE students know that there is a route for upgrading, I think more will be interested in ITE education. Can more be done to improve the number of ITE graduates entering into polytechnics?

ITE has emphasised the importance of apprenticeship training. Many parents and students, however, shun such apprenticeship training, because of the long years of commitment and, most probably, the bonded service. Enlightened employers actually are the ones who like apprenticeship training, because they see the value of it, and they know that they would not be able to recruit employees with the specific skills required from the open market. Therefore, they are very open to apprenticeship training. Even in today's adverse business conditions, skilled workers are the ones keeping their jobs. ITE graduates with good skills and experience credentials have the best prospects of stable and secure life-long careers. Sir, I would like to know from the Minister what is being done to attract more of their students into apprenticeship training.

ITE also suffers from the poor image as an institution of poor achievers. Unless we remove that stigma, it would be difficult to raise the self-esteem of the students and attract good students to join them. The students may not be academically inclined, but are gifted in technical subjects and in working with their hands.

Finally, Sir, many ITE graduates have been successful in their jobs and careers. They serve as good examples and role models to encourage others to follow. More media promotion and publicity efforts should be undertaken to show the vast improvements in training facilities and resources at the ITE. In fact, many of us would be surprised with the very modern facilities that we have. Perhaps ITE could work with the community organisations to change the attitude and perception of the public towards ITE training.

Sir, may the Minister respond?

The Senior Minister of State for Education (Mr Peter Chen): Sir, thank you for allowing me to respond at this time on the points on ITE and technical education raised by Mr Loh Meng See.

I would like to thank Mr Loh, first of all, for pointing out the critical role played by ITE graduates in Singapore's economy. Technical education has indeed been critical in the development of Singapore into an industrialised nation. The thousands of ITE and polytechnic graduates we have trained constitute our national human resource of technical skills. The industries of today and of the future all require modern technology. They require enormous capital investment and technical skills at all levels - the engineer, the assistant engineer, supervisor, technician and the common operator. Our ITE and polytechnic graduates join the ranks of this important group of people.

As we move towards a knowledge-based economy, technical skills remain just as important. A knowledge-based economy is not just about producing new ideas. It is also about experimenting, testing and prototyping of ideas. And, more important, it is the subsequent transformation of these ideas into products or services that makes the real money.

This whole process continues to require the support of technical skills in every phase and at all levels. There is, however, a new dimension. More than ever, it requires our workers to have a new mindset, one that requires them to be adaptable to rapid technological changes and have a passion for continual life-long learning. Our polytechnics and ITE have always stayed relevant to the needs and development of our economy.

To prepare students for the future economy, polytechnics and our ITE have already started to reshape the curriculum and programmes. ITE, in particular, makes sure that students undergo a minimum of 20 hours of ITE basic skills training, 40 hours of industrial and social studies and 80 hours of communication skills training, which includes language capabilities in both written and oral presentation skills.

On the point of the image of an ITE education, there is nothing to be ashamed of if we are not of PhD material. However, all of us are born with some talent, although not all of us are born with the same talent. My Ministry believes that every student should be developed to his fullest potential, depending on his capability and interest. In 1994, we introduced the Normal (Technical) Stream in secondary schools. This is to ensure that everyone attains a minimum of 10 years of basic education before he starts his training in technical skills. The first cohort of Normal (Technical) Stream was admitted into ITE in January 1998. At the end of the first year, 93% of them passed the first year examinations. This is the same rate as their 'O' level counterparts in the same courses. They have indeed done well.

For students who have a strong technical inclination, ITE's apprenticeship trainee scheme is an attractive form of technical training where you earn as you learn. Apprentices take pride in their work and are valued for their good technical and practical skills. That is why when they complete their courses, they command a higher salary, 20% more than those who complete full-time institutional training. I would like to encourage students and parents to consider seriously the ITE apprenticeship training as an attractive option to take. An apprentice earns as much as $800 per month even as he learns.

Mr Loh mentioned also the reluctance of some parents to send their children to take up this apprenticeship training scheme, because of bonding. That is unfortunate. But fortunate in the sense that today, 85% of the apprenticeship training places do not require bonding. I am not sure whether this is responding to the market or not.

Since the establishment of ITE in 1992, concerted efforts have been made to improve the public perception of an ITE education. I would like to thank the media for the strong support given to ITE and its students.

Today, the quality of ITE intake has improved considerably. 90% of the intake are students from the 'O' and 'N' levels. ITE graduates continue to be widely accepted by our industries. Despite the economic downturn, 96% of ITE graduates last year managed to obtain their first full-time job offer within three months of graduation. The monthly average salary has also remained stable at $1,233 per month. The proof of the pudding is in the eating! 1.45 pm

The importance which the Government places on technical education is evident in the investment of $371 million in modern facilities for ITE over the last 10 years. This is in addition to the $1.7 billion of infrastructure investment in the four polytechnics. ITE today has better facilities, better teaching staff and better students. ITE today has earned its name as a reputable post-secondary institute of technical education. ITE graduates can walk out of its gates with their heads held high, straight into jobs, and in many cases, into a polytechnic. Indeed, there are many role models ITE students and graduates can look up to. Every year, new and fresh publications of the courses and the success story of ITE graduates are published.

