Committee of Supply – Head K (Ministry of Education)

General Education Policies

Mr Lim Biow Chuan (Mountbatten) : Madam, I beg to move, "That the total sum to be allocated for Head K of the Estimates be reduced by $100".

A recent article in The Straits Times caught my eye. In the article, it was reported that there were too many Koreans chasing after too few jobs. The report stated that the college entrance rate stands at 80%, up from 30% in the 1990s. South Korean parents were reported to spend up to 19 trillion won, or S$22.4 billion, on extra tuition. But many college graduates were unable to find jobs due to severe labour mismatch. The jobless rate for people aged 15 to 29 is 8% and government data from South Korea showed that there were more than three million graduates who were "economically inactive".

In another BBC article last July, it was reported that a staggering 7.26 million will graduate from China's universities in 2014. In fact, the article was entitled "What do you do with millions of extra graduates?" Unemployment among these new graduates six months after leaving university is around 15%.

Having read such depressing news, I wonder about our Singapore graduates. Like South Korea and China, Singaporeans place a high premium on education and many students aspire towards getting a tertiary education. This is evident from the fact that a recent household survey found that Singapore families spent a staggering $1.1 billion on tuition.

I am concerned that more and more students see achieving a university degree as the ultimate objective in life and they will be assured of a bright future once they graduate. To me, there is nothing wrong in wanting to pursue further education. However, I worry about Singaporeans who, after spending so much time and money on attaining a higher education, are unable to secure well-paying jobs. Will Singapore have the high youth unemployment rates that we see in South Korea, in China and in many parts of Europe? If we do, I am sure that there will be great frustration and deep resentment among these people.

Last year, I urged the Government to ensure that all our students from ITEs, polytechnics and universities are properly prepared to meet the future needs of the various industries. We must ensure that the skills which our students learn in our Institutes of Higher Learning or IHLs must be practical and relevant to the industries. Hence, I am glad to hear the recent focus in the Budget Statement about the need to invest in our citizens to prepare them for the future.

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Much was said about SkillsFuture in the Budget Debate. I agree that we must help our citizens deepen and master skills relevant to their jobs because our people are our only natural resource. In this competitive world, Singaporeans cannot take full employment for granted. May I ask the Minister, how will SkillsFuture help Singaporeans understand better the need for lifelong learning to achieve deeper skills in their profession or work, and to remain relevant in the workforce? Just in today's The Straits Times, it was reported that fewer workers find their training useful. Can MOE ensure that courses and skills taught by education and training providers are useful and relevant? Can the Minister elaborate more about the SkillsFuture credit and how Singaporeans can upgrade themselves using the SkillsFuture credit?

Next, allow me to speak briefly about tuition. Whilst I know that many students rely heavily on tuition, I am concerned that tuition will eventually become a crutch for these students. Some of them are so heavily reliant on tuition to achieve high scores that they may have lost the skill of self-directed learning. This will put them at a disadvantage when they enter the workforce as they may not develop problem-solving skills on their own whilst they were students. They will always have a safety net in their tuition teachers.

Can we ask our schools to encourage students who are already performing well to reconsider whether they truly need tuition? Teachers can encourage their students to be bold and confident to develop the skill of self-learning without the need for tuition teachers to constantly hold their hands and check their work. If we take a small step in this direction, we will gradually be able to reduce students' over-dependence on tuition. This hopefully will gradually reduce stress as students should see that actual competence, application skills and lifelong learning skills are more important once they enter the workforce.

Finally, I am excited to hear about the enhanced subsidies for mid-career Singaporeans. I feel that we can encourage Singaporeans to seek further development by pursuing either skills development or further education once they are clearer about their career goals. However, I wish to urge MOE to consider allowing the enhanced subsidies to be given to Singaporeans who have worked for at least five years and not wait until they are 40 years of age.

I know of many young people who, after having worked for a few years, feel that it is timely for them to upgrade their skills and this is before it becomes more difficult for them to take time off to balance office work, family life and still continue their studies. Minister, I wish to appeal that we allow them to seize the opportunities offered by our education system once they are ready instead of waiting until they are 40 years old.

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[(proc text) Question proposed. (proc text)]

SkillsFuture – Progression Opportunities

Mr Zainudin Nordin (Bishan-Toa Payoh) : ( In Malay ) : [ Please refer to Vernacular Speech .] Mdm Chair, efforts to restructure our economy is well underway to prepare us for the global challenge. With this effort, a rapid transformation will take place in our nation's industries. The implementation of SkillsFuture and other relevant schemes for lifelong learning and upgrading are important and necessary. It is hoped that this will bring about the necessary mindset change to Singaporean workers and students. This mindset change is key to the success of SkillsFuture.

Although we understand the long-term benefits of lifelong learning and upgrading initiatives, it is only a projection and a potential that will not produce quick results. I believe that many people will want to know and understand in more detail how the SkillsFuture schemes can provide motivation and a positive impact as soon as possible to our students and workers, especially for the mature workers. Can SkillsFuture continuously help our students and workers to achieve progression in their careers?

As for SkillsFuture programme in schools and Institutions of Higher Learning (IHLs), what are the objectives and outcomes that we would like to achieve for our students? Can the internship and Earn and Learn programmes decide a good and stable career or is it merely for education and training? How can we ensure a good match and minimise the attrition rates and complications among students in the SkillsFuture programme so as to achieve a more optimal outcome?

Aspirations for Higher Education

Ms Tin Pei Ling (Marine Parade) : Madam, I am heartened by the Government's introduction of the ASPIRE and SkillsFuture. I hope that all of these initiatives, taken together, will over the long term foster a workforce that is always up-to-date, shrewd in making career choices, higher employability and highly sought after regardless of how the world or economy changes. More importantly, a population that is passionate about lifelong learning and ever willing to seek out opportunities to meaningfully challenge ourselves.

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Madam, I have two suggestions. First is to allow a wider selection of courses to be covered by SkillsFuture Credit. This could include post-graduate qualifications, such as Master's programmes in local institutions. It will no doubt help Singaporeans who aspire and

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have the ability to attain higher qualifications to do so.

SkillsFuture Credit is about empowerment and giving Singaporeans the autonomy and responsibility over their own personal development and career progression. Hence, why not let Singaporeans decide what are best suited to their development and to their needs because SkillsFuture credit is, perhaps, only a small fraction of the total cost of a master's programme but it is a nod towards the desire to upgrade.

Hence, my second suggestion is to allow Singaporeans to tap into their own CPF money to fund these programmes, at least partially, and make it known that if they tap on their CPF, they are expected to put it back post-graduation.

Support for Mid-career Learning

Mr Ang Wei Neng (Jurong): Mdm Chair, the definition of mid-career varies. Typically, it means someone who has worked for 10 to 15 years and is probably in their late-30s or 40s. At this mid-point, one might come to a crossroads and:

(a) have a feeling of a need to upgrade and deepen his work skills so as to do better in his career; or

(b) seek the ultimate goal and meaning of one's life and contemplate a possible change in his career; or

(c) in the worst-case scenario, face retrenchment because his skillset has become redundant or his company has closed down or relocated.

For those who need to upgrade to deepen his skills so as to perform better in his fields of work, he is definitely more self-motivated and can help himself to look for suitable courses, and he will find SkillsFuture Credit very useful.

For the second group, maybe the Government could collaborate with the industries to provide more mid-career scholarships to facilitate change of career, perhaps as a means to encourage people to tilt towards growing industries. It does not mean that we are encouraging people to change jobs or change career. Several literature about mid-career crisis shows that very often people find themselves unhappy in a path which they have trodden for some time. This is a modern-day illness.

As for the third group, it is the most worrying. For many people in their late-30s and 40s, they would have several significant financial commitments, such as housing mortgages,

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young or school-going children and elderly parents to support and so on. And they can ill afford to lose their jobs at this time of their life. This group deserves the most attention.

