Funding to Special Assistance Plan Schools and Non-Special Assistance Plan Schools

Mr Louis Ng Kok Kwang asked the Minister for Education in each of the past five years, how much funding has the Ministry provided on a per-school basis and a per-student basis respectively to (i) secondary schools offering the Special Assistance Plan and (ii) secondary schools not offering the Special Assistance Plan.

Mr Ong Ye Kung: The baseline average funding per secondary school student is about $15,000 a year. In addition, the Ministry of Education (MOE) resources our schools based on the needs of the students and the additional programmes that they offer.

For example, Crest and Spectra Secondary, and schools with Normal (Technical) students receive 30% to 50% more resources per student than the baseline provision.

Additional resources are also provided for various specialised programmes for students across schools, such as English, Chinese, Malay and Tamil language elective programmes. MOE provides over $3,000 per student per year for the Elective Programme in Malay Language for Secondary Schools (EMAS).

Within this framework, Special Assistance Plan (SAP) schools at the secondary level also receive additional resources, at about $300 per student each year to develop students' proficiency and interest in Chinese language-related studies. The resourcing per student is lower due to the economy of scale derived from larger student participation numbers.

There has been much attention paid to SAP Schools lately. We need to see SAP schools from the broader perspective of an evolving, multicultural Singapore. SAP schools were established after the Chinese medium schools were closed due to falling enrolment. They will continue to be relevant, as part of Singapore's approach for every community to preserve and practise their cultures, religion and languages, while ensuring there is enough common space to develop a unique Singapore identity. Countries around us are catching up or surpassing us in teaching their people multiple languages. We should preserve our programmes and institutions to develop bi-literate and bi-cultural talent at this crucial point in history.