Speech by Minister for Education and Second Minister for Defence RAdm Teo Chee Hean at the FY2001 Committee of Supply Debate (First Reply) (15 Mar 2001)

Ministry of Education
FY2001 Committee of Supply Debate
15 March 2001 12.30pm
Minister's First Reply on Schools

1. In his National Day Rally Speech last year, PM said that he was prepared to increase spending on education from 3.6% to perhaps 4.5% of GDP over the next few years, provided the funds are put to good use. This year the Minister for Finance has increased MOE's budget by $480 million, an increase of 8% which is higher than this year's expected GDP growth of 5-7%.

2. With these additional resources, MOE will be able to implement worthwhile programmes to bring us closer to realising our vision of "Thinking Schools, Learning Nation" and making an Ability-Driven Education happen, so that all our people can receive a well rounded education and are developed to their full potential.

3. Our priorities this year are in three broad areas. First our schools; second post secondary and continuing education; and third the pre-school sector.

4. In our schools, we will see through the major programmes initiated in the last few years such as the Information Technology Masterplan; bringing all our schools up to modern standards through rebuilding and improvements under PRIME; a more well-rounded and creative curriculum; and promoting excellence in teaching and administration in schools. But the real focus of my ministry for schools this year will be on teachers - recruiting and developing good teachers, and making sure that we have enough of them in the coming years. Good teachers are key to all that we do. They give life and reality to all the good things we want to do in education and deliver the quality education with a human touch that our children need.

5. With a strong School System, the other key pieces of the educational process are the pre and post- school sectors. This year MOE will be putting in place more pieces to strengthen the education system at both ends of the education time continuum. At the front end of the continuum, my colleague Dr Aline Wong will say more later today about what steps we will be taking from now on to raise the quality of pre-school education to provide a sound beginning for all our children. At the other end of the education time continuum, Mr Peter Chen will tell you more about expanding opportunities for further education in our post-secondary sector, to provide Singaporeans with opportunities to acquire and update their skills and knowledge for the new economy.

6. I hope that as we get down to discuss individual issues in detail, this broad overview of our priorities will help members place the discussion on education today within the larger context of what we are working to achieve.

7. In this segment, I will address Members' questions on current initiatives in our school system. Last year, I informed this House that MOE aims to move towards ability-driven education to develop and harness the talents of our students. By customising learning to different needs and abilities, we aim for an education system that provides students of all abilities with an education that maximises their potential.

8. We are not there yet, but we are making progress. Mass customisation has been a feature of our education system for many years. Our streaming system more closely matches curriculum and the pace and method of learning with the abilities and aptitudes of our children so that each student can proceed at his or her own pace. Those members who have expressed concern that our curriculum appears to be catering only to the most able students should therefore be strong advocates of streaming as it addresses precisely this concern. As a system, streaming is better than requiring every student to fit into only one prescribed programme of study. Indeed, the more customised education becomes, the more streams will emerge. Through streaming and giving those who need it, a lighter curriculum or more time, we have reduced educational wastage and successfully raised the educational attainment of our students. In 1980, before streaming, only 58% of a P1 cohort completed secondary school. By 2000, the proportion was 93%.

9. On top of this, we now also have programmes to cater to students with a range of aptitudes and abilities or who need more support. We have the Gifted Education Programme and elective programmes in languages, art and music. MOE is also encouraging autonomous schools to develop niche areas to nurture the talents and abilities of their students. School clusters have set up centres for music, the arts and science to provide enrichment for students with the aptitude and interest. We support the establishment of a sports school under the auspices of MCDS.

10. Not all these programmes have an academic focus, and not all are examinable. Many are simply there to cater to the interests of the students and to enrich their experiences. And we have programmes to support students who need more support. Last year we introduced the "B" syllabus for those with difficulties coping with the Mother Tongue Languages. And the Learning Support Programme implemented in all primary schools helps P1 and P2 pupils who are weak in English. There is also the programme to Encourage Achievement and Better Learning (or Enable) to support students who are not achieving their potential.

