Hansard Explorer

Mr Cai Yinzhou asked the Minister for Education (a) what is the average time to final placement for special education (SPED) school applications referred for alternative placement; (b) whether the Ministry will consider processing applications to a parent's three preferred schools concurrently rather than sequentially; and (c) whether it will provide parents with live application status updates and reasons for unsuccessful applications.

The Senior Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Education (Dr Syed Harun Alhabsyi) (for the Minister for Education): Sir, the Ministry of Education (MOE) guides parents to identify schools that will best support their child's special educational needs. Parents may also have other considerations when indicating their choices of special education (SPED) schools at the point of application.

A child's suitability for placement in a SPED school is based on a comprehensive assessment of the child's overall developmental profile, conducted by the first choice school. The first choice school's assessment is sufficient to determine placement suitability, without the need for repeated assessment in the second or third choice schools. It takes an average of six months to confirm placement in the first choice school from application submission.

When there is no vacancy in the first choice SPED school or the support required by the child is not available in a school profile-type chosen by the parents, an average of three additional months is needed for alternative placements. In these cases, MOE makes a school recommendation based on the child's needs and home-school proximity, without requiring further assessments. The parent's second and third choice schools will automatically be considered if they are of the appropriate profile-type and there are vacancies. Factors leading to additional processing time may include consideration of appeals for review submitted to the first choice school and time taken by parents to deliberate on the placement offer, considering their preferences for specific SPED schools.

As announced at this year's Committee of Supply debate, MOE is working with social service agencies (SSAs) to expand SPED school capacity to meet demand and shorten waiting times for placement confirmation. From the second half of 2026 to the early 2030s, the overall capacity of SPED schools will increase from 9,000 to 12,000.

MOE and SPED schools work together to keep parents informed of their child's application status and outcome. MOE will continue to review how it can provide parents with more timely updates throughout the application process so that they are kept informed of the progress.

Mr Speaker: Mr Cai.

Mr Cai Yinzhou (Bishan-Toa Payoh): I thank the Senior Parliamentary Secretary for the response.

Sir, the process is complex enough that some Early Intervention Programme for Infants and Children (EIPIC) Centres now run workshops just to help parents to have their school applications, and parents have to also keep calling the school for updates within the six months that they are waiting.

Can the Senior Parliamentary Secretary confirm that the rerouting only begins after the first choice school rejects the child? Since the SPED schools already screen each child face-to-face, after the form is submitted, could those screening results give parents an earlier indication of suitable schools? And will MOE provide one place to check status and timelines online and give reasons for rejections in writing?

Also, a follow-up question to the Senior Parliamentary Secretary's response, in the new 12,000 places that are available in 2030, how many would then go into Primary 1 places? I ask this because one of the oldest children in the EIPIC Centre of the Principal that I met is nine years old, so the wait time, I understand, can be pretty long for Primary 1 placement, and we want to make sure that the new places that are available go to Primary 1 as well.

Dr Syed Harun Alhabsyi: I thank the Member for his supplementary questions as well as interest in making sure that our students with moderate to severe disability needs find their placement in schools as expediently as possible.

I can confirm for the Member that after the initial selection from the first school's assessment, if say, there is vacancy and the school is found suitable, that the child will be placed at the soonest possibility.

However, as the Member has highlighted, there are a few steps to be able to ensure that the child's needs are best met in the school that they are subsequently placed from Primary 1 onwards.

Prior to the selection, there would be reports available to their parents. In fact, we are taking steps to educate parents with children with special needs on the particular process, and this is evident by the workshops that the Member has highlighted in the early intervention schools. We want to be able to guide parents with this process as early as possible. And usually they come into the application process with the attending reports and recommendations from medical professionals as well as the referring agencies, including preschools as well as early intervention centres.

To the extent where there is no vacancy, this is something that we have been taking seriously. And as the Member has highlighted as well as in my reply, we are taking steps to ensure the increase of placement for our students with special needs, and we are increasing it by 30% by the early 2030s.

With regard to the specific case of the individual or the child who is nine years old in the preschool or in the early intervention centre, I would ask the Member to write to me and we can see how best we can support this child.

Indeed, it is an anomaly, as mentioned in our Parliamentary Question reply in October earlier this year, that across all disability profiles, 90% of our students enter primary school in January the following year except those with autism spectrum disorder, with intellectual disability, for which we recognise that there is a vacancy gap and which we are pushing quite hard in the coming years to be able to fill.

So, I hope this reassures the Member. And with regard to the specific case, we can have a look at it to be able to see whether further support is required.

Mr Speaker: Ms He Ting Ru. Sorry, Mr Cai, you have another supplementary question? Make it succinct.

Mr Cai Yinzhou: Can I just follow up on the question on whether the additional 30% placement will be for Primary 1 students?

Dr Syed Harun Alhabsyi: I can confirm for the Member that the SPED schools that will come online over the next few years will certainly consider primary school placement. That is essentially where we want to be able to support and where the vacancy challenges are.