5-Day Work Week
Name and Constituency of Member of Parliament
Dr Amy Khor Lean Suan, MP for Hong Kah GRC
Question
To ask the Minister for Education (a) if he will give an update on his Ministry’s implementation of the five-day work week in schools;
(b) what guidelines have been issued to schools in relation to the CCA activities and the implementation of the five-day work week such that the quality and objectives of the CCA activities will not be compromised.
Name and Constituency of Member of Parliament
Mdm Cynthia Phua, MP for Aljunied GRC
Question
To ask the Minister for Education, in view of the five-day work week, his Ministry will consider (i) introducing full-day sessions in all schools so that the students can do their co-curricular activities and attend enrichment classes on weekdays and (ii) sharing the physical infrastructure of the schools with the community over the weekends.
Response
1. The Five Day Work Week will be implemented in all schools by January 2005. A committee, chaired by the Director of Schools, is examining the implementation issues. MOE has provided schools with guidelines to help them formulate their plans to implement the Five Day Work Week. It has also shared examples of best practices from schools that have already been practising a de facto five day week.
2. The Ministry has cautioned that the shift to a Five Day Work Week should not overload students during weekdays. It should also not be at the expense of the breadth of educational experience that we want to provide our students, in academic and other areas.
3. To make this possible, schools will seek to rationalise their programmes and look at how they can be delivered more efficiently. It would mean cutting down on less effective or meaningful activities, while preserving or enhancing those which add the most value. Some JCs, for instance, intend to rationalise the number of tests they conduct in JC 1, so that teachers and students will have more time for learning and CCA activities.
4. Schools will look on Saturday as an opportunity for students to engage in unstructured activities, to reflect and to pursue their interests. Schools will also hold CCAs on weekends where necessary. Serangoon JC for example is planning to keep canoeing on Saturdays as students need the longer period of time that this allows to gain the full benefit of this CCA. Certain CCAs which rely heavily on adult volunteers from outside the school, like some of the uniformed groups, are also likely to remain on Saturdays.
5. Overall, our schools are enthusiastic and committed to implementing the Five Day Work Week well. At least 22 schools have already implemented a Five Day Work Week. Schools will find sensible and pragmatic ways to do so, so as not to overburden either teacher or student, while preserving the richness of educational experience they provide.
6. Mdm Cynthia Phua asked about single session schools in this context. All secondary schools and junior colleges are already operating on single session. Around two thirds (65%) of the primary schools will implement full or partial single session from next year, while the rest will introduce partial single session within the next ten years.
7. Mdm Phua also asked about community use of school facilities. Today, there are 310 schools which share their facilities with the community, and various groups and institutions outside school hours. In addition, MOE has been piloting a school field sharing scheme with the Singapore Sports Council (SSC) in 7 schools. MOE is now working with the Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports (MCYS) and the SSC to expand the scheme.
8. Our schools support requests from the community to use their facilities as long as there is no compromise on the students’ security and educational experience, which must always take precedence. Even with the implementation of the Five Day Work Week, many students are likely to use school facilities on Saturdays. Nevertheless, it is possible that more school-based facilities could be freed up for public usage on weekends