11. The principals and teachers want to do their best for their students. And they run many programmes to help their students such as remedial classes for academically weaker students, or enrichment programmes and co-curricular activities. The community helps too through programmes organised by the self-help groups.

12. Parents play the most important part in partnering schools to support, motivate and encourage their children to do the best that they can, and yet, to know when not to push them too far or too hard. Parents' expectations and attitudes have a strong bearing on the stress levels experienced by our young and how our young cope with school. I know that it is not easy to be a parent, and all of us want to do the best that we can for our children. Schools too want to do their best for our students.

13. Parents and schools need to work together to bring out the best from our children, be it streaming, exams or remedial lessons, or enrichment or CCA, so that programmes which are designed to provide a range of opportunities and support to various groups of students with different abilities and aptitudes do not become a source of anxiety for parents and their children. Streaming at Primary 4 is one example. There is no point overloading children with higher mother tongue in EM1 if they do not have the aptitude or are unable to cope. We should remember that the final choice of which stream to place their child in after P4 really lies with the parents. We have many parents who opt in to the more demanding EM1 stream for their children, and very few who opt out from it.

14. Ultimately, stress comes from a mismatch between expectations and achievement. The education system, and indeed our society and families can offer so much more to our young people today - not just in school, but piano lessons, extra tuition, holidays abroad, computers - that there is just so much on the plate to choose from and compete for time and attention. The day and the year have not grown any longer. I suppose that psychiatric care for some children is a manifestation of the increased complexity of life for young people today. To deal with stress, schools, parents and society need to understand that while we want the best for our children, we, all of us, should not push them beyond their limits. Children are different in their potential and their needs, and we need to encourage and support them to do the best that they are able to.

15. To facilitate the partnership between schools, parents and the wider community in nurturing and helping our young to grow, Parent-Teacher Associations or Parent Support Groups have been set up in many schools. These provide parents with an avenue to work with the school for the benefit of their children's education and welfare. Parent-teacher conferences may also be initiated by the parent or teacher anytime during the year to discuss the child's development and performance in school.

16. To complement the efforts of schools in building home-school links, an advisory council called COMPASS, comprising representatives from the community and parents, and chaired by myself, was set up two years ago in 1999. The role of COMPASS is to promote and strengthen the collaboration between schools, parents and the community in ensuring the wholesome and total development of our children.

17. We will continue to work towards greater collaboration between home and school, and encourage more open dialogue to help our children grow, and help schools, parent's and students develop healthy and realistic expectations of each other.

18. Dr Wang suggested that our education system is too demanding because although our children do better in schools in all international comparisons, by the time they graduate from university, they are no different from other overseas graduates. So why study so much?

19. Dr Wang mixes up two things. International comparisons at the school level, such as TIMSS where Singapore secondary two students emerged first in Math and second in Science, look at the performance of the whole population of students. Dr Wang was comparing, anecdotally only I might add, and not based on any studies, between people who graduate from the same tertiary courses. The people who graduate from the same courses in the same higher education institutes can be expected to do no better nor worse than others who similarly graduate. In fact, our students who study at a wide range of universities do very well in those universities.

20. So what is the proper comparison to make? If you look at the proportion of our students who make it to the tertiary level, and the types of courses that they study, and compare it against other countries, it is clear that our school system gives our students a stronger foundation and a long term advantage over their peers in other countries. A study by Dr Andy Green from ULIE, comparing our education system and the UK shows that at every level through to basic degrees, we do better than UK - "Comparable data on rates of qualification in Singapore and England in 1998 shows that Singapore has a higher proportion of young people gaining qualifications at each level, except post-graduate… Singapore has a larger proportion of the cohort entering higher education courses than the UK…In 1998, it can be estimated that over 55% of an age group in Singapore enrol on a higher education course at diploma or first degree level. In the UK, total entrants to higher education in 1998 represented about 36% of the 18-20 year old cohort".

