CHINESE LANGUAGE REVIEW COMMITTEE (Implementation of recommendations)

Dr Tan Boon Wan asked the Minister for Education if he will give an update on the implementation of the recommendations of the Chinese Language Review Committee.

The Minister for Education (RAdm Teo Chee Hean): Mr Deputy Speaker, Sir, in January 1999, the Ministry of Education announced a set of measures to strengthen the teaching and learning of Chinese Language (CL) in our education system. These measures are in three major areas:

1. Pitching CL at a level of difficulty attainable by the vast majority of students;

2. Regenerating Chinese literary elite by increasing the number of students offering Higher Chinese (HCL); and

3. Helping students with extreme difficulty in CL. All these measures have been implemented on schedule.

First, the primary and secondary school CL syllabuses have been revised and the word lists updated to pitch CL at a level of difficulty attainable by the vast majority of students. CL Heads of Department and key CL teachers have been briefed on the changes. MOE officers are currently developing the new instructional materials for primary and secondary school levels based on the revised syllabuses. The revised syllabuses and textbooks will be phased in by level from the year 2002. As an interim measure, guidelines were issued to schools in mid-1999 to help teachers omit the more difficult parts of the existing textbooks and even out the learning load of the students. Appropriate adjustments have also been made to the respective CL examinations.

Second, the four key measures introduced to allow more students to offer Higher Chinese (HCL) have proven effective.

More primary school pupils are offering Higher Chinese at Primary 5. As a result of efforts to encourage pupils who have the ability to offer Higher Chinese to opt to do so, the proportion of P5 students who opted to do Higher Chinese has increased from 22.0% in 1999 to 25.7% in 2001.

We have also allowed more students to offer Higher Chinese in Secondary 1. As a result of this initiative, the proportion of Secondary 1 cohort who opted for Higher Chinese has increased from 15.5% of the Secondary 1 cohort in 1999 and 16.5% in 2001.

We also set up the 10th SAP school, Nan Hua Secondary, in the year 2000. The proportion of Higher Chinese students in its Secondary 1 intake was 73% in the year 2000 and 78% in 2001.

At the pre-university level, we set up the third Chinese Language Elective Programme (CLEP) centre in Nanyang Junior College. More Chinese Language Elective scholarships have also been made available. Following these initiatives, the number of JC students in the Chinese Language Elective Programme increased from 204 in 1999 in the two JCs to 276 in the year 2001 across the three JCs.

From Academic Year 2002/2003 onwards, students who have done well in Chinese Language or Higher Chinese at A' or AO' level will be given bonus points for admission to the Chinese Language and Chinese Studies courses offered by NUS and the Communications Studies courses offered by NTU. (The bonus points for entry to the Communications Studies course are also available to students who have done well in Chinese Language, Malay Language and Tamil Language). The Ministry will monitor the effect of this measure upon its implementation.

Finally, I will touch on the implementation of CL "B" which caters to students who face exceptional difficulties in the learning of the standard CL syllabuses. The CL "B" paper places greater emphasis on the testing of the candidates' aural/oral skills, 40% weighting for this as against 20% previously, and less on the writing skills. For example, 20% weighting to composition versus 35% previously. To ensure that the standard of the CL "B" papers is pitched at the appropriate level, the Ministry has conducted extensive consultation and trial testing of the specimen papers on the target group of students likely to offer CL "B".

Principals decide on the students' ability for CL "B" based on a set of Eligibility Criteria that the Ministry announced in end-1999. These students will be able to pass CL "B" if they put in reasonable effort. At the Secondary 3 level this year, 45 pupils opted to offer CL "B". They are attending lessons at 5 CL "B" Centres located in the 4 zones. The total number of Secondary 4 students who registered for Secondary 4 CL "B" examination in 2001 so far is 189.

According to the feedback obtained from schools which have Secondary 3 CL "B" eligible students, most parents requested that their children be allowed to continue with standard CL and would consider CL "B" only if these children really cannot cope with the standard CL syllabus. The low number of CL "B" students is a natural outcome at this stage as most students and parents are keeping their options open. The schools will monitor the performance of Secondary 3 CL "B" eligible students who continued with standard CL and will discuss with the parents their children's progress if they cannot cope with standard CL.