14 March 2000

Committee of Supply Debate FY2000
Reply by SMS Chen
on Hardware & Infrastructure

Sir, over the last few years, the Ministry of Education has rolled out various initiatives to put in place hardware and infrastructure that will support our schools in bringing about an ability-driven education. I will take this opportunity to share with Members our progress in some of these initiatives.

IT MASTERPLAN

Mr Hawazi Daipi has asked about the status of the Masterplan for IT in Education which was launched in 1997.

The Masterplan, which is being implemented in three phases, has met all its targets thus far:

	Phase 1 involving 22 schools has been completed. Phase 2 involving another 108 schools will be completed by the middle of this year. These schools are fully-networked and have access to MOE's intranet, the Internet and Singapore ONE. Targets for students to computer ratio have also been met. This has enabled about 15% of formal curriculum time in these schools to be IT-enriched.
	Full implementation of the third and final phase of the Masterplan for the remaining schools has already begun, and is scheduled to finish in the next few years.
	With the setting up of a central unit to source, review and recommend suitable resources, schools can now choose from a wide selection of courseware and electronic resources. In areas where there is a lack of good educational software in the market, the Ministry has collaborated with local industry to produce the software.
	A whole-school approach has been adopted in the training of teachers to create a critical mass of teachers who are IT-savvy and help the IT culture take root more quickly in schools. We have so far completed IT training for 6,500 teachers in the Phase 1 and Phase 2 schools. By September this year, another 15,500 teachers in the Phase 3 schools will be IT-trained. Teachers receive an average of 40 hours of training in IT.

However, the Masterplan goes beyond the provision of hardware, infrastructure and training. It has also put in place a clear policy on the use of IT in Education that is widely supported by Principals. This has helped to bring about a mindset change in the way schools make use of IT in their instructional programmes.

Today, our students are reaping the benefits of the IT Masterplan not only through IT-enriched lessons, but also participation in IT-based projects with students from other schools, both local and overseas. These projects have helped to broaden the outlook of our students, and provided opportunities for them to learn IT and teamwork skills.

Mrs Lim Hwee Hua has asked MOE to consider including Technology as a compulsory subject. MOE shares Mrs Lim's objective of ensuring that our young are technology literate. We have chosen to achieve this objective by first building a strong foundation in Mathematics and Science throughout the education system, and by infusing IT in subjects and learning activities. Our aim is for our students in general to learn to make the best use of Technology in their learning, rather than for them to study the subject of Technology in isolation. But for students who are technically inclined, there are specialised subjects like Computer Applications subject for Normal (Technical) students and JC students may choose to offer Computing.

Singapore is also widely acknowledged internationally to be a leader in the use of IT in Education. In the recent Second Information Technology in Education Study (SITES), an international study involving 26 other participating countries and economies including Japan and Hong Kong, Singapore was ranked top in having a clearly articulated policy on the use of IT, the provision of some of the world's best computers and peripherals to schools, and IT training for its teachers. Our students have also won top awards in international website design competitions like Thinkquest Internet Challenge.

Single Session Programme for Secondary Schools

Dr Wang Kai Yuen has asked about the Single Session Programme for secondary schools and how these schools are adapting to the single-session system.

The implementation of the Single Session Programme is a significant step forward for our secondary schools. It has allowed schools to benefit from greater flexibility in the use of curriculum time and resources, a wider range of enrichment programmes to cater to students of different abilities and family backgrounds, and a more vibrant school culture.

10.

The single-session system is still a relatively new system for many of our schools and MOE has been monitoring its implementation. We are generally pleased with the ways schools have made use of the single-session system to enrich the learning experiences of their pupils. We will continue to provide advice and guidance to the schools in their implementation, and help them to strike a balance between optimising the use of their resources and not overloading our teachers and students.

PRIME

11.

Dr Teo Ho Pin has suggested during the Budget Debate last week that we boost the number of construction projects by building new schools and upgrading old ones.

12.

Sir, the Ministry of Education builds and upgrades schools to meet educational objectives. If these activities provided a welcome stimulus to the construction industry, it will be an added bonus. In the last 2 years, we have been constructing new school buildings at a rate of about 12 per year. Members would also be aware that in May last year, my Ministry launched the Programme for Rebuilding and IMproving Existing schools (PRIME). Under PRIME, a total of 290 schools will either be rebuilt or upgraded over a period of 7 years at an estimated cost of $4.5 billion. Thereafter, we will upgrade schools to the prevailing standard once every 5 years.

13.

PRIME will be implemented in 5 phases. There are 96 schools in Phase 1. To date, the construction for 9 of these schools has been completed and construction for most of the other schools is scheduled to complete by the end of 2001.

14.

Sir, putting in place the necessary hardware and infrastructure has great influence on total education and children's achievement in school. In this regard, the Ministry will continue to strive to provide the best school facilities and environment to afford students a broad range of educational activities and programmes.