Mdm Chair, as we accelerate our economic restructuring, more Singaporeans will be displaced from their jobs. It is most painful when someone loses his job after working so hard for so many years in the same field. One particular group of people is those working in the manufacturing sector. A significant number of Singaporeans were retrenched when the factories were closed and relocated to Penang and China and so on. Although many new jobs have been created, a lot of these opportunities are created in the service sectors. The displaced workers from the manufacturing sector find it hard to adapt and make such a switch.

In my own personal capacity, I have tried to help some retrenched Singaporeans by offering them opportunities in the service sectors but my experience is not too positive. I used to interview several middle managers displaced from the manufacturing sector before I could find one who would possibly fit into a management role in the service sector. Even then, only one out of five who was eventually offered made it.

I hope MOM can help more displaced workers, help them to organise courses and work with e2i to find new ways to help them.

Lifelong Learning

Mrs Lina Chiam (Non-Constituency Member): Lifelong learning is the pursuit of knowledge for either personal or professional reasons which enhances social inclusion, active citizenship and personal development but self-sustainability rather than for competitiveness and employability.

Lifelong learning can also be seen as something that takes place on an ongoing basis from our daily interactions with others and the world around us.

As Singaporeans are living longer these days, they can make use of their added years in ways that please them especially when they have time on their hands. If their counterparts in Hong Kong who embrace lifelong learning can enter the classroom, there is no reason why our elderly should not emulate them if they have the interest, energy and desire to live a more enriching and fulfilling life through continuous education.

For seniors, who for various reasons had to stop their studies during their younger days, learning opportunities for them will be most welcomed and should be made available to them. Learning opportunities should also be provided to needy elderly in recognition of their

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contributions of the generation who built up Singapore and who have survived difficult times in the past and have advantage of life experience.

Intergeneration learning in class is unique and beneficial, in that both the younger students and the senior ones can learn from each other through interactions and also to overcome apprehensiveness with each other in the classroom.

We are living in a globalised world and with constant scientific and technological innovation, some seniors can even pursue courses of higher learning online either in homes or offices.

I am heartened to note that Singapore is studying the feasibility of the Hong Kong scheme for the elderly to re-enter the classroom where the seniors can take classes in participating universities and schools during the weekends and at night for tertiary education or life skills, such as basic computer use and crafts.

Hong Kong's scheme receives subsidies from the government. Hopefully, the Government will work out some form of enhanced subsidies for courses to fund the programmes under the one billion SkillsFuture plan for continued education for the future. Providing seniors with a tertiary education will certainly help keep individuals mentally alert and raise their self-esteem.

Journey of continuing education is not smooth-sailing but the highs outweigh the lows if one is patient enough. Lifelong learning is just not about achieving another qualification for jobs but our lives will be enriched, too.

Quote: "The more I live, the more I learn. The more I learn, the more I realise the less I know".

Internships

Mr Yee Jenn Jong (Non-Constituency Member): Madam, internships will play an increasingly important role as we move to a more skills-based economy. I have spoken on this topic before. While I am happy that there will be more internships and we are told that they will be structured, I remain concerned about how industries will be engaged to ensure that internships are meaningful even as we ramp up the number of such places.

I have taken interns over the past 15 years and I have spoken with others who have as well. From the perspective of companies, the supply of interns has been somewhat unpredictable. Some institutions give longer period of notice of incoming interns and some

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are as short as two weeks before commencement. Sometimes, we are allowed to interview and select interns but often we are not.

It will be difficult for companies to plan for a meaningful project if the supply is unpredictable and if the existing skills of interns are not properly matched to what companies need. For projects to be even more meaningful and realistic, where possible, it will be better if there could be continuity across different internship intakes from education institutions. We can encourage projects commenced during internship to continue, as, say, a final year project when the intern returns to school.

This year, we have a new Earn and Learn programme with generous funding support. I hope to see internship funding support for companies that take in a minimum number of interns a year so that they can dedicate resources to meet internship rigorously akin to a sort of apprenticeship.

I also hope there can be close coordination between companies and supervisors in schools so that projects would be useful to companies while the internship experience will result in the learning required by the school. Where possible, we can also bring in the expertise of industry associations to help plan and validate internship programmes.

Targeted Sector to Help Students' Career

Mr Thomas Chua Kee Seng (Nominated Member): Mdm Chair, in Mandarin.

( In Mandarin ) : [ Please refer to Vernacular Speech .] Mdm Chair, Members of Parliament, good afternoon. The 2015 Budget has initiated the SkillsFuture Earn and Learn Programme to help match graduates of Polytechnics and Institutes of Technical Education or ITEs with potential employers. From this year onwards, the Government will be collaborating with the retail, food and logistics sectors to nurture a batch of SkillsFuture Mentors to help SMEs with training their talents. This is very good news.

The role of education is to fulfil the needs of society. Our local talents are trained in a rigorously structured framework. The advantage of this model is being able to upgrade the quality of our workforce as a whole. However, if any industry is being overlooked during the planning phase, there will be gaps in our manpower resources.

Gaps have already appeared in some of the traditional industries. On this note, I urge all industry and trade associations to be actively involved in the planning of our future manpower resources. Not only must they convey their respective industry needs to MOE accurately, they should also support the internship programme wholeheartedly. Through the

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internship, students can have first-hand experience of the work environment, understand whether their personal interests and strengths can have growth potential in the industry and help them to chart their future career path. On the other hand, this programme could also help employers to identify the most outstanding young people and recruit talent.

However, we must also realise that larger corporations have the capability to provide internships and attract talents. SMEs, on the other hand, often lack a proper system in place. But, if they do not get involved with manpower resource planning now, the manpower crunch would get even more severe in time to come.

In order to conform to the times, traditional industries and SMEs must also grab the opportunity to improve their overall image. For example, by and large, young people are not keen to seek employment as workers wearing singlets in cake shops. But if the boss works hard to improve the work environment and enhance the job's skills value, the requirement would then be to hire a pastry chef clad in a smart uniform which would then project a professional image and satisfaction to the employee.

Going forward, professional education and career counsellors will be assigned to all secondary schools, ITEs, polytechnics and universities. Industry and trade associations must engage closely with these counsellors to ensure that they have adequate and comprehensive industry knowledge and help them change the stereotypes students have on traditional industries.

I sincerely hope that more trade associations would partake in the SkillsFuture Earn and Learn Programme. At the same time, I would like to understand what yardsticks the ITEs and polytechnics use to select industries for their internship programmes. Only if we fully understand what yardsticks and considerations are being used can the owners of traditional industries collaborate with schools in a more purposeful and systematic manner.

Career Counselling

Mr Ang Wei Neng (Jurong) : Mdm Chair, in Mandarin.

( In Mandarin ) : [ Please refer to Vernacular Speech .] It is said that the biggest fear for a man is to choose the wrong career, while the biggest fear for a woman is to marry the wrong man. In modern society, gender equality means women also work and are equally wary of choosing the wrong career.

While we invest heavily on SkillsFuture, we also need education and career counsellors to counsel the students to help them understand their own strengths and weaknesses as

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well as their area of interest and various options. Secondary school students can then make informed choices when they select courses at tertiary institutions, and ultimately, make wise decisions in their career choices.

However, the education and career counsellors engaged by MOE must, first of all, have actual working experience in the different fields and receive specialised training in order to advise the students effectively. Otherwise, they will just be engaging in empty talk and mislead the students.

We are all aware that every parent wants their children to be successful. However, not everyone can become a doctor or a lawyer. As such, schools should communicate with parents and parents should work together with schools so that each student can make career choices according to their ability and interest instead of just picking the one with the highest pay. After all, no matter which job you do, you can achieve greatness.

( In English ): In English, Madam. I have mentioned in my Mandarin speech that we need to involve parents when MOE counsellors provide career guidance to the students. At the tertiary level, it is more important for the students to intern at relevant companies to apply the skillset they have acquired at the educational institutions.

Deputy Prime Minister Tharman, in his Budget Statement, mentioned that the Government would roll out "enhanced internship in two-thirds of polytechnic courses and half of ITE courses over the next two years." This is an ambitious target. Could MOE share with us what is the number of internship opportunities required to support the target? How is the Government incentivising the companies to provide meaningful internships? At the end of the day, it has to be a win-win situation for the company, as well as for the student.

