ADMISSION INTO UNIVERSITIES (Review of mother tongue language in Syllabus B)

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ADMISSION INTO UNIVERSITIES:

(Review of mother tongue language in Syllabus B): The following Question stood in the name of Mdm Ho Geok Choo -

13. To ask the Acting Minister for Education (a) whether his Ministry will review and consider maintaining at least a pass in the mother tongue language in Syllabus B for admission into the universities and not allowing the flexibility of 10% of the university intake to be exempted at the discretion of the universities; and (b) how will his Ministry allay the concerns of mother tongue language teachers who are not effectively bilingual, fearing the loss of their jobs or their ranking and promotions.

Dr Amy Khor Lean Suan: Question No. 13, Sir.

The Minister of State for Education (Mr Chan Soo Sen) (for the Minister for Education): Mr Speaker, Sir, the Ministry, together with NUS and NTU, has accepted the University Admission Committee's recommendation that students admitted to NUS and NTU will need to obtain, amongst others, at least a D7 in mother tongue or a pass in mother tongue "B" syllabus. NUS and NTU will apply this requirement to all students admitted, and that includes the up to 10% of students admitted by the two universities under their own admission criteria. NUS and NTU will not use this 10% provision to exempt students from this minimum mother tongue requirement, but to recognise students with special abilities and achievements which may not be captured in their 'A' level scores.

On the second half of the Question, Mdm Ho has also expressed job-related

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concerns of Mother Tongue Language (MTL) teachers. There could be some reduction in Mother Tongue Language teaching requirements at 'A' levels if students choose not to retake their MTL examinations at JC2.

Nevertheless, we will continue to need Mother Tongue Language teachers at both the JC and secondary levels. Mother Tongue Language teachers will play an important role in providing greater opportunities for mother tongue learning in the informal curriculum, such as enrichment exposure for students to the Chinese Language as well as activities and programmes that can enhance and facilitate their understanding of China. The Ministry is also considering introducing China Studies as a subject in the revised JC curriculum and obviously you need mother tongue teachers, specifically Chinese Language teachers, to teach such subjects.

More students are also offering Higher Mother Tongue Language (HMTL) arising from the recent liberalisation of the eligibility criteria in the secondary schools. We will therefore need more senior Mother Tongue Language teachers who can teach Higher Mother Tongue at the secondary level. A few JC Mother Tongue Language teachers may be re-deployed to senior teaching positions at the secondary level. Such re-deployment takes place on a regular basis.

I am therefore confident that our Junior College Mother Tongue Language teachers will find their roles in developing and conducting new programmes in the informal curriculum and teaching the new China Studies subject or Higher Mother Tongue Language at secondary level no less satisfying and rewarding than helping students to improve their Mother Tongue Language grades at JC2.

I would therefore like to assure the Mother Tongue Language teachers that,

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as long as they are flexible and continue to perform, there will be a strong need for them in the education system.