INDEPENDENT SCHOOLS (Financial assistance to students to pay school fees)

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INDEPENDENT SCHOOLS:

(Financial assistance to students to pay school fees): 16.

Ms Braema Mathiaparanam asked the Acting Minister for Education (a) how many secondary school students received financial assistance to pay their school fees while studying at the independent schools in the last three years; (b) what is the general socio-economic profile of students in our independent schools for 2002, as gathered from their pupil data forms; and (c) what steps has the Ministry put in place to ensure that a talented child, from a less well-off home, does not fight shy of listing an independent school as a first choice school after his Primary School Leaving Examinations.

17.

Mdm Halimah Yacob asked the Acting Minister for Education in the light of the recent announcement by some independent schools to increase their fees (a) what assurance is there that students from needy families can continue to afford these fees; and (b) what assistance is being provided to needy students.

Mr Tharman Shanmugaratnam: Mr Speaker, Sir, with your permission, could I take this Question together with the next Question from Mdm Halimah Yacob?

Mr Speaker: Yes.

Mr Tharman Shanmugaratnam: Sir, 4,400 or 2 in 5 Singaporean students in the independent schools receive MOE scholarships. These students only need to pay the amount of school fees and standard miscellaneous fees payable by students in the Government and Government-aided schools, which is currently $12 a month. They will therefore not be affected by the increase in fees in some of the independent schools. Information on these scholarships is well publicised, for example, in the Secondary Schools Selection Guide that was issued to all Primary 6 students.

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MOE also has in place a financial assistance scheme to help deserving students to defray the higher school fees in independent schools. Over the last three years, there was an average of about 600 Singaporean students receiving financial assistance in independent schools through this scheme. This constitutes 5.4% of Singaporean students in independent schools in 2003.

If the students are not eligible for MOE Financial Assistance Scheme or need additional financial assistance, they can approach their schools. The independent schools each have their own internal financial assistance schemes and will also help source for support from community organisations to help needy students.

Ms Braema Mathi has also enquired about the socio-economic profile of students in our independent schools. About 50% of Singaporean students in independent schools live in HDB flats in 2002. About 17% live in 4-room HDB flats or smaller.

MOE is committed to ensuring that no deserving student is deprived of an education in an independent school because he cannot afford the higher fees charged in those schools.

Ms Braema Mathiaparanam (Nominated Member): May I ask the Acting Minister how does the Ministry encourage the child who feels that he or she cannot pay the school fees of these independent schools? What steps do the primary schools take to encourage such children to put such independent schools as first choice?

Mr Tharman Shanmugaratnam: I do not get the sense that there is inhibition on the part of primary school students, even those from families with fairly modest means, to apply for independent schools. They are quite aware of the very generous scholarships on offer, the various

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bursaries and other forms of assistance. The proof of it is that there is a fair number of students in independent schools receiving such assistance. We even have some independent schools that provide meal allowances and transport allowances, not just bursaries and scholarships to pay for their fees and the like. So, I think it is working quite well. Word gets around that the independent schools are not skin-flints. If you are a deserving student, and you qualify on merit, finance is not an issue.