Parliamentary Replies
Regulation of Private Education Sector
Name and Constituency of Member of Parliament
Assoc Prof Kalyani K Mehta, Nominated MP
Question
To ask the Minister for Education
- when the academic quality accreditation scheme for private schools/universities will take effect;
- what new strategies the Ministry has to effectively address the problem of ‘bogus’ teachers in the private school industry; and
- whether the Ministry intends to do a comprehensive inter-ministerial review of the current state of private schools in Singapore.
Name and Constituency of Member of Parliament
Mdm Halimah Yacob, Jurong GRC
Question
To ask the Minister for Education what immediate measures will the Ministry put in place to protect students from poor governance and standards and loss of fees pending the introduction of the Private Education Bill later this year.
Response
Timeline of New Regulatory Regime.
A Private Education (PE) Bill will be moved in the second half of 2009 to provide powers to better regulate the private education sector and the set up of the Council for Private Education. Once the PE Bill is passed, the Council for Private Education (CPE) comprising members from the fields of education, quality assurance and business will implement the enhanced registration regime and the voluntary quality assurance scheme, called EduTrust. The CPE expects the first PEIs to be registered under the enhanced framework by the end of fourth quarter of 2009, with all eligible PEIs to be registered within an 18-month time-frame from then. The first PEIs to undergo EduTrust certification can be expected around the first quarter of 2010.
Besides regulation, the CPE will also take on roles of developing the private education industry, including fostering greater industry stewardship and consumer education. This will be a holistic approach to uplift the overall quality of private education players.
Review of private education sector.
Recognising that the challenges in the private education sector require a whole-of-government response, the CPE will be working closely with various stakeholder agencies such as EDB, Spring Singapore and STB on inter-agency collaborations to progressively improve the quality of private education institutions (PEIs) and promote consumer education within the private education sector going forward. Senior representatives from EDB, Spring Singapore and STB appointed to the CPE would further facilitate such collaborations.
As part of the registration process in transiting to the new regulatory regime, PEIs would be required to submit and disclose key information concerning their courses, teaching staff, student enrolment, facilities and other business operations. The data submitted by the PEIs will also serve as a useful update on the local private education sector which the CPE can use in its planning, review and oversight activities, in collaboration with the respective stakeholder agencies.
“Bogus” Teachers. A/P Kalyani Mehta is also concerned about “bogus” teachers in PEIs. The new regime will tackle this issue in three ways. Firstly, we will stipulate the requirements for a teacher to possess educational qualification generally of at least one level above the programme he or she will be teaching. In addition, PEIs must ensure that teachers’ degree qualifications are authentic and recognised by education authorities in home countries. Officers of the CPE will follow up with compliance checks when they perform on-site inspections as part of their regular enforcement regime.
Secondly, should investigations uncover instances of teachers who do not meet the stipulated requirements, the CPE would be able to direct PEIs to cease the deployment of teachers who do not meet the stipulated qualifications. If it is found that false information has been furnished or material fact has been deliberately withheld, the PEI will also be guilty of an offence under the new regime.
Thirdly, PEIs who apply for EduTrust certification would also be assessed on how academic staff are recruited, deployed and monitored to ensure teaching quality. Students who want to be more certain of the quality of the teaching and overall standards of the PEI can rely on EduTrust as a mark of assurance.
Interim Measures
Mdm Halimah Yacob asked what interim measures we could take to protect students in the lead up to the new legislation. In this interim period prior to the introduction of the new private education legislation, the Consumer Association of Singapore (CASE) (which administers the “CaseTrust for Education” certification) is stepping up checks to ensure that certified PEIs remain compliant with CaseTrust’s requirements in student fee protection and welfare, to ensure that the interests of students remain safeguarded during this economically difficult period.
The new regulatory regime represents a substantive change and adjustment for the private education sector. The Council is currently engaging various stakeholders on the proposed regime through a public consultation exercise, which is open till 6 May. I strongly urge various stakeholders to weigh in if there are good ideas and views on how the private education sector here can be improved.