Every School a Good School

Ms Denise Phua Lay Peng (Moulmein-Kallang) : Madam, beneath the observable 10% of an iceberg above the water level, is an important 90% of its total mass. It is this 90% beneath the surface that the ocean currents act on and causes the iceberg's behaviour at the top. I would like to apply the analogy of the iceberg to explain why it is still very hard for Singaporeans to believe that every school is a good school.

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First, what is observable at the top of the iceberg. The drive to get into what are perceived as the better schools is still relentless. This is despite all the good work that the Minister has done. Top PSLE scores are no longer announced. Ten-year series assessments

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are made easily available for all. More education awards for good character; ASPIRE and even plans to replace the PSLE T-score system to one that is less competitive. Yet, the belief that some schools are more desirable or better than others still remain.

Cut-off points to enter Junior Colleges last year went as low as three points for schools, such as Raffles Institution and Hwa Chong Institution. The tuition industry continues to thrive to a size of probably more than $1 billion now. Even polytechnic students go for tuition these days. The Direct School Admissions or DSA was not encouraging. Parents and students soon found out the best way to ace the DSA system is by excelling in certain co-curricular activities or CCAs that will put them ahead of other candidates. Popular schools now not only attract the best brains but also the best brawn.

Back to the iceberg analogy. Beneath what is observable, there are underlying structures and strong beliefs and mindsets that continue to feed the undesirable behaviours. In the interest of time, I will name just a few.

Many Singaporeans hold dear the mental model that for a good life, you will need good academic results to get into good schools so that you can get into a good university which is the passport to a good job, good salary, good spouse, hopefully good children and the cycle repeats. This is a mental model that cannot be coaxed away. People can only be convinced if they see and encounter sufficient evidence and personal experiences to replace it.

Another mental model, this time held by employers including the public service, is that graduates from top schools are more desirable and their academic scores are the key determinants of their ability and potential. Their hiring system reflects that accordingly.

The education landscape itself too is shaped by a system which primarily promotes students through academic scores and mainly assigns them to schools based on academic results from high-stakes examinations.

Many of these deep-seated mindsets originate from well-meaning intent. Education is, after all, the most obvious and empowering way to social mobility. But unless these underlying structures and mindsets are addressed, it is futile to try to get the buy-in that every school is a good school. And schooling will continue to be a pressure cooker.

There are several ways I would like to suggest to get rid of these unhealthy symptoms at the tip of the iceberg.

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One, get rid of unnecessary high-stakes academic examinations such as the PSLE. Too much time in a primary school is spent preparing students for this.

Two, pilot a 10-year integrated through-train school without compromising rigour in both academics and character building.

Three, develop a solution-based approach to organising schools and education programmes. Make solid, good subject modules available to all schools, whether they are academic or not, from foundational to typical to advanced levels.

Four, exit schools such as the gifted schools or the Special Assistance Plan (SAP) schools in the system. Instead of congregating students of the same abilities in one geographic location, assign students of mixed abilities under one roof in classes led by teachers or life coaches. Students can belong to one same base class, but they follow their Individual Education Plan; and in the course of the day, take classes suitable for their own ability and pace with other students of similar learning needs. Part of this is already what we see in the polytechnics and universities.

Five, be more aggressive in the use of technology to make available the best education practices and packages available to teachers, students and even caregivers to level up their playing field.

And lastly, much more must be done to provide the evidence and experiences that prove that there are many pathways to a good life. Employers, including the public service, must lead the way to find more progressive ways of hiring, promoting and recognising employees beyond the usual academics. Parents who have enjoyed the success of taking the path less travelled must share their experiences.

The vision of making every school a good school is a progressive one. It will, however, remain a dream unless all of us in this country work with the Ministry of Education (MOE) to make this happen.

Mr Inderjit Singh (Ang Mo Kio): Madam, today many parents think that their children must get into the so-called "top" schools, based on academic results, in order to be successful in life. By allowing academically top students to congregate over time in some popular schools, we fuel the perception that these schools are better than others.

It also results in a self-fulfilling prophecy, as students who attend these schools, because of their strong academic performance to begin with, indeed do well subsequently and as they progress higher in their education. This creates a scarcity mentality that makes parents

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want their children to do well academically in order to qualify for these "top schools". As more of the academically stronger students gravitate to these "top schools", it raises the cut-off point of these schools, as Ms Denise Phua had mentioned earlier, making them look even more like "top schools", because parents do not know how else to measure the quality of a school.

This causes parents to spend a considerable amount of money on tuition for their children in order to help them to score better academically, so that they can still make it to these "top schools". This mentality has created a "tuition" race, fearing that if they do not provide their children with tuition, they will lose out to those children who are already getting tuition. Therefore, this is a disadvantage for lower-income Singaporeans.

MOE has set a goal for our children to learn independently on their own and to be self-directed in learning. The tuition mentality defeats this goal. Could the setting of a quota in each school for academically stronger students help spread these students across more schools and avoid a situation where such a vicious cycle forms?

It could also allow parents to be less fixated with the cut-off points of the schools since all schools will have a spread of academically stronger students and academically weaker students. Educationally, this also means that the school will have to be able to cater to students from across a different range of academic performances. The other advantage is that all our children learn about the diversity in society and this interaction of students of different talents and abilities will build a stronger society in the long term. Today, many of the same mould are put together in the same schools.

This approach I am suggesting will also allow parents to finally see beyond the cut-off points to take note of the many distinctive programmes that our secondary schools are rolling out, particularly aimed at catering better to the different strengths and interests of our children, across a wide range of domains – programmes that could spur the interest of their children to want to learn, see relevance in learning and make them more engaged and self-directed in learning.

Ultimately, our hope must be for each child to develop holistically, discover their interests, build on their strengths and stoke the flame for learning that will last a lifetime and benefit from interacting with people of diverse backgrounds that will later build a stronger society and a stronger Singapore. I, therefore, would like to ask the Minister if he feels that he is succeeding in changing the mindsets of Singaporeans that every school is, indeed, a good school.

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Integrated Schools

Mr Yee Jenn Jong: Madam, this is the fourth year that I am speaking on the topic of through-train schools from primary to secondary. If I seem persistent, it is because I truly believe that in a suitably diverse education landscape, Singaporeans should have access to such a publicly-funded education option.

Such through-train schools would not require the pupil to go through the PSLE. It will allow the schools to develop holistic education for a longer period with the pupils, allowing time to work on their character and values, as well as other aspects beyond examinations. From results seen in other countries and in private schools that offer such a through-train system, academic achievements need not be compromised.

I previously outlined broad ideas on how we can start with eight of such schools distributed throughout Singapore and exclude all top schools from being part of such a pilot. I call for this to be implemented gradually and on a pilot basis because majority of Singaporeans may not yet understand how an education system can work without the PSLE.

Nevertheless, I am convinced that there is a sizeable minority who would be prepared to let their children go through 10 years of education in the same school, even if it means their children would find it difficult to enter the existing top schools without the PSLE. I call upon the Ministry of Education (MOE) to seriously study the option, conduct public surveys to gauge the level of support of parents of such pilot schools and to publish these results, so that we can have a meaningful conversation on this education option.

Tuition Culture

Mr Png Eng Huat (Hougang): Madam, the Senior Minister of State for Education had said in this Chamber that "our education system is run on the basis that tuition is not necessary." I believe many parents would like to think so, but the stark reality on the ground tells a very different story.

An opinion piece in The Straits Times on 24 September 2013 titled "Tuition too prevalent to ignore" cited sporadic but startling data on this issue. It was reported that the private tuition industry is a $1 billion industry and various polls suggest anything from 50% to 90% of households here send their children for tuition. That is a lot of households and money spent on something the Ministry of Education (MOE) thinks is not necessary.

And do we, as legislators, believe that tuition is not necessary under our education system as well? How many of us here in this Chamber had put our children through tuition or are doing so right now? Another article that ran on 30 October 2013 took an even stronger

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stand that tuition is popular because of issues in our education system.

