Pyschosis

Name and Constituency of  Member of Parliament

Dr Lim Wee Kiak, MP for Sembawang GRC

Question

To ask the Minister for Education if he will provide an update on the measures that our education institutions have in place to identify and manage students with early psychosis who may pose a danger to fellow students or staff.

Response

1. Psychosis is a mental health condition that can distort a person’s perception of reality., A person who has this illness may show other symptoms such as hallucinations, disordered thinking or abnormal behaviour.

2. Psychosis is a treatable condition and full recovery is possible, especially when it is detected early and given the appropriate medical treatment.

3. Our schools have in place a tiered referral system, under which students who exhibit signs of problems in their psychological or mental well-being are referred for help. 

4. At the first tier is the teacher.  If the teacher detects anything amiss, she will provide the child with the necessary support including referring him or her for further intervention by the trained teacher counsellors (TCs), part-time or full-time school counsellors (PTSCs or FTSCs), who form the second tier of support.

5. Complicated cases are referred to the third tier of support, which usually involves intervention from mental health professionals from external agencies, such as the Child Guidance Clinic.

6. Follow-up support is also a crucial component of the treatment plan to help individuals with psychosis recover and reintegrate back into normal daily life.  When these students return to school following treatment, the school personnel work closely with the parents to provide the appropriate socio-emotional support.  Teachers also take the cue and advice from the psychiatrist regarding the student’s readiness to resume the various daily activities in school, as well as monitor his/her post-hospitalisation or post-treatment behaviour.

7. To better equip our school personnel to support students with psychotic disorders, training courses have been organised for FTSCs in the secondary schools and junior colleges/centralised institute this year. The training includes signs and symptoms of psychosis and ways to engage the student, his or her parents and the teachers.  The different sources of support provided by the Institute of Mental Health under the Early Psychosis Intervention Programme (EPIP) and ways to re-integrate the student back to school are also covered in the course.

8. Our ITEs, polytechnics and universities have also set up similar systems for detecting and supporting troubled students. These include providing training on the signs and symptoms of psychosis, and how to support and refer such students to the appropriate helping services. Some have also established close collaboration with the Institute of Mental Health through the EPIP.

Name and Constituency of  Member of Parliament

Mr Seah Kian Peng, MP for Marine Parade GRC

Question

To ask the Minister for Education in light of the recent report where a girl was stripped and beaten by her friends in school (a) how often do such incidents occur in schools and what is the Ministry doing about it; and (b) whether there is a way for parents to help.

Response

MOE views such incidents seriously. Let me assure members of the House that such incidents of extreme bullying are infrequent. 

MOE has provided schools with comprehensive guidelines to manage discipline in schools. Within these guidelines, each school formulates its own specific set of rules and measures taking into account its student profile.  The focus is on ensuring a safe school environment for all pupils.

Schools manage discipline through a combination of proactive and intervention measures.  The preferred approach is to prevent such incidents. Schools have programmes to raise students’ awareness of potential discipline problems including bullying and to equip pupils with the knowledge and skills to handle challenging situations, such as help-seeking, self-management, relationship management and responsible decision-making.  

Schools also intervene to manage bullying and other forms of misbehaviour.  Depending on the seriousness of the offence, schools use a combination of counselling, mediation and disciplinary measures to educate and correct offenders.  Schools have Full-Time and Part-Time School Counsellors to complement the efforts of teachers to help both the bully and the bullied through counselling and mediation. Schools may also resort to disciplinary measures, which range from corrective work, detention, suspension to caning. 

Parents are important partners in all aspects of education. The schools welcome and value the support of parents when dealing with disciplinary cases. Such parental support will help the children better learn from the experiences.  It will also make the effort to prevent and resolve the cases more effective.   In addition, for those bullied, the parents should alert the school of such incidents.

ML Curriculum

Name and Constituency of  Member of Parliament

Dr Muhammad Faishal Ibrahim, MP for Marine Parade GRC

Question

To ask the Minister for Education (a) whether there are plans to enhance awareness and encourage the adoption of the new Malay syllabus for Primary One to Four students, to private education institutions teaching Malay Language as part of their syllabus; and (b) whether the review of the Malay Language curriculum looked into the needs of students with learning difficulties, such as dyslexia.

Response

1. The Ministry of Education (MOE) publishes the syllabuses of all subjects on the Internet. The Singapore Examinations and Assessment Board also publishes information of all examination subjects on its websites.
  
2. In addition, MOE invites Majlis Ugama Islam Singapura (MUIS) to attend briefings on changes in ML syllabuses and examination formats.  For example, MUIS officials were present for the launch of the new Primary 1-4 ML Syllabus on 26 Apr 2007.  We understand that MUIS shares the information with the madrasahs, which make use of our ML syllabus and textbooks to prepare their students for PSLE.

3. The new ML curriculum provides for differentiated learning by students with different levels of proficiency in the language.  Students with learning difficulties, including dyslexia, are being supported on a holistic basis by Special Needs Officers deployed in our schools and expertise from relevant organisations like the Dyslexia Association of Singapore.  In other words, the support is not limited to ML.  Students with severe learning difficulties may also be given exemption from offering mother tongue language at national examinations.

Name and Constituency of Member of Parliament

Dr Muhammad Faishal Ibrahim, MP for Marine Parade GRC

Question

To ask the Minister for Education if he can provide an update on the efforts to educate students on fire safety measures and whether fire safety is included in the school curriculum.

Response

Fire safety is emphasised as part of school safety to all pupils. To ensure that pupils know the actions to take in such an emergency, fire drills are conducted twice a year in schools. Each fire drill is preceded by a briefing to all staff and pupils on fire safety measures. As part of the preparation for lessons in the Design and Technology workshops and practical sessions in the Science laboratories, pupils are taught fire safety measures. Uniformed Groups like the National Civil Defence Cadet Corp (NCDCC), NPCC and NCC offer training on the use of fire extinguishers and on appropriate ways to fight a fire. Schools also leverage on media reports of fire occurrences and use platforms such as School Assembly to raise such safety awareness in pupils.