31 Oct 2006

MOE Provides Support for Special Needs Children

1. We would like to assure Mr William Yeo ("More Government Support for Special Needs Children", ST Forum, 23 Oct) that the Ministry of Education (MOE) takes an active role in supporting the education of children with special needs.
2. MOE commits a substantially higher subsidy to special needs students than those in mainstream schools. MOE’s subsidy per SPED student has increased to to 2.5 times that of a mainstream student since 2004, compared to 1.8 times previously. Together with annual contributions from the National Council of Social Service (NCSS), the level of funding per student in SPED schools is about 4 times that per student in mainstream schools. The additional funding will go towards improving the quality of professional resources in SPED schools, such as helping the SPED schools recruit better qualified teachers, providing better professional development for staff and improving curriculum design.
3. There are currently 19 SPED schools which admit pupils with autism. Mr Yeo might be interested to know that two of these schools, Singapore Autism School and St Andrew’s Autism School, were recently set up to cater to the children with autism who require special education. The latter caters to adolescents with autism aged between 13 and 18 years.
4. MOE has also accelerated the redevelopment of 9 purpose-built SPED schools, which will be completed by 2008.  This has already helped to reduce the waitlist for SPED schools from 418 in Nov 2002 to 18 in Oct 2006.  There will be even more places in the special schools to cater to new demands when the re-development of the remaining special schools is completed.
5. MOE will continue to work with NCSS and the Voluntary Welfare Organisations to review and improve on the education of special needs children.

Sum Chee Wah (Ms)
Director, Education Programmes