Mr Yeo Guat Kwang (Cheng San): Sir, the reports in the Straits Times of 23rd August 1998 and 17th November 1998 highlighted the plight of an increasing number of students at our schools who are unable to pay for their school fees and textbooks.

Sir, the qualifying income of $530 for our MOE's assistance scheme is too low. The main household income of a 1-room flat was reported to be $630 way back in 1987. Last week a resident came to seek my help at my meet-the-people session. He earned a monthly income of $650, has four school going children to support, two in secondary and two in primary schools. I think we should consider the per capita. I hope the Ministry will do a comprehensive review of the matter.

Mr Low Thia Khiang: (In Mandarin): Sir, we all know about the incident at Jin Tai Secondary School where, in conjunction with the Total Defence Day, an exercise simulating the historical invasion of Singapore by the Japanese troops was conducted.

According to the newspaper report, the teachers and students in the school did not know that there was going to be such an exercise. After the 400-odd teachers and students had assembled in the school auditorium, the lights went off, and six masked men dressed up as Japanese soldiers suddenly appeared, shouting and yelling. Some students were ordered to kneel down, while some were forcibly dragged on to the stage. Some were slapped and many were sobbing and crying. According to the Straits Times report, even some teachers were punished by the "Japanese soldiers" and forced to kneel down facing the stage.

This Jin Tai Secondary School exercise has left me with some deep thinking. Firstly, the teachers and students did not know beforehand that this was just an exercise. Secondly, there were more than 400 teachers and students and only eight simulated "Japanese soldiers", including the two standing guard outside the door. They were overwhelmingly outnumbered, and unarmed. Thirdly, more than 400 people, including teachers, timidly submitted to the six unknown invaders, and allowed them to do whatever they wanted in the school auditorium.

My first reaction was that of a great shock. How could the 400 teachers and students, who clearly outnumbered the six unarmed members of the National Cadet Corps who acted as Japanese soldiers, allow themselves to be humiliated in this manner? Moreover, the teachers and students were not forewarned of such an exercise. Did they think that this was the real thing and were so scared that they did not have the strength to defend themselves? Or is it because they decided to be worldly wise and played safe to avoid worse treatment? Having thought about all these, I just could not help feeling dejected.

Of course, I was not present at that time, and I do not know what was in the minds of those who were present. But I feel that this incident has indeed inspired us to think over and make an in-depth study on what has become of our people and our society in these 30 years of nation building.

I remember that in the early years of our nation building, the then Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew said that we should build a staunch and vigorous society. It is with this connotation that we selected the lion and the tiger to put in our State emblem.

Yet, from the reaction of the teachers and students in the Jin Tai Secondary School's exercise, I cannot help asking how much we have achieved in our target of building a staunch and vigorous society. Is it because under the strong authoritarian control of our Government, our people have become soft. Our people have developed the kiasu mentality and the social value of being afraid to get into trouble. Since Singapore is just a little red dot in the ocean of Southeast Asia, what kind of impact will this mentality have on our future and security of our nation?

Sir, I have no answer to this question. Due to time constraint, I will not be able to go into details on how the social values and mentality of our people today are closely related to the style of governance of the political leaders in this country.

However, this incident has reminded me of a small article in the Lianhe Zaobao which said that when the Government was adjusting its language policy, a reporter tried to interview a student but the student did not dare to be interviewed because his school principal was attending a meeting and he would not commit himself. He insisted that without the principal's approval, he could not agree to the interview.

With regard to the Jin Tai Secondary School's incident, could it also be because the principal was attending a meeting, and the teachers and students could not decide for themselves? They did not know whether to put up a resistance or to submit timidly. As a result, they were humiliated for no rhyme or reason, and they did not even dare to make any noise. My goodness, all is lost!

In our National Education, I think emphasis should be given on how to inculcate in our younger generation of Singaporeans the spirit of resistance and defence. They should be cultivated to rise up and resist any injustice and unreasonable treatment upon them. They should not be left at their wits' end when confronted by a sudden attack or invasion.

Mr Peter Chen: In view of the time, I shall try to be brief. Mr Yeo Guat Kwang raised the concern about financial assistance for needy students. Yes, indeed, the threshold at which assistance is given does appear low, but one must bear in mind that the Ministry of Education is also following the guidelines set by the Ministry of Community Development. This is something which one has to look at. However, no student in Singapore who wants to study in our school has been denied a place in a school for want of financial assistance. If there are any cases, we will be very happy to look at them. There are numerous agencies and sources of funding. This year alone, the Ministry expects to offer financial assistance to nearly 3,000 students totalling $340,000. But this is in addition to the help given by schools, community and charity organisations. The involvement of the community is important. For example, in 1997, nearly 53,000 awards totalling more than $11 million were given by CCCs and CDCs to our students. More will also be done at the universities. The Government has decided to increase the cap of the dollar for dollar matching for NTU's and NUS' student funds from half a million dollars to three-quarter million dollars. More bursaries and book grants for the needy undergraduates will now be possible.