21. The statistics show starker differences when we look at the numbers who do Maths and Science, in particular advanced Maths. Some 20% of each cohort in Singapore gain a Mathematics A level compared with around 7% in the UK. This strong grounding in math and science allows our students to pursue more challenging courses than their counterparts in the UK. If we look at the UK and US, they are lamenting that their own people are not studying engineering. Their engineering schools are filled with foreigners including Singaporeans. In contrast NUS, NTU and our polytechnics produce large numbers of people trained in engineering and technology. 74% of our poly students and 56% of NUS/NTU students do science and engineering courses. I quote from Dr Green's study again - "Singapore produces a large number of engineering graduates relative to its population size. 5% of an age group in Singapore graduate from first degree level engineering courses, compared with just over 2% in the UK. In addition, large numbers graduate from diploma courses in engineering - twice as many as achieve an HND/HNC in engineering in the UK (whose population is around 20 times greater)".

22. Sir, the strong foundation that our Singapore children have acquired from the hard work they have put in at school, carries through to college, and into their careers. Many of their counterparts in UK and US would not even be at the start line in college, because not enough of them had that kind of preparation in school. Even in non-engineering and scientific courses, a strong quantitative foundation gives our students an advantage in areas such as accounting, financial engineering, business information processing, and logistics management. Our students gain a long term, perhaps life-long advantage over their counterparts in other countries who are not as well prepared. This solid foundation could be even more telling in future as a good foundation in mathematics and the sciences makes it much more easy for a person to be trained and retrained in continuing education.

23. Sir, Dr Wang is therefore wrong to conclude that our students do not have to study so hard in school. It is precisely because our students are well prepared in school, both academically and in terms of their values and attitudes to learning, that so many of them do well in higher education. The strong work ethic and values that our children imbibe gives them an edge over others, and will help them to succeed in life.

24. In the last few years we have been putting in place programmes and systems so that all our schools are equipped to prepare our children for the future. Enhancements continue to be made to school infrastructure, school management, and curriculum and assessment.

25. Our $2 bn IT masterplan is now into its 3rd and final phase of implementation where all schools will be networked and equipped with 1 computer to every 5 to 6 students, and all teachers trained in IT. We are already starting to look ahead and beyond to the next step.

26. The $4.5 bn Programme for Rebuilding and Improving Existing Schools or PRIME is in its 2nd phase. By the end of next year 46% of all schools would have undergone redevelopment under PRIME, and have the most updated facilities. These investments make possible effective new combinations of people and technology to raise standards and extend learning opportunities.

27. MOE develops and provides a wide range of learning resources. For Chinese Language alone, MOE has produced 14 CD-ROMs, 21 audio CDs and 77 video CDs, to support schools in the use of IT for teaching CL. In addition, the Ministry sources for and evaluates educational software produced locally or abroad and recommends suitable ones to schools. The Ministry has also developed a website ("Happy Town") to support the learning of CL at the upper primary level. The Ministry will continue to develop suitable materials to support the use of IT in our schools, not just in CL, but in all subject areas.

28. To encourage and nurture more good schools, MOE has over the years steadily given more autonomy to schools so they can be more innovative and responsive to the needs of pupils. In 1994, Autonomous Schools were introduced. This year, two more schools - Xinmin and Dunman - have been accorded autonomous status, bringing the total number to 20. MOE intends to double the number of autonomous schools to provide pupils and parents a wider range of good schools. We have also fully implemented the School Cluster Scheme which facilitates the sharing of resources and best practices between schools.

29. Thanks to these measures, good schools are not limited to brandname schools. We have many good neighbourhood schools that add value to their students so that they do as well or better than students who had scored better in the PSLE, carry themselves with confidence and are well-rounded individuals. Our neighbourhood schools have been doing well in both academic and non-academic areas. Of the schools that have received the value-added award for academic performance each year, about 75% are neighbourhood schools. Neighbourhood schools like Rulang Primary and Jurong Primary are known for their IT programmes, Radin Mas Primary for its Digital Art programme and Greenridge Primary for its band. years ago, few would have heard of Xinmin, a neighbourhood school in Upper Serangoon. Today, it is a popular autonomous school known for many innovations and good quality of education.

