Name and Constituency of Member of Parliament
Mr Christopher de Souza, Holland-Bukit Timah GRC
Question
To ask the Minister for Education whether the Ministry will consider reducing class sizes to increase teachers' effectiveness and empower students.
Response
1. Reducing class sizes across the board would require a significantly larger teaching force and come at the expense of quality. This would not be sustainable given Singapore's local workforce constraints and growing demands in other sectors such as healthcare.
2. MOE adopts a needs-based approach where more teaching resources are deployed for students with greater needs. This allows for smaller class sizes where it is needed. For example, the Learning Support Programme for lower primary students is conducted in pull-out classes of 8 to 10. With Full-Subject Based Banding, secondary school students attend different subject classes of between 20 to 40 students, depending on their learning needs and the number of students taking each subject. This targeted approach ensures we use our limited manpower resources prudently.
3. We are leveraging technology to complement the capacity of our teachers and provide more focused support for students with different needs.