I urge MOE to conduct a nationwide survey into the tuition culture. Such a survey could be easily done online or by giving each student a simple form to take home for the parents to fill up.

Madam, is MOE not curious enough to study why parents are sending their children for extra private lessons despite having access to one of the best education systems in the world? I am quietly confident the results of such a survey will help MOE decipher this great mystery about our tuition culture and, perhaps, it will also help formulate more effective policies not just for the students but for the teachers as well.

The "teach less, learn more" movement was started in 2006 to develop our students holistically beyond preparing for examinations. I am not sure how much lesser the schools are teaching right now but the perception on the ground is that students are learning more from tuition.

Multiple Pathways and Accessibility

Mr Zainudin Nordin (Bishan-Toa Payoh): Madam, MOE and the Institutes of Higher Learning or IHLs will play an increasingly important role in enabling Singaporeans to engage in lifelong learning. We must continue to enlarge the pathways and accessibility to education in Singapore. The credit scheme introduced by the Government will certainly spark off a lot of interest for working adults to keep on acquiring or learning new skills. Through continuous self-improvement even well into working life, they will achieve mastery in whatever jobs they do. I am confident this will allow them to develop new skills should they wish to switch to new industries or whatever new things they want to do when the economy continues to restructure. In other words, they will be futurised, like what Mr Lim Swee Sway said, to thrive in a competitive and rapidly changing global economy.

I hope our IHLs and training centres will be able to meet the thirst of Singaporeans who want to acquire knowledge. But we need to ensure that there are enough places for our students and workers, and also to ensure that it is accessible to all our students at every level of our education system. I would like to know what is the Ministry doing to oversee the quality of such courses and to ensure that all the time, energy and investment spent by our students and our workers will follow through to a good matching to a good paying employment and career?

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Gifted Education

Mr Yee Jenn Jong: Madam, it has been 31 years since we started the Gifted Education Programme (GEP). Each year, about 1% of the cohort is picked for GEP through a series of national tests for abilities in English, Mathematics and Science at the end of Primary 3.

I had previously called for MOE to review centralised GEP and, in its place, provide support for as many schools to develop their higher ability students so that their students would not need to relocate to one of the nine GEP schools at Primary 4.

There are many forms of giftedness, not just in language, Science and Mathematics. Some are gifted in the arts or in sports. The current definition of GEP is narrow. We can encourage all schools to have various forms of deep, specialised enrichments and engagements. When we need skills, we can tap on the school cluster system or work through existing institutions with strong expertise in Science, the Arts or Sports. For the very rare pupil with extreme giftedness, who will even find the current GEP un-engaging, we can tap on our universities.

Some non-GEP schools have developed their own gifted classes to encourage their best students to stay with the school rather than relocate to a GEP school. We need not have this competition. We can spread the programme developed for GEP across more schools and also widen our definition of giftedness.

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Lastly, after 31 years, has MOE done longitudinal studies to track GEP graduates into their careers and can these studies be made public? I hope the public can have more data on the outcomes of GEP to examine its continued relevance.

Language Ability

Mr Hri Kumar Nair (Bishan-Toa Payoh): Madam, last year, I posted a note on my Facebook making the argument that despite our good education system, Singaporeans are still coming up short in one area and, that is, spoken English. Some people have responded agreeing, while some said that my post does not recognise our other qualities. But no one said that our standard of English was good enough. Of course, we produce some good writers and speakers, but when it comes to communication skills, it is not enough for only some to do well.

This is because the ability to communicate is a vital skill in any job, any profession; and it is, therefore, important for everyone to reach a competent standard. The real questions

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we should ask are what qualities do we want in a person who goes through and graduates from the Singapore system and are we seeing those qualities today?

In terms of the ability to communicate, I submit that the answer is no. It is a grievance shared by many employers I have spoken to. Singaporeans have good substance but not enough form. While they may know a lot or have a lot to contribute, they lack the ability to express themselves clearly and confidently. This puts Singaporeans at a serious disadvantage in the international workplace.

What is it about the way we teach that produces students who do very well in Mathematics and Science, but not in languages? It is not just about grammar, vocabulary and spelling, but phrasing, articulation, presentation and, ultimately, persuasion. Because much of what we do in life involves persuading someone else of something.

If we can agree that an important objective of our education system should be to produce articulate and confident young adults, then we need to ask ourselves: why are our current policies not achieving this desired outcome? Are we, for example, paying enough attention to language skills at the preschool level, because that is the first opportunity we have to develop the child and prevent bad language habits from being picked up?

Some of our language policies may also be counter productive. Let me give some examples.

If a student obtains a grade between C6 to A1 for Higher Mother Tongue at the GCE "O" levels, he can deduct two points from his L1R5 score. In fact, he can deduct these bonus points even if he uses Higher Mother Tongue instead of English for calculating his language score at the GCE "O" levels. And so, there is less incentive to do well or do better in English.

Oral examinations are given a weightage of only 15% at PSLE and 20% at the GCE "O" levels, no equivalent at the GCE "A" levels. So, there is very little incentive to improve communication skills. The effect of our scoring policies has led to the decline or demise of English Literature, as Ms Kuik Shiao-Yin pointed out a few days ago.

Even for Higher Mother Tongue, our policies may be counter intuitive. If a student passes Higher Mother Tongue at the GCE "O" levels, he does not have to take the subject any further. The incentive is, therefore, to do Higher Mother Tongue up to the GCE "O" levels so that you can drop it and do one fewer subject thereafter. And many of our students do that – they earn the two bonus points and then they drop the subject. The choice about doing Higher Mother Tongue is, therefore, more a tactical one instead of an educational one. The result is that we have many students who stop formal instructions and, in fact, stop using

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the language at the age of 16.

We know that people always act to further their own interests. So, if we are serious about improving our ability to communicate, we should re-engineer our system to encourage the right behaviour and right learning habits. The payoff is that our young will be equipped with a real and valuable skill that will benefit them for life.

Holistic Education – Character and Values

Ms Irene Ng Phek Hoong ( Tampines): Madam, in this year's batch of Edusave Character Award presentations, I went around asking some students why they thought they won the awards. A common response is: "I do not know" or "I am not sure".

I know the intentions behind giving the Edusave Character Awards are noble when introduced in 2012, but it would be useful to take stock of the usefulness of the awards at this stage. Is it really helping the moral development of our young? What sort of values and traits are the schools actually rewarding in their selection of the winners and how is this being communicated? And more fundamentally, should we scrap the cash element to the Character Awards altogether?

I urge MOE to subject the scheme to careful scrutiny and explore better ways to signal the importance that MOE places on character and values.

Various studies have shown that when it comes to character education, extrinsic motivation is not only quite different from intrinsic motivation but, actually, tends to erode it. Individuals who have been rewarded for doing something helpful become less likely to think of themselves as caring people and more likely to attribute their behaviour to the reward. Hence, researchers have found that children who are frequently rewarded are less likely than other children to keep doing those things. In short, it may be counterproductive to dangle cash rewards in front of children for displaying good character.

And, even worse, when their numbers have been artificially limited to only 2% in each school. This sets the stage for a competition and I wonder if this has resulted in them being held up as role models that others want to emulate or if it has led to the perception that these are just the lucky ones who got spotted by their teachers.

Madam, the word "education" comes from the Latin root words which mean "to lead out". To support our students' social and moral growth, the process of learning requires that they be given the opportunity to make sense of such concepts as fairness, courage and resilience. They must be invited to reflect on complex issues, to figure out for themselves –

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and with one another – what kind of person one ought to be, why this is worth striving for and how to stay the course when things go bad around them. No character awards can help them. In this way, through the process of learning, they learn to be self-motivated, self-directed and be anchored in the truth that they have control over the kind of person they want to be.

One thing I have found in my chats with young people is that some tend to pick up news from the social media, quite uncritically, and repeat the problems highlighted, asking for solutions. Sometimes, I feel that they expect a model answer from me, like an examination question. I often ask them back, "Well, what do you think? What can you do about it? Let us discuss." It may not give them the satisfying pat answer that they seek and, for some who are unused to this approach, they may find it disconcerting.

