POLICY ON SCHOOL DROP-OUTS

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POLICY ON SCHOOL DROP-OUTS: 6.

Mdm Halimah Yacob asked the Minister for Education (a) what is his Ministry's policy with regard to students who dropped out of school but subsequently wish to return; and (b) what programmes are in place to counsel, assist and encourage such students to return to school.

The Minister for Education (Mr Tharman Shanmugaratnam): Mr Speaker, Sir, the number of pupils who dropped out of the school system up to the secondary level is small. Nevertheless, much effort is put in to ensure that pupils stay in school.

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These efforts include both proactive measures to reduce the likelihood of behaviour that may lead to dropping out as well as intervention measures which address problems that do arise. The proactive measures that schools adopt include the pastoral care and life-skills programmes which are aimed at helping pupils to build up confidence in school and develop purposefulness in life, and to take responsibility for their actions.

The intervention measures that schools adopt include counselling of potential drop-outs. Besides teachers, schools engage the services of professional counsellors in these efforts. Schools also work closely with parents to help them to play a more active role in the education of their children and to provide the support at home that is usually critical in sustaining the pupils' interest in school. That is why schools make home visits quite often.

Schools also have arrangements with external agencies such as the self-help groups and family service centres and other agencies like SANA, which has a very useful programme to prevent students from dropping out and getting involved in drug abuse.

If students insist on leaving school despite all the measures taken, schools will encourage them to continue their education in other institutions such as the Institutes of Technical Education or the Vocational Training Centres. Schools also engage external agencies to work with these premature school leavers to counsel, assist and, hopefully, encourage them to return to schools. Some examples of such programmes are YMCA's Project Bridge and Fei Yue Community Services' Project 180.

Mdm Halimah also asked about our policy on a student who wants to return to school after having dropped out. MOE

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has procedures in place to assist these students. The students may, in the first instance, approach their schools or any school directly to seek readmission.

MOE also looks into all referrals for readmission from parents, MPs, welfare organisations and the community. We make every effort to assist students who are seeking readmission to find places in suitable schools. Generally, students who have dropped out are able to be readmitted to our schools. No student is deprived of a place in school if the student shows interest and is willing to put in the effort to learn and complete schooling to the best of his/her ability. Once the pupils are back in the school system, schools will render the necessary support to help them adjust and continue their schooling.

Mdm Halimah Yacob: Sir, I would like to ask the Minister how many applications has the Ministry received from students, or their parents, who have dropped out and want to go back to school, and what is the success rate of such applications. Secondly, how long does a school take to respond to a parent's or a student's request to go back to school? Because I have a case where I had to write two letters before I got a response from the school, and after one and a half months of taking up the matter, I have yet to receive a confirmation whether or not the student will be accepted back into school.

Mr Tharman Shanmugaratnam: Sir, I am afraid I do not have the exact numbers of pupils who applied for readmission. It would certainly be in the tens. Almost all cases of students who have sought readmission and show sincere interest in wanting to take schooling seriously are successful. They find a place either in their original school or in another school. The circumstances will vary. We have situations where students are offered places in a school but feel that it is too far

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from their home, and we try our best to find another school that is more convenient. Sometimes, if you talk about secondary school students where they have unusual subject combinations which can be catered for in one school but not in another - in fact, there are a few cases - it takes a bit of time, but we will try our best. When you have difficulty, let the Ministry know and we will try our best to facilitate. We, in fact, do that.

Mdm Halimah Yacob: Sir, I appreciate the explanation and assurance given by the Minister. But I think we will be even more assured if the Minister could give further assurance because we do see different standards in different schools. Some schools are more receptive to giving students, who have dropped out, a second chance, whilst other schools are not so receptive. So, if the Minister has a policy to assist parents, and particularly students who want to be given a second chance, I think that will be good. So I hope that assurance can be given, Sir.

Mr Tharman Shanmugaratnam: Let me, first, say that readmission to school after he has chosen to drop out is not meant to be a breeze. He has to show sincerity, he has to show a willingness to accept what it takes to be serious about his studies and wants to be a member of the school community. So, it is not intended to be entirely frictionless where he drops in and out of the system at will. The schools have reasons why they interview students and their parents, make sure that they are truly keen on coming back, and I would not want to discourage them from that process. MOE is always there to make sure that schools are taking seriously all such requests. So, I do not think there is difficulty, in practice, in coming to the Ministry, if parents find that there is particular difficulty in getting an early reply from a school.

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Dr Loo Choon Yong (Nominated Member): Sir, the problem of out-of-school youths (OSY) has been looked into by SANA in the last five years. Every year, there are about 1,100 to 1,400 student drop-outs. The Minister some time ago mentioned that he would want to put a counsellor in every school. The question is: when will the Minister be putting this into action? Because we believe that that is the real solution. Less than 20% of the students want to go back to school. Most of them actually want to work, take up a trade, or whatever. So if we want to keep children in schools, the counselling programme will be useful, and we hope the Minister will bring it forward as soon as possible.

Mr Tharman Shanmugaratnam: I would like to thank Dr Loo for his question. He is also the Chairman of SANA. Incidentally, the figures have been improving. In fact, last year, we had less than 1,100 drop-outs in total for the whole system for the first time in several years. We are recruiting counsellors and putting them through training, because we really do not want to rush this process and put untrained counsellors in schools. By 2006, we expect that every secondary school will have a full-time counsellor. By 2008, we expect that all secondary schools, Junior Colleges and Central Institutes will have a full-time counsellor. Counselling will involve, as mentioned, career guidance as well, making sure students understand that it is in their own interest if they want to work, earn a good income and keep their jobs. It is in their own interest to stay in school, in the first instance, and then go on to post-secondary education.

Mr Low Thia Khiang (Hougang): Sir, the Minister in his main answer says that almost all students are readmitted, which means that there are some students who are not admitted. I would like to know under what circumstances these students are not readmitted to school and what are

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the criteria which the school would assess the students whether or not they will be readmitted to school.

I would also like to know what is the Ministry of Education's broad guidelines to the schools in terms of readmitting students back to school.

Mr Tharman Shanmugaratnam: I do not have the exact data on the numbers who have not been readmitted, despite coming forward and saying they want to be readmitted, but it is a very small number. I can assure Members of that. There will be such cases of people who have not genuinely turned over a new leaf, whose parents feel that they should come back to school although the student has not reformed his behaviour. Some of the cases of students who dropped out of school - for that matter, students who are expelled from school - are cases where they would pose a danger to the rest of the school community and would pose disruption to the rest of the students if they are in school. So, we have got to be very clear as to whether they are suitable for readmission to the school - have they changed, are they serious about their studies, are they willing to conform to school rules and to be a responsible member of the school community. Those are not trivial questions. Fortunately, the numbers of students who want to come back and are unable to gain readmission are very, very few. Sometimes, it is difficult to go back to their old school community because of what had happened before, but we will find them another school.

Mdm Halimah Yacob: Sir, there are students who dropped out of school, either because they do not wish to go back to school or they are not readmitted, but yet, they may not have the essential qualifications to go into ITE or other such programmes. Are there any other programmes available presently to hold

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such students in the event? I think it is essential that we ensure they have some basic skills, whether it is skills for employment, lifeskills or whatever. Is there a bridging programme or other programmes for them?

Mr Tharman Shanmugaratnam: Yes, first, we still have the vocational training centres and we do refer a few of such pupils to those centres every year. Second, some of the external agencies do conduct not just counselling, in a general sense, but work skills counselling as well to help prepare them to get on with life and try to do well despite circumstances.