Speeches
Speech by Mr Masagos Zulkifli BMM, Senior Parliamentary Secretary, Ministry of Education, at the Promotion Ceremony for Division II, III and IV Executive and Administrative Staff on Thursday, 25 June 2009 at 4.00pm at the MOE Edutorium
Directors,
Principals,
Colleagues, Ladies and Gentlemen,
It is a happy occasion today. It gives me great pleasure to be here to recognise and celebrate the dedication and achievements of our Division II-IV Executive & Administrative Staff (or EAS). I would like to extend my warmest congratulations to the 207 Executive & Administrative Staff (or EAS) officers in Divisions II to IV who were promoted on 1 June this year. Another 8 officers will be considered for promotion later in the year, subject to continuing good performance.
The External Environment
As you all know, Singapore is undergoing an economic downturn and is facing the worst recession since our independence. The recent of the outbreak of Influenza A (H1N1) has also added uncertainties to the economic and job market. Based on the latest forecast by the Ministry of Trade and Industry, 2009 GDP growth is expected to be -6% to - 9%. In the first three months of 2009, 12,600 workers lost their jobs. This is the highest quarterly figure in a decade. You may know friends or family members who have lost their jobs or been personally affected by the recession in one way or another. Although the world situation is starting to present a less pessimistic picture of the economy than expected, it is still too early to pronounce that recovery is in sight. At this point in time, any new risk, such as worsening of the Influenza A (H1N1) situation or another unexpected world crisis could setback the process of economic recovery.
Job Redesign
Job seekers today are increasingly flexible and adaptable. Many of them are also taking advantage of the wide range of training available to acquire new skills that will help them to be productive and stay employable, or take on a new job so that they can continue to work. Likewise, all of us who have jobs should continue to upgrade our skills, competencies and knowledge so that we are well positioned to meet current and future work challenges.
To have mastered the same job you were doing in the past ten years is now not enough. In the face of global competition and increasing public demands, our officers need to be more customer-focused, handle a wider range of tasks and have deeper domain knowledge in their respective areas in order to be more employable and deployable. As part of the on-going efforts to make the civil service more progressive and its workers more employable and marketable, the Public Service Division (or PSD) launched the Job Redesign exercise for all Division III and IV officers in October last year.
MOE took part in the pilot run of the Job Redesign exercise before the official launch last year with 12 schools across primary, secondary and junior college levels. The re-designed jobs have given officers the opportunity to take on more meaningful and challenging work, and the response from officers has been generally positive. Support officers who have undergone Job Redesign have shared that they experienced greater job satisfaction because they enjoyed the new challenges and appreciated the greater differentiation in jobs between substantive grades. Officers also felt a great sense of personal achievement in acquiring new skills and performing jobs at a higher level, making bigger contributions to their schools.
Miss Ng Lay Luan, a corporate support officer from one of the pilot schools - Pei Tong Primary School, cheerfully shared this about Job Redesign: “I am satisfied with what I have learnt to level up my professional knowledge and service level at work. Change is not always negative. Everyone has to change or get left behind. I am always looking for challenge and fun at work”. Her positive attitude is exemplary and she is with us today as one of those being promoted.
Since April this year, all support officers in schools are already performing their redesigned job. Let me cite a few examples of the redesigned jobs in our schools. While Corporate Support Officers (or CSOs) across substantive grades used to perform similar routine transactional duties in the past which include data entry work, processing claims and payment, senior CSOs can now work more independently. Their new job scope includes analysing data, putting up simple submissions and performing supervisory duties over junior CSOs and office attendants. Operations Support Officers (or OSOs) in schools are also now more than school and lab attendants. Some OSOs have begun performing receptionist duties and others have also value-added their services to schools through simple maintenance work and supervision of contractors.
For EAS in HQ, you too will experience job redesign and have the opportunities to acquire new skills, trying out new ways of doing things as well as doing new things differently. I look forward to your active participation in the process. I am sure you too will rise up to the occasion when you are called to take on a new or enhanced job scope. I want to assure you that you do not embark on the Job Re-design journey alone. Your supervisors and Personnel Division will discuss with you the new roles, provide the necessary training and guide you along.