But such critical thinking and self-awareness is important if we want to help our young become moral people, as opposed to people who follow blindly what they are told or reflexively rebel against what they are told. That is why I believe our education system should put greater focus on developing critical judgements, fostering individuality as well as an interest in the community, national and international problems.

Schools should make better use of Literature, History and Sports to discuss human nature, to look at a problem from different angles and to think through carefully before taking action in stressful situations.

Being in a caring school community would help students to develop their sense of self and also a sense of civic consciousness. The school itself must have character and the students must feel a sense of belonging to it. We cannot afford to have anonymous schools and anonymous principals – which we are in danger of inculcating if we continue to rename schools and change principals rapidly.

In this regard, I welcome the $20,000 grant to each school to use for the causes that they identify. I urge schools to use this wisely, to build on its own school character and, at the same time, channel the students to worthy causes that will imbue in them a sense of personal responsibility for the wider community around them. If they feel a sense of real responsibility towards the school and the community, some behavioural changes should follow: they will be less likely to litter, for one, less likely to blame others for problems and more likely to want to be part of the solution.

I am also concerned about the tuition mentality and how that affects character development in our young. Even students who are doing well in school feel the need to go for tuition. I fear that this will breed in them a crutch mentality, erode their sense of self-

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confidence in their own abilities and feel the need to go for more courses just to feel they can make it when they should feel confident in their own abilities, in their abilities to reach high. I am also worried that excessive tuition —

The Chairman: Ms Ng, can you please wind up your speech? Time is up.

Ms Irene Ng Phek Hoong: The role of parents is also crucial in character-building. I would like to ask the Minister how it will engage parents in character-building.

Humanities and Social Sciences Research

Prof Tan Tai Yong (Nominated Member): Madam, Singapore has had an amazing run the past 50 years. We have grown from a third-world to first in a generation. And as Singapore celebrates her 50th birthday, there is renewed interest about us and not just about what we have achieved in economic terms. There is now a deeper curiosity on where we have come from, what we stand for as a nation, what we have gone through, the social implications of our development, the values we have forged in the process and how we will ride the future.

Singapore is also unique and fascinating because in the developmental journey, we have moved along the highways. Our growth is hyperbolic. This means that every generation that has lived and grown in Singapore has had vastly different experiences.

Generation gaps are very stark in Singapore, perhaps more than anywhere else in the world. The social structures, education system, jobs, life experiences, even buildings around us and mindsets are very different from one generation to the other; even our primary language of communication may not be the same as that of our parents.

This Budget is about building our future and I am very heartened that this Government has laid down plans to strengthen Singapore's competitiveness. The Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance has identified five growth clusters Singapore will build deep capabilities in, namely in applied health sciences, smart and sustainable urban solutions, logistics and aerospace, and in Asian and global financial services.

Science and technology research is, indeed, necessary for us to develop a competitive edge in those areas. And, in this, the National Research Foundation or NRF plays a critical role. It was set up as a department in the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) in 2006 and, over the years, it has achieved much funding to develop policies, plans and strategies for research, innovation and enterprise (RIE). Indeed, the Singapore Government has committed another

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$16 billion in R&D from 2011 to 2015 under the RIE2015 Plan.

While much has been invested in building deep technological capabilities, it is also timely to invest to build up our capabilities in humanities and social sciences research. No scientific invention or progress exists in a vacuum, but what is significant is its impact on people's lives. Steve Jobs has notably said, "It's in Apple's DNA that technology alone is not enough – it is technology married with liberal arts, married with the humanities that yield us the result that makes our hearts sing."

Furthermore, the world's problems today are complex and multifaceted; problems cannot be solved by a study of the physical sciences alone.

There are economic, social and political consequences behind every policy move. Hence, we need to build deeper capacity in the humanities and social sciences to complement our traditional strengths in science and technology and augment our relevance as thought leaders in many areas.

Research into human experience adds to our knowledge about the world we live in and gives us tools to imagine the future. Humanities and social sciences research adds a dimension to enrich our understanding of our history, people, values, nation, social environment, economy and the impact of the global environment on our country. This knowledge and understanding can help us shape our future. Conversely, without robust academic research, what we know about our past, or of our policies today are but views and opinions or, worse still, conjectures.

This is a good time to invest decisively into the humanities and social sciences as Singapore seeks to build itself up as a knowledge capital. The establishment of a national humanities and social sciences research council that could support research in the humanities and social sciences the way NRF supports science and technology research would complete the research ecology in Singapore.

I understand that MOE already supports such research through its established Academic Research Fund that universities have access to. But having a dedicated national council that undergirds a national research capacity that goes beyond the universities will allow the building of a larger and more diverse research base in Singapore. There are many groups outside the universities that do important work on people and society that could benefit from such support.

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A small investment in the humanities and social sciences – and we know they do not cost a lot – can give us a potentially large impact on our development as a society and country.

Let me end by quoting a verse from a poem by the late Arthur Yap:

"There is no future in nostalgia.

And certainly no nostalgia in the future of the past.

Now, the corner cigarette-seller is gone, is perhaps dead.

No, definitely dead, he would not otherwise have gone.

He is replaced by a stamp-machine,

The old cook by a pressure-cooker,

The old trishaw-rider's standby a fire hydrant,

The washer-woman by a spin-dryer.

And it goes on

In various variations and permutations.

There is no future in nostalgia."

No future in nostalgia, I must add, save what we build from history and nostalgia, and social understandings from what we learn of people's behaviour and motivation, and all our varied variations and permutations.

Building Good Values

Mr Baey Yam Keng (Tampines) : Madam, parents hold primary responsibility for building good values in their children. However, they need the support of the community and our schools are an integral part of this community. Schools are where our children spend most of their waking time and also can provide a more systematic framework than the home environment.

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I would like to make a suggestion how schools can help to build good values in students. But, not to worry, this does not require curriculum development, homework, examinations or extra lesson time. It just takes 10 minutes a day.

2.00 pm

When I was in primary and secondary schools, we had duty rosters to sweep the floor, empty the dustbin, clean the windows and clean the blackboard. Members would remember the days when we still used chalk blackboards. To clean the blackboards thoroughly, we had to use a wet cloth so we had to bring rags from home; we had to fetch water in pails and, after cleaning, had to hang the rags to dry. I am not sure if the duty roster practice was a standard one during those years but, today, based on a random check with my own children – three children in three different schools – it is not done consistently.

Singaporeans have become used to a "cleaned" city instead of being a clean one. With more children growing up in homes with domestic helpers and our worsening littering problem, I would like to suggest that we emulate the daily cleaning routines in Japanese and Taiwanese schools. There should be a compulsory standard system for all primary and secondary students to be responsible for their own classroom's cleanliness. A roster needs to be drawn up for the different tasks and time be allocated before a lesson for the cleaning duties. So, just 10 minutes a day will not only teach students practical life skills and foster teamwork but also inculcate in them respect and appreciation for manual work.

So, Madam, today, where we no longer write on blackboards, we can write duty rosters. While we no longer use chalk dusters, we can put cleaning rosters to good use.

Promote Social Innovation via CCAs and Values in Action (VIA)

Ms Kuik Shiao-Yin (Nominated Member) : I declare my interest as a social innovator with the Thought Collective. Values in Action or VIA is good. Let us talk about how to make it great. What stops VIA from having a bigger social impact is that though it gives kids content about values, it fails to give kids context surrounding the problems all these values could help solve. Teach a kid to be generous to the poor without grounding him with insights into why not all social solutions or situations are created equal and he might end up either cynical or, maybe, just not helpful.

The problem schools face in creating more impactful VIA programmes is not a lack of good intent. It is a lack of a strategic network of support. Teachers do want to do good, better, but they need outside expertise. So, what schools need are trusted partners from the civil

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society sector with whom they can co-create and consult.

