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Parliamentary Replies - 3 Apr 2006 Returning Children Placement
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) how many children of returning Singaporeans seek placement in primary and secondary schools each year for the last five years; and (b) whether steps are being taken to make it easier for these Singaporeans to place their children in schools.
Response 1. The number of returning Singaporean children seeking the Ministry’s assistance for placement into our schools had remained fairly constant at about 130 cases for primary schools and about 115 cases for secondary schools each year from 2001 to 2004. Last year, more students chose to return to Singapore and enter our schools. The number increased to about 220 cases for primary schools and 210 cases for secondary schools in 2005.
2. Currently, MOE has in place a number of measures to help Singaporean children who are overseas or returning home find a suitable place in our schools. For a start, we help returning Singaporean children entering primary one the following year to participate in the annual Primary One Registration Exercise at the same time as other local Singaporeans. They need not be physically in Singapore. The parents can either appoint a proxy to register on their behalf or they can indicate their choices to MOE and we will act on their behalf. Once the child is registered with a school, they can apply for Leave of Absence Scheme if they are not returning to Singapore in time to start school the following year. We will reserve the child’s place in that school until the child returns to Singapore. Similarly, students who are in secondary school but need to leave Singapore can have their places reserved for their return under the Leave of Absence Scheme.
3. For Singaporean children who have not participated in the Primary 1 registration or have not had a place reserved for them, the Ministry provides a one-stop service by helping them identify schools with vacancies near their home. The child would then have to sit for and pass the school’s placement test. The test enables the school to know if the child has the required education level to fit into the school cohort, and also enables the school to determine the appropriate level the child should be placed into. However, this does mean that returning Singaporean children often have to approach a few schools and to sit for several school-based placement tests. This mechanism can be improved.
Improved Mechanism 4. MOE will put in place three improvements to make re-entry into the local education system friendlier. This will give Singaporeans who work abroad more reassurance and help encourage citizens to venture abroad, knowing that it will not be a problem for their children to re-enter our schools. The admission of returning Singaporeans will also enrich the school environment, and benefit all our students.
5. First, at the primary school level, MOE will do away with the need for placement tests for returning Singaporean children seeking placement. Instead MOE will identify a primary school nearest to their home with vacancies and offer a place to the child. We will implement this by the middle of this year. With this system, parents will no longer need to go around searching for a primary school place. However, parents will still have the flexibility to seek school places for their children on their own, if they wish.
6. Second, at the secondary school level, MOE will also do away with the need for returning Singaporean children to sit for multiple school-based tests. Instead, MOE will develop a Centralised Placement Test (CPT) to provide a common yardstick. MOE will conduct a posting exercise to allocate returning Singaporean children to schools, based on their school choices and their results in the CPT, subject to available vacancies. As with primary schools, parents and students will have the flexibility to seek admission to any other schools, if they are not keen on accepting the places allocated to them by MOE. In such cases, a student will be evaluated separately by the school he approaches, based on his CPT results as well as any other merit-based criteria set by the school.
7. Third, MOE will allow secondary schools to admit a small number of returning Singaporean students, over and above their planned capacity. This is to recognise that Singaporean children who are overseas are unable to seek admission at the same time as those who are in Singapore and thus may miss out on attending a school of their choice, even though they are well-qualified to do so. This change will not reduce the chances for students in Singapore to get into the school of their choice as there will be no reduction in the number of school places available to them as a result of this change. Instead, we will allow for a few additional places to cater to the needs of returning Singaporeans. All students will still be admitted on merit.
8. Details of the CPT and the posting system will be announced later.
9. With these new measures, Singaporeans will find it easier to return and re-integrate into our schools. Further, in addition to these improved local school admission procedures, families who have been overseas for some time also continue to have the option of seeking approval for admission to a foreign school in Singapore. Teacher Attrition & Adjunct Teachers
Name and Constituency of Member of Parliament
Mdm Ho Geok Choo, West Coast GRC
Dr. Tan Boon Wan, Ang Mo Kio GRC
Question 409
To ask the Minister for Education (a) what is the current shortfall of teachers; (b) how many teachers have either resigned or retired in 2005; (c) what are the reasons for teachers resigning; (d) how has the 5-day week impacted on the turnover in the teaching profession; and (e) how many relief teachers are there in service.
Question 410
To ask the Minister for Education (a) how many schools have benefited from the Adjunct Teachers Programme so far; (b) how many retired teachers have benefited from it; (c) what are its application and selection criteria; and (d) does the Ministry have any plans to encourage more schools to adopt it.
