SCHOLARSHIPS (To develop students into world-class Southeast Asian specialists)

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SCHOLARSHIPS:

(To develop students into world-class Southeast Asian specialists): The following Question stood in the name of Ms Irene Ng Phek Hoong -

9. To ask the Minister for Education, in view of the plan to offer scholarships to 100 to 200 students each year for them to develop a deep understanding of Chinese culture and history and a strong command of the Chinese language, whether scholarships can also be offered to students to develop them into world-class Southeast Asian specialists, as Singapore is located at the heart of Southeast Asia.

Mr Zainudin Nordin: Question No. 9, Sir.

The Minister for Education (Mr Tharman Shanmugaratnam): Mr Speaker, Sir, Singapore ispart of Southeast Asia and ourfuture will always be interwoven with that of the region. It is therefore

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important for us to develop an understanding of the region, and nurture Singaporeans who feel confident and assured in operating in the region.

There are several dimensions to this effort in education. First, there is significant emphasis on Southeast Asiain our school curriculum. Southeast Asia is studied in subjects such as Social Studies at both the primary and secondary levels, and History and Geography at the secondary and pre-university levels. In History, for example, students develop an understanding of the key historical developments that shaped Southeast Asia,like colonialism, nationalism and independence. All students are also engaged in National Education (NE), an integral part of which is an awareness of Singapore'sposition in the region and how developments in our neighbouring countries can affect us. These efforts build an appreciation of the diversity of the region and an understanding ofthe challenges and issues that the countries in the region face.

It is also important to develop a group of students who have a strong grasp of the Malay language. We encourage students who take Malay as their Mother Tongue languageto study Higher Malay if they have the ability to do so.We are also nurturing a Malay bilingual elite through the Elective Programme in Malay Language for Secondary Schools (EMAS) and Language Elective Programme (Malay) at the junior collegelevel. This year, there are 473 students in EMAS (from Secondary 1 to 4) and 30 students in the LEP (Malay) (from JC1 to JC2). These students offer Higher Malay as well as learn about Southeast Asian culture and society in their curriculum. The LEP (Malay) students receive MOE scholarships and go on immersion programmes in Malaysia.

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MOE will continue to encourage eligible students to take these special programmes and electives, and deepen the content of the programmes if there is a demand for this.

Non-Malay students can offer Malay as a third language.

Some schools also offer conversational Malay classes to their students as an enrichment option, either during formal curriculum time or after school hours. We encourage schools to do so.

Our universities also run undergraduate programmes focusing on Southeast Asia. NUS offers a Southeast Asian Studies programme for undergraduates which has close to 40 modules covering socio-political and cultural issues in the region. Students involved also do a language module in Bahasa Indonesia, Vietnamese orThai.

Finally, we continue to develop scholarship and specialist research on Southeast Asia. The Institute of Southeast Asian Studies(ISEAS) regularly hosts well-known scholars on regional issues fromSingapore and overseas. It is generally recognised as one of the leading centres on Southeast Asian Studies. ISEAS has awarded over 50 graduate scholarships to Singaporeans, and held many public seminars and talks on regional affairs. In addition to ISEAS, the Asia Research Institute at NUS is undertaking as one of its areas of focus, research on Southeast Asia, including topics such as interactions between Southeast Asia and China. At NTU, the Institute of Defence and Strategic Studies (IDSS) also has electives and programmes for post-graduate students focusing on Southeast Asia.

As the Memberhad pointed out, Singapore is at the heart of Southeast Asia. Our students are exposed to the study of our region at many levels, starting with a general awareness and knowledge in primary schools and up to

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specialised, scholarly study of Southeast Asia at the tertiary level. We also have good programmes in place to groom a Malay bilingual elite, and we will deepen the cultural and contemporary knowledge content of these programmes where there is demand.

Mr S Iswaran (West Coast): Sir, may I ask the Minister, given the rise in the Indian economy, and to some extent, the other South Asian economies and the linguistic and cultural diversity in that part of the world, what initiatives does the Ministry have to ensure that our students are well positioned to take advantage of those opportunities as well, as we also focus on Northeast Asia and Southeast Asia?

Mr Tharman Shanmugaratnam: I thank Mr Iswaran for his question. First, we have some advantage in engaging India because the English language is the medium of instruction in our schools. In India, the English language has been the language of government and a good part of business since colonial days, andnow, more than ever, it is the language of the professions,government andhigher education. But there is more we can do. We are encouraging, first, our schools and universities to link up with institutions in India, so that beyond the language we really get to know the Indians,understand the landscape and be more familiar with contemporary India.

Second, through our syllabus, we are doing a fair bit. India features quite regularly in our syllabus - history, social studies and so on - even starting from the primary level. Members, I am sure, would recall the history syllabus which taught us all about the Indus Valley civilisation. It is still there, but we have extended it to a lot more recent Indian history as well.The mother tongue languages that we teach in Singapore, Tamil and for the non-Tamil Indian students their own mother tongues, would also play an important

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role.But I would reiterate that our strength in the English language is a major advantage that we have in engaging India.