Training
To maximise the potential of all our officers to meet the increasingly complex challenges, we will continue training officers to improve their literacy, numeracy, IT and service skills as well as actively invest in upskilling our officers through a range of professional development courses. It is no coincidence that much effort has been put in by Personnel Division (PED) and Training and Development Division (TDD) to customise the Job Redesign Training Roadmap to meet our officers’ training needs in schools after soliciting feedback from supervisors. I encourage all officers undergoing Job Redesign to keep an open mind and be proactive as you attend training sessions to equip you for your new role.
In 2007, the Public Service Division (or PSD) has put in place an array of training incentives to recognise the efforts of officers who proactively upgrade themselves. For example, officers in the generic Division III and Division IV schemes of service who successfully attain Career Readiness Certificate, Higher NITEC Certificate or skills certificate by any Polytechnics or Institute of Technical Education (ITE) are eligible for $200 training incentives.
Recently, MOE has worked together with PSD to expand the training incentives to recognise Employability Skills System (or ESS), Workplace Literacy and Numeracy (or WPLN) attainments by Operations Support Officers (or OSO) Grade IV and V as a result of on-going Job Redesign exercise. With effect from 15 June 2009, these officers with at least PSLE qualifications, who attained WPLN Level 4 or above, or officers with less than PSLE qualifications, who attained WPLN Level 3 or above, can now look forward to $100 training incentives.
To encourage all OSOs to improve their literacy and numeracy, Personnel Division (PED) will be working with schools to increase the accessibility of taking WPLN courses. I hope that all support officers will make full use of the available training incentives scheme to upgrade yourselves.
Seated among you are many positive role models who have taken advantage of the training opportunities available to pursue upgrading and further their career development. Mdm Sohanah Binte Hanapi, from Organisation Development Division, is a shining example. Today, in recognition of her consistent good performance and ceaseless effort to pursue upgrading, Mdm Sohanah has been promoted to OSO Grade II. Mdm Sohanah has come a long way from her humble educational background to have achieved WPLN Level 5, which has been recognised as an equivalent to 3 GCE ‘N’ Level Passes for appointment into Division III positions. Since joining MOE in 1993, she has taken the initiative to take part-time courses under Worker Improvement through Secondary Education (WISE programme) and has recently completed 90 hours of WPLN course to steadily build up her competency in the English Language. I congratulate Mdm Sohanah on her promotion to OSO Gr II and I look forward to see more officers who will proactively upgrade themselves.
I am also pleased to note that among the promotees this year, there are 86 Operations Support Officers who have been promoted from OSO Grade V to OSO Grade IV this year. Each of these officers spent 75 learning hours under the SIX and ReNew Training programmes organised by the Institute of Public Administration and Management to keep pace with workplace demands and changes. I commend the officers for their commitment to pursue upgrading.
Last year, MOE enhanced the emplacement framework for serving EAS officers. This framework aims to provide opportunities to EAS officers who have attained the requisite higher educational qualifications to transfer to a higher scheme of service. Since the announcement last year, I am glad that 16 officers have been successfully emplaced onto a higher scheme of service after attaining the requisite academic qualifications, such as ESS, local part-time diploma and degrees from approved institutions.
Role of EAS
Despite economic uncertainties, MOE will continue with our efforts to build a world class education system that will give young Singaporeans the best future possible. Some of the key initiatives that MOE is doing this year include taking steps to strengthen primary education and investing the necessary resources to bring about these improvements, recruiting more educators and Allied Educators, and enhancing our financial assistance measures to ensure that our students have access to quality education that they deserve.
Teachers do not work alone to achieve all this. A core component of the “school team” includes our EAS who are partners in education. Our EAS are vital partners in Education, whether in policy development and implementation, corporate services, or school administration and operations. They work together with our school leaders, teachers and allied educators in partnership with MOE HQ to build up a strong, resilient education system. MOE recognises the critical role that our EAS play and is appreciative of their dedication, energy and commitment.
Conclusion
In closing, let me congratulate all the officers who have been promoted this year and my very best wishes for your continuing success. You have done well! Once again, congratulations to all. Thank you.