The core business of schools is the holistic education of our children, not the holistic understanding of how to make great social impact. That is the core business of civil society and they are the missing link who could help. These are the people who know and care for these social problems inside out and they spend their entire careers thinking of solutions. So, roping in your academics, innovators, thought leaders, who hold a strong future vision for social sector solutions but having no avenue to engage you to share where the biggest possibilities for an impact are. So, two suggestions on how socially driven innovation can be nurtured in schools.

First, let us recast an exciting new socially oriented vision for co-curricular activities (CCAs). CCAs should still be primarily a fun avenue for kids to develop their non-academic interests. But let us add a social goal for them to accomplish as well. Unlike the Sports and Drama CCAs, many student clubs like Library, Gardening and even Student Councils do not have big national competitions for the students to gun for. So, this proposal is particularly great for them because it now gives them a national level challenge to engage in. Use CCAs to help kids frame the exploration of personal passions with the broader perspective of "How can my individual passions actually help solve a community problem?"

Second, form a consortium of civil society leaders and future-forward civil servants that can strategise about what are the top national social issues to work on where students can actually make a dent in. Turn it into a programme that every school can execute through their CCAs. So, let us teach kids to converge their personal interests in serving a country's needs. Kids want to be part of a big picture. If we are going to give them $20,000, let us show them how big that picture can be and help them make a real obvious difference rather than an imagined "feel good" one.

Promote Outdoor Activities

Dr Benedict Tan (Nominated Member) : Years ago, I was on a socio-civic mission to a rural part of Indonesia. With me was a group of Singaporeans in their late teens. One of them pointed to an animal crossing a road and said: "Eh, what kind of cat is that? It is so big!" I glanced at the so-called "cat" and was dumbfounded. It was actually a goat! You see, this young man had never seen a goat before and is only familiar with domesticated cats and dogs.

Madam, I would like to suggest that outdoor education feature more prominently in our school curriculum. I declare that I am the President of the Singapore Sailing Federation.

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Previously, there was much emphasis on the majority of students attending the Outward Bound School or OBS at least once during their school life. Hence, many of us grew up with trekking, orienteering, camping, kayaking and sailing experiences, which would not have been easily accessible to the average child living in an urban Singapore.

Outdoor education is now more important than ever as Singapore becomes more urbanised and our young spend more time in front of computers. Outdoor education instils an appreciation and respect for nature, builds character, independence, resilience and leadership. Surely, Basic Military Training cannot be the first time that a youth is exposed to the jungle and having to fend for himself.

When the Ministry of Education (MOE) first pushed for outdoor education, many schools ensured that each cohort would have undergone the OBS course at least once during their school life. Over the years, my impression is that fewer and fewer schools insist on this, with OBS reserved only for a selected few, such as during orientation or leadership training. Also, outdoor education may have become too tame, with some schools counting pitching a tent on the school field as outdoor education.

I am heartened that, as of the beginning of this year, OBS has become a part of the National Youth Council or NYC and would be spearheading NYC's efforts as a national youth developer. And from my understanding, the annual capacity of OBS would be significantly increased in the coming years to broaden its outreach and engagement with our youth. This is an exciting prospect as all Singaporean youth would once again have the chance to experience adventure-based learning from the passionate instructors at OBS. I know that many of these instructors welcome the renewed focus on our youth.

But with around 40,000 students in each cohort, I hope that MOE will fully leverage not only on OBS but also on the MOE Adventure Learning Centre and other providers to put every single one of our youths through a quality outdoor education programme.

I hope MOE can update the House on the percentage of students from each cohort who has undergone a proper outdoor education experience and whether there is any intention to increase this percentage.

Broaden Art and Craft Curriculum for Schools

Ms Rita Soh Siow Lan (Nominated Member) : Madam, in my response to Budget 2015 on the aspect of growing our human capital, I am in agreement with the Ministry of Education's (MOE) mission to build in every child the confidence and desire to learn, studying

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from pre-primary to primary schools.

It is important to start early and, during these formative years, each child is exposed to a broad range of activities for him to discover his talents and interests as he grows. Each child will be able to gain knowledge, skills and values he needs to thrive in the 21st century. And these core values, as stated in MOE's guidelines, are specifically with respect to respect, responsibility, resilience, integrity, care, harmony and even social and emotional competencies, such as self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship management, responsible decision-making and also emerging competencies, such as critical and inventive thinking, communication skills collaborative and informative skills, are also very important. All these skills and competencies are an integral part of the total curriculum, as identified by MOE.

I highlighted earlier, we are excellent in producing highly competent and qualified talents. However, I believe that to attain the next level of growth, we need individuals who truly love and desire to master their craft! We need to be passionate about what we are learning and to be emotionally invested in the process, especially so in the fields where design is the key competency and where the integration of the head, heart and the hands, working together, is a must. The kids must be encouraged to use their hands, heart and head in a connected manner.

I had also expressed a few concerns, both as a business owner and industry representative. Over the past decade or so, many of us have noted a gradual decline in the skill sets which require the use of our hands. Particularly in my field of architecture, which combines the need for scientific knowledge and artistic skills, employers and industry professionals alike have noticed with frustration that there is this steady decline in the level of craftsmanship among incoming batches of graduates. The use of computers and their addiction to mobile devices have further diluted the focus and training in the visualisation, sensory and tactile aspects of their crafts. Hence, I decided perhaps to look at some specific areas of focus for the arts programmes in our primary schools.

When I look at the MOE Art syllabus for primary and lower secondary, I love what is written. Madam, please allow me to read the introduction.

"Art plays an important role in our everyday life. Art beautifies, captures memories, communicates ideas, imparts values and evokes emotions. Art exists all around us in different forms, such as in the colours and patterns in the nature to everyday images and design on magazines, products and media.

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In history and across countries, art reflects cultures and beliefs. Learning about art provides an additional avenue through which students can understand their own and others' histories and cultures. Through making art, our students learn to reflect and express their uniqueness by communicating their thoughts and emotions using images and objects. The role art plays in our students' growth and development cannot be overstated. Through positive learning experiences in art, students develop visual literacy which enables them to observe and perceive the world with increased awareness and aesthetic sensitivity. Making art also encourages the development of creativity while engendering a sense of self-worth. This equips the students to better understand and engage with the world they live in."

To achieve these objectives, therefore, they are teaching under the framework of "Seeing, Expressing and Appreciating", taking into consideration the cognitive, affective and psycho-motor dimensions when learning art. Although our students are provided with opportunities to observe the environment, generate ideas and create artworks, discuss on art and how its values impact the society, I still feel that the following can be further improved.

Broadly speaking, with regard to the wide spectrum of art medium that was given to the students, I feel that we often treat our art programme as a safari, where students spend more time seeing than doing. So, in the area of art techniques, in terms of painting, moulding, rendering and using digital media, it is still very general in terms of the guidelines. I did a quick scan of the websites of 12 primary schools to see what kinds of art programmes were offered. It was by no means a detailed research, but my observations are as such.

A lot of the art modules are essentially co-curricular activities (CCAs), meaning they are done outside curriculum time and are non-compulsory. About half of the students focus on Arts and Crafts, using various mediums of work. A lot of schools are teaching digital art at around the P4, P5 and P6 levels. Art, Music and PE are often lumped together, which is very much a bundled curriculum, and there are very different approaches between schools.

I could not help but look back at my days when I was in school, where we were exposed to many different types of art mediums – potato printing, making of models with plasticine, clay, basket weaving – all these can go on. But even in secondary schools, we had technical workshop classes such as woodwork, metalwork, and many of us fell in love with these craft lessons and they set a foundation for our later years in our chosen pursuits.

A hands-on and integrated approach to learning art and craft benefits the students, even the majority that will go on to pursue careers in fields that are not art-related. Therefore, I have three questions: one, the focus on digital art in the later primary school years – is it really increasing exposure or should we be laying the foundation for the students

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before they learn to use Photoshop?

The Chairman : Ms Soh, can you please conclude your cut?

Ms Rita Soh Siow Lan: The second question is, can we tie art appreciation to the subjects we learn later? Even simple building blocks teach lessons about mechanical structures. Lastly, Art programmes seem optional. Can we integrate them into the main curriculum?

