Non-standard subjects such as music or third language at neighbourhood secondary schools

Name and Constituency of Member of Parliament

Ms He Ting Ru, Sengkang GRC

Question

To ask the Minister for Education whether there are plans to expand offerings of non-standard subjects such as music or third language, for them to be directly available at neighbourhood secondary schools, in particular at Sengkang and Punggol.

Response

1. Elective subjects such as Music and Third Language are not offered in all schools, as the enrolment could be too small to form a class. Hence, MOE has designated music/language centres spread across Singapore for students whose schools do not offer these subjects.

2. For students offering MTL as third languages, Malay (Special Programme) [M(SP)] and Chinese (Special Programme) [C(SP)] are currently available at 16 and 5 schools, respectively, in different parts of Singapore. There are also 4 zonal centres for M(SP) and 2 for C(SP) to cater to students from other schools. Foreign Language (French/ German/Japanese/Spanish) classes are all held centrally at the two MOE Language Centres, as student numbers remain small.

3. Music is offered to lower secondary students in all schools. At the upper secondary level, more than 25% of secondary schools, well spread across Singapore, offer Music, as an elective subject, to their own students. Students enrolled in schools that do not offer Music at the upper secondary level may choose to pursue it at 12 centres, also equally spread across the country. We will continue to monitor and assess if these centres continue to be accessible to interested students from all schools.