Response
1. Mdm Ho Geok Choo and Dr Tan Boon Wan asked questions related to teachers which I will address together.
2. MOE has been pro-actively recruiting teachers, not because there is a shortfall, but because we are expanding our teaching force. We are doing this as part of our efforts to provide more time and space for our teachers in schools, and to improve the quality of education we provide our students.
3. The size of the teaching service has increased from 23,900 in 2000 to 27,600 in 2005, a 16% increase. We aim to boost the teaching force by an additional 2,500, to 30,000 teachers by 2010. The plan is progressing smoothly as we have been able to recruit more teachers than the numbers who have left due to retirement and resignation. Atypical primary school of 1,600 students now has 3 more teachers compared to 2004. Similarly, there are currently 3 more teachers in a typical secondary school of 1,400 students as compared to 2004. This will effectively mean a 15% improvement in student-to-teacher ratios in our schools.
4. MOE keeps a close watch on resignations. Fortunately, they have remained low, at 2%-3%, in the past few years. In addition, another less than 3% of the teacher population retires each year.
5. We have to take every resignation seriously, and in fact do so. From our surveys and exit interviews with teachers, teachers leave the Education Service for various reasons. Not all of them are “push” factors. There are also “pull” factors like the desire to try out a different challenge, and family commitments. Still, we take all feedback from teachers who leave the Service into account as we look for ways to improve the environment under which teachers work, and the way they are recognised and treated as professionals.
6. Mdm Ho wanted to know how the 5-day week has impacted the turnover in the teaching profession. As resignation rates have remained stable, we cannot say with any precision if the 5-day week has had an impact on turnover in the teaching profession. However, we know from feedback that many teachers have welcomed the 5-day work week and the added flexibility it brings.
7. MOE welcomes teachers who have left to return to MOE when they are ready. A significant number do so. Last year, we re-appointed around 1,000 ex-teachers[1], either as adjunct teachers or on the permanent establishment.
8. Dr Tan Boon Wan asked about adjunct teachers. Since the Adjunct Teachers Programme was introduced in October 2004, MOE has engaged about 1,100 Adjunct Teachers[2]. These teachers are deployed in almost 90% of our schools. About half of the Adjunct Teachers are retired teachers, while the rest are teachers who had previously resigned from the Education Service but have now decided to re-join the teaching service.
9. The selection criteria for Adjunct Teachers are closely aligned with the standards we use in appointment of teachers. We have to be confident of their ability to teach well and contribute to the school when they re-join the profession. Hence, their past performance as teachers is also taken into account.
10. The Ministry continues to encourage all our schools to engage more Adjunct Teachers. Currently, schools can engage up to 10 Adjunct Teachers and have their salaries charged to MOE. In addition to schools tapping on their own networks to recommend former trained teachers for appointment as Adjunct Teachers, the Ministry also proactively sends brochures to invite eligible retired and resigned teachers to apply for the Adjunct Teachers Programme.
11. Mdm Ho Geok Neo also asked about relief teachers. On any given day in a school, a few teachers may not be in school due to maternity leave, medical leave, or training. Schools either redeploy other trained teachers, or hire relief teachers to cover their duties for a few days or sometimes even a few months.
12. Currently, on average, a school would hire about 7 relief teachers per school term. Majority of these relief teachers only cover duties for a few days to 1 month.
MOE Uni Bursary
Name and Constituency of Member of Parliament
Assoc Prof Ong Soh Khim, Nominated Member
Question
To ask the Minister for Education, since the Ministry has raised the qualifying family's monthly household income from $900 to $1,500 for families with 1 or 2 children and from $1,050 to $1,800 for families with 3 or more children for financial assistance and bursary for primary and secondary education, will the Ministry also consider raising the qualifying income to $1,500 for the newly introduced MOE bursary of $800 for university students.
Response
The household income ceiling for students to qualify for the newly introduced MOE bursary for university students is not lower than that for the MOE Financial Assistance Scheme for schools. In fact, the MOE bursary for university students effectively has a higher qualifying income ceiling. 2. The MOE Financial Assistance Scheme for schools has a qualifying gross monthly household income of $1,500 for 1-2 child families, or $1,800 for families with 3 or more children. It is targeted at the lowest 20% of households.
3. The MOE university bursary has a qualifying gross monthly per capita household income of $900. It is targeted at the lower 50% of households. If we take a four-member family comprising two parents and two children, a gross per capita household income of $900 translates to a household income of $3,600, which is more than double the qualifying household income of the financial assistance scheme for schools.
4. The lower income ceiling for students qualifying for MOE financial assistance in schools reflects the fact that school fees are much more heavily subsidised to begin with. |
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