Education as the Social Leveller

Mr Zainudin Nordin : Madam, education is often and rightly called the universal social leveller. Since the early days of nation-building, we have witnessed many successes and achievements from people who came from humble and diverse backgrounds, who had access to an education in academics, skills or both. Singapore is, indeed, very fortunate to come under a Government that not only recognises the importance of education but strives to make it accessible for all.

Yet, Mdm Chair, as we become more developed, data has shown that more students from high and middle-income families are still doing better in schools. In this regard, how does the Minister ensure that sufficient support is given to students from low-income families to help them benefit from our good education system?

2.15 pm

I think the Government has done quite a lot to help financially but problems of low-income families can go beyond monetary issues. The myriad of social problems faced by low-income families can ruin a child's ability to develop well emotionally and academically. What can be done to help these children in their education journey?

Moreover, Madam, how can we equip and train our educators so that they are passionate about the teaching cause and are motivated to help students learn better, regardless of their background? At the same time, how are we equipping our educators and teachers to ensure that they are able to identify issues and problems faced by the children and assist them as early as possible and do this in a more passionate and holistic way for the good of children from the low-income family?

Support for All Singaporean Students

Mr Zainal Sapari (Pasir Ris-Punggol) : Madam, the children are our future. I applaud the support given by the Government to invest in education. As our nation strives to be an

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inclusive society, this must permeate to our education policies as well. I believe that the Government should promote greater inclusiveness and support for all Singaporean students.

The decision to extend personal Edusave to all Singapore students was a step forward but the decision to limit examination fees waiver only to those studying in mainstream schools makes us fall short of being inclusive.

I would like to call for the Government to re-examine its position on Madrasahs as private schools, but rather to see them as part of our education landscape. It is important that we support the Madrasah students who will play an important role in defining the values and principles of our Muslim society in the context of a multiracial and multi-religious nation.

I would like to call for the Government to waive national examination fees for all Singaporean students, as long as it is their first attempt at taking the national examinations, including the International Baccalaurette examinations. This should apply even to those in private educational institutions or those choosing to home-school their children.

Allied Educators and After-school Care

Dr Intan Azura Mokhtar (Ang Mo Kio) : Madam, it has been about five years since the Allied Educators or AED scheme was introduced. From around 600 AEDs in 2009, this number has grown to about 2,400 today. There are about seven AEDs in each primary and secondary school. We must recognise the important role that our AEDs play in the classroom to assist our teachers and help ensure none of the students is left behind despite their different learning styles and abilities.

While I am heartened that MOE has stated that they have met their staffing needs for AEDs in each primary and secondary school in an earlier Parliamentary Question or PQ reply, I still feel that even more AEDs may be required in our schools. The reasons are two-fold.

First, the developmental support programme that has been rolled out by the Ministry of Social and Family Development (MSF) that will help about 2,000 preschoolers across Singapore will mean that students can be diagnosed with mild developmental needs much earlier. This is a good thing so that appropriate intervention can be extended to them through our preschool in their primary school years. Inadvertently, this would mean more AEDs may be required to seed the continuity of appropriate intervention and assistance throughout the student's school years.

Second, the recent announcement by MOE on the school-based Dyslexia Remediation Programme for all primary schools by 2016 would also mean that more AEDs or learning

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support educators are needed in our classrooms, again, to ensure continuity and appropriate intervention and assistance to students with dyslexia.

It is a challenge for MOE to employ sufficiently trained and qualified AEDs who are passionate about and committed to their cause. Raising salaries is just one way to attract more to enter the profession but it may not be enough to retain them.

Would MOE consider having a more comprehensive professional development pathway for our AEDs that may, one, help them to be more recognised for their work and see a clear career path; and, two, allow them to change career tracks to become a General Education Officer or classroom teacher once they have garnered classroom experience and content proficiency? In addition, would MOE consider implementing the SkillsFuture and Earn-and-Learn Programme to allow stay-at-home mothers, mid-career entrants or retirees to join the teaching fraternity as AEDs? This could be one way to train and deploy more AEDs to our schools.

On the matter of after-school care, many have voiced the desire to see each primary school providing after-school care within their premises in the next couple of years. This is necessary for many working parents of primary school-going children as having the after-school care within the school lends a sense of security and assurance.

However, providing the physical space is an easy part. The challenge is having sufficient caregivers to helm these after-school care centres. I would like to propose that MOE consider piloting a project where our tertiary students from the polytechnics and universities to sign up as youth volunteers to help run the after-school care centres as part of the community or Values In Action (VIA) projects. MOE may have to provide the funding for the infrastructure, while these youth volunteers can source for extra fundings from external sources or through crowdfunding for programmes or operating expenses of these after-school care centres.

Student Care Centres in Primary Schools

Mr Patrick Tay Teck Guan (Nee Soon) : Mdm Chair, with all primary schools going on single session, I know of many working parents with children in primary schools who encounter difficulties in the care arrangements of their children after school. This is especially so for those who elect to not have domestic help or a caregiver at home, or those with two or more children.

We have set up the Early Childhood Development Agency (ECDA) to oversee the childcare sector, but I urge the set-up of a similar outfit with a single Ministry taking full ownership to focus its efforts on beefing up the number and quality of student care centres in Singapore. One way is to equip the majority of primary schools with after-school student

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care facilities. These student care centres in primary schools will be a great boon for working parents or parents with two or more children.

Children can use the afternoon till evening to rest, spend quality time picking up new skills, interacting with friends, going on learning journeys or having fun through games or sports within the school premises. Perhaps, self-help groups, volunteer welfare organisations (VWOs) or co-operatives can provide this service across the Primary schools in Singapore.

Student Care

Ms Lee Li Lian (Punggol East) : Madam, it is a known fact that the strong demand for childcare will inevitably be the same for student care in time to come.

I had spoken about this in last year's Debate on the President's Address. New estates like Sengkang and Punggol house younger families. Therefore, school-based student care centres (SCC) are well received in these areas. Such centres provide the much-needed convenience as both parents are working. It provides parents with peace of mind, that they need not worry about where their children will be heading to after school or whether it is safe for them to travel home alone. Such centres also offer enrichment classes and supervision to children doing homework. Such an arrangement reduces the family's need for a domestic helper and is especially useful to children that lack home support.

In last year's Committee of Supply or COS debates, the Minister announced that the public can expect another 40 SCCs. While this is welcomed, I believe the Ministry can do more to push for at least one student care centre in every school. I would like to call upon the Ministry to place greater emphasis on this.

( In Mandarin ) : [ Please refer to Vernacular Speech .] Last year, at the Debate on the President's Address, I mentioned that young families have a need for student care services. Today's need for childcare centres will turn into tomorrow's need for student care services. Student care services will help monitor the students' behaviour, as well as their homework. Parents need not worry about where to leave their children after school or whether the kids will be safe going home alone. This arrangement will reduce the family's reliance on domestic helpers. I hope the Ministry of Education (MOE) can pay more attention to this issue.

Before- and After-school Care

Mr Ang Wei Neng : Madam, I appreciate MOE's effort and promise to increase the number of school-based Student Care Centres or SCCs to 120 by 2015. I also want to

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congratulate the Minister for the success of the scheme. Many of the school-based SCCs are full and, with long waiting lists, as soon as they are opened.

The shortage of vacancies in some of the school-based SCCs that are near to rental blocks is even more severe as the demand is high. I hope the Minister could share with us on the constraints of providing more places at these school-based SSCs, whether it is space and infrastructural constraints in the school or manpower constraints faced by the operators.

If it is a manpower constraint, would MOE consider extending similar subsidies and grants for volunteer welfare organisations (VWOs) to expand the places at these centres or set up additional SCCs near the school? For example, I have a VWO that is ready to do so in Jurong and I hope the Minister can consider it seriously.

The Minister for Education (Mr Heng Swee Keat): Madam, with your permission, may I display some slides on the LED screens?

The Chairman : Yes, please.