On National Education, Mr Low Thia Khiang has raised the point that perhaps our students have become soft judging by the recent incidents at our school. I agree with Mr Low. Perhaps, in many ways, we are a victim of our own success. We have become prosperous and perhaps we have become somewhat soft over the years. It is because of that that we do want to promote resilience among our students and we can only do this by actually bringing reality and imagination to National Education lessons. I would also ask perhaps that Mr Low should not be too over critical and begin to finger-point scapegoats because we do not really want to discourage the continuation of these innovative and lively ways of bringing reality to our lessons.

Mr Simon Tay has earlier on very eloquently pleaded that this sort of activities should continue rather than be stopped. The answer is not to stop it but to make sure that our processes are right and well thought through. I would therefore thank Mr Low for pointing this out. Indeed, we do agree that perhaps our success has made us somewhat soft and we would try to do more to move in the opposite direction.

Mr Low Thia Khiang: Sir, I just wish to clarify that it was not my intention to pinpoint anyone as a scapegoat. It was not my intention.

Mr Peter Chen: Thank you.

The Chairman: Mr Tay, would you like to ask a quick question?

Mr Simon Tay: No.

The Chairman: All right. Would you want to ask your question quickly, Mr Rai?

Mr Shriniwas Rai: Could I ask the Minister to set up more boarding schools?

Mr Peter Chen: Currently, there are already eight Government funded school hostels providing around 1,900 places to both local and foreign students. Two other hostels with 1,000 more places will be ready by the year 2001. This is to encourage families who are working and residing overseas to send their children back to study in Singapore. In order to do that, the Ministry has put in place a boarding award scheme in July 1998. The award provides for 50% of boarding fees for students who are studying in Singapore's secondary schools and is given until they complete their secondary education and for as long as the parents continue to work overseas. That is the good news. The bad news is that there are only 19 students on the scheme.

Mr Loh Meng See: Sir, I beg leave to withdraw my amendment.

Amendment, by leave, withdrawn.

The sum of $3,412,428,860 for Head L ordered to stand part of the Main Estimates.

The sum of $2,305,892,700 for Head L ordered to stand part of the Development Estimates.

The Chairman: I shall now deal with the remaining heads of expenditure in respect of which no amendments stand on the Order Paper Supplement.

In respect of the Main Estimates, they are Heads C, D, F, G and Z.

I propose to take those heads of expenditure en bloc.

Question, "That the sums stated for those Heads of Expenditure which appear in the last column of the Schedule of estimated expenditure under the Main Estimates on page 37 of Paper Cmd. 2 of 1999 stand part of the Main Estimates," put and agreed to.

The Chairman: In respect of the Development Estimates, they are Heads C and F. I propose to take those heads of expenditure en bloc.

Question, "That the sums stated for those Heads of Expenditure which appear in the last column of the Schedule of estimated expenditure under the Development Estimates on page 38 of Paper Cmd. 2 of 1999 stand part of the Development Estimates," put and agreed to.

Question, "That the sum of $38,958,979,030 shall be supplied to the Government under the Heads of Expenditure for the public services shown in the Main Estimates for the financial year 1st April, 1999 to 31st March, 2000, contained in Paper Cmd. 2 of 1999," put and agreed to.

Question, "That the sum of $33,179,068,000 shall be supplied to the Government under the Heads of Expenditure for the public services shown in the Development Estimates for the financial year 1st April, 1999 to 31st March, 2000, contained in Paper Cmd. 2 of 1999," put and agreed to.

Resolutions to be reported.

Thereupon Mr Speaker left the Chair of the Committee and took the Chair of the House.

Dr Richard Hu Tsu Tau: Mr Speaker, Sir, I beg to report that the Committee of Supply have come to certain resolutions.

First Resolution reported -

Question, "That the first resolution of the Committee of Supply is that the sum of $38,958,979,030 shall be supplied to the Government under the Heads of Expenditure for the public services shown in the Main Estimates for the financial year 1st April, 1999 to 31st March, 2000, contained in Paper Cmd. 2 of 1999."

Second Resolution reported -

Question, "That the second resolution of the Committee of Supply is that the sum of $33,179,068,000 shall be supplied to the Government under the Heads of Expenditure for the public services shown in the Development Estimates for the financial year 1st April, 1999 to 31st March, 2000, contained in Paper Cmd. 2 of 1999."

Dr Richard Hu Tsu Tau: Mr Speaker, Sir, I beg to move, "That Parliament doth agree with the Committee on the said resolutions."

Question put, and agreed to.

Resolutions accordingly agreed to.