30. In recent years, we have done much to raise public awareness of the positive developments at our neighbourhood schools through both print and broadcast media. One example is the MOE television series "Learning Journeys" aired last year. Schools on their own also mount publicity programmes which include newsletters and 'open houses' to keep parents informed of their schools' activities and achievements. With a wider range of schools distinguishing themselves in various areas, we hope that discerning parents and students will be able to select schools that best suit their educational needs.

31. Although MOE has given schools more autonomy and flexibility, the government has no plans to privatise existing national schools. Already, about one quarter of all our schools are government-aided or independent. The guiding principles for education in Singapore reflect the fundamental organising principles of Singaporean society, such as equal opportunity and meritocracy. Our schools provide a common educational experience to build national identity and social cohesion. Any child regardless of his socio-economic background can be admitted to any secondary school based solely on merit, and he need not worry about the fees. Allowing schools to go private will introduce the potential for creating a division within our school system where admission is based on ability to pay rather than merit. This has potentially divisive effects on our society which I would be reluctant to embark upon.

32. Aside from good school management and infrastructure our students are receiving a holistic education through a well-rounded curriculum that is regularly reviewed and updated. I informed this House two years ago that we are reducing curriculum content by up to 30% to provide more time for the infusion of thinking skills. We have since done so, and will continue to regularly review our curriculum. Changes to the university admission system in 2003, which will include bonus points for CCA, will reinforce the importance of other measures of ability. Furthermore, this year we will be introducing Edusave Awards to recognise and encourage student achievement in non-academic activities such as Sports, the Arts, community service and uniformed groups.

33. While we continue to introduce changes that focus on the holistic development of our young people, bilingualism will remain a cornerstone of our education system. Our young need to learn English to prepare them for the globalised, knowledge based world, and as a common language to communicate with each other across ethnic boundaries. While the majority of our students are competent users of English, I cannot but agree with Mr Peh and Mr Chiam that we should strive for a better standard. And we are doing so. Since last year, the Ministry has introduced revised English language syllabuses which give renewed attention to grammar to help our students become more effective users of the language. Many schools have reading and public speaking programmes to promote confidence and better usage of the language.

34. At the same time, our students also need to study mother tongue to imbibe values and appreciate their cultural heritage. We carried out major reviews of Mother Tongue teaching and learning in the last two years. The recommendations are now being implemented. In the case of Tamil Language, the revision of the syllabuses has been completed, and will be phased in from 2002 together with new instructional materials and revisions to the examination format. The upgrading of the Umar Pulavar Tamil Language Centre, at the cost of $2 million, will be completed this year.

35. MOE has been allowing more students with the aptitude, to offer Higher Mother tongue. In 1995, MOE relaxed its criteria to allow students in the top 11-20% of PSLE to do so; this was then extended to those in the top 21-30% in 1999. So in the last 5 years the potential pool of students who can offer HMT has increased three fold.

36. Pupils in the top 11-30% need to have either an A* in MT or a Distinction in HMT, and at least an A in EL to do HMT. This is to ensure that pupils offering Higher Mother Tongue languages (HMTL) are able to cope well with the learning of the two languages and other subjects.

38. For ML the measures include new ML elective programmes at Bukit Panjang Govt High and Tampines Junior College, and a new honours degree programme for the teaching of Malay Language and Literature. We have thus taken appropriate measures to encourage more students to study higher Mother Tongue in order to help us produce a core group of Singaporeans who are steeped in culture, history, literature and the arts, from which our future literary elite can be drawn.

39. Sir, we have an education system that provides opportunities for educational advancement to all students according to their aptitudes and abilities. The changes in our school system, the programmes and structures move us closer to providing an ability based education system. Students in our national schools can benefit from a high quality of education so that the vast majority of our people can stay on the correct side of the global knowledge divide.

40. I am glad that several members have raised the subject of teachers. This is perhaps the most critical element in a good education system. Good teachers are the ones who actually deliver a good education. I see that several members are scheduled to speak on this subject later, and I will elaborate on this, the most important issue that my ministry will focus on this year, after I have had the benefit of their views and suggestions.