Mr Heng Swee Keat: Madam, I thank the many Members for their thoughtful and wide-ranging comments.

This year, we celebrate our nation's Golden Jubilee. We celebrate how education has enabled generations of Singaporeans to build a better life and enabled us to build a nation. We thank our Pioneer educators and their parents.

Looking back, in 1965, education meant 读书 or "study book". Our Pioneers had a sense of where they wanted to be in the future, where they were and worked hard to bridge that gap. The big gap then was basic literacy and numeracy skills – so "study book" made sense as they learnt the three "Rs" – reading, writing, arithmetic. Many became literate and numerate.

We then built on this education system, year by year. At critical points, we made important choices to adapt and change. Educators, parents and students responded with spirit and each wave allowed us to make further progress with purpose. With these changes, we built a good education system, developed our people and grew our economy.

But there were also inadvertent negatives. In our minds, "study book" became increasingly about examinations, grades and qualifications. A strength in focusing on academic grades can be over-done and become a weakness, as we leave little time to develop other attributes that are necessary for success and fulfilment. Students tell me of

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the stress they face because of the high expectations placed on them.

The chase for better grades fuelled a tuition industry. It created a vertical stacking of qualifications, as well as the tiering of schools in the minds of parents, based mainly on academic results – a hierarchy of grades.

We are not unique in this. The same "study book" culture that enabled the other three Asian dragons – South Korea, Hong Kong, Taiwan – to make great strides is also generating the same, if not even greater, pressures in their societies.

Like our Pioneers before us, we have to ask anew: where do we want to be in the future, where are we today and how do we make the leap?

At Our Singapore Conversation two years back, many Singaporeans expressed their aspiration for a cohesive home full of spirit and trust. A home where we all have opportunities to pursue our dreams. A home where we all have the assurance that we will each be taken care of when we face difficulties and where we live out lives of purpose. So, it is not just what we do. It is who we are as a people.

But many also recognised that the future will be more uncertain and volatile as the global economy and political order change in unpredictable ways. Political and religious developments elsewhere can strengthen or weaken our social cohesion. An ageing population will create challenges that we cannot totally foresee. A younger generation that is digitally connected can either be more united or more divided.

The nature of jobs will also change. For a start, many existing jobs will disappear. Smart machines and lower-cost workers elsewhere will take these jobs. So, we have to change jobs, maybe several times over our lifetime. But jobs that need uniquely human qualities cannot be displaced by machines and, indeed, will become more valuable.

Even the same job will look different. So, traits like creativity, inventiveness, adaptability, social and emotional skills and cultural and global awareness will give Singaporeans an edge.

New, interesting and diverse jobs will be created. Some of us will be self-employed, some of us will create jobs for others as entrepreneurs. And if our economy grows well, more jobs will be created.

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So, all these present new and multiple pathways for success. Faced with such challenges and opportunities, we are at a crossroads. We have two options. We could continue with the "study book" path, with a narrow focus on grades and examinations, and descend into a spiralling paper chase and expanding the tuition industry, as many Members have warned. Employers choose not to invest in employees, relying wholly on academic qualifications to determine who gets the job. Educators drill and test and see their duty as helping students to obtain the best possible examination grades. Parents obsess over grades and spend ever-increasing amounts of resources to give their child an edge over other children. Students chase the next point and spend most of their time going for more tuition and enrichment in very narrow areas. Stress levels in society climb and the system churns out students who excel in examinations but are ill-equipped to take on jobs of the future nor find fulfilment in what they do. And unemployment or under-employment becomes pervasive. Everyone is worse off.

This is a grim road, but sadly one in which other societies have already trodden down. Mr Lim Biow Chuan, in his opening speech, raised vivid examples of what is happening elsewhere. Ms Denise Phua warned us that if we do not change, the currents beneath the oceans will cause us to drift and drift us in the wrong direction. This is one possible outcome.

Or we can have another outcome. We can act with boldness and resolve to take another path forward, to embark on a major transformation. We will need collective will and action by employers, teachers, parents, students and society at large where employers look beyond academic qualifications in hiring and promoting the best person for the job; where bosses support employees in skills upgrading; where educators focus on holistic education, building a strong foundation of values and the capacity to learn; where our Institutes of Higher Learning (IHLs) play a leading role strengthening the nexus between learning and work and learning for life; where parents recognise every child's unique strengths and do their part to build their children's character; where students flourish through a range of academic and co-curricular activities (CCAs) and take different pathways to success and grow up to be well-rounded; where the economy stays resilient and flexible, with high levels of employment and many opportunities – high skills, high productivity and high wages. And where our society and our people continue to be caring, harmonious, gracious and cohesive, and we do not see education as a race among our children.

This is a path that no society has charted out fully yet – and I have been looking at education systems around the world. Charting this new territory will require us to, once again, be pioneers.

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Here, in Singapore, building on the many changes in our education system in the past, we have continued to make further changes and to make further moves in this direction. As Ms Denise Phua reminded us, we have focused on values and character, strengthened holistic education, removed school rankings and enhanced support for weaker and special needs students. We developed new ways of learning in our schools, made every school a good school, expanded applied pathways in tertiary education and, in this Budget, outlined a series of SkillsFuture initiatives that build on ASPIRE's recommendations.

All these changes have laid the groundwork for a transformation to create a better future for Singapore, a future anchored by deep skills and strong values.

But this future will belong to us only if we, as a people, shift our mindsets about education. This is not about "study book" or 读书. It is about learning in every domain, anytime, anywhere for a purposeful, meaningful, fulfilling life. In other words, we need to live the pioneering spirit; beyond learning for grades to learning for mastery; beyond learning in school to learning throughout life; beyond learning for work to learning for life.

Mr Yee Jenn Jong mentioned about the Integrated School Programme. Ms Denise Phua made very good suggestions on changes in our schools and also mentioned once again the integrated through-train programme. In fact, Ms Phua even raised an Adjournment Motion some months back. I would say let us go beyond what we do in schools. Let us go much further. It is not just about what Mr Png Eng Huat mentioned about tuition. It is about a more fundamental change. Allow me to touch on these fundamental changes.

The first major shift is to go beyond learning for grades to learning for mastery. How do we develop mastery in our fields? We do not have all the answers. But let me share a story.

When I was in the Police Academy more than 30 years ago, one of my Pioneer instructors was Mr John Chang. He did not have high academic qualifications, but he was, in my mind, one of the best instructors. He knew the law, he knew how to deal with tense situations and he knew how to teach. He explained to me that after handling every case, he would reflect on how he could have done better. He would imagine, in his mind, scenarios – how should he have reacted if the criminals he was dealing with had been more violent, if they were armed with firearms or if the victims were less cooperative and so on and so forth. He studied on his own, he attended classes, he asked his peers and seniors at work. Everybody whom he could get to, he would ask.

John was one of the few police officers who started as a constable, got many promotions, went all the way and retired as an Assistant Superintendent. You see a

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photograph of John when he was promoted. Quite a feat in those days.

I learnt a lot from John, as a very young officer, about what it means to be an effective learner and how one achieves mastery. He was self-directed. No one told him how to learn but he did so on his own. He was reflective. He thought through his own experiences and learnt from both mistakes and successes. He learnt in bite-size modules, picking up what he needed, when he needed. He kept an open mind and learnt from everyone, everywhere, at any time. He was disciplined. Learning was not left to chance but was built into his everyday routine. And he was passionate. He cared deeply about what he does. All these before we spoke about SkillsFuture.

Now in my job in education, I am lucky to meet many who, like John, devote themselves to mastery and in many different fields.

Let me quote just one example – Assoc Prof Chong Yap Seng, a Senior Consultant at the National University Hospital (NUH). A doctor by training, Prof Chong is leading a nationwide birth cohort study on how mothers' diet and lifestyle during pregnancy affect their babies' growth after birth. It is a study of great national impact to prevent and manage diseases like diabetes and obesity. Someone like him, steeped in knowledge of his field, does not shy away from applying his knowledge and skills innovatively to push new frontiers, to explore the unknown and to invent new things.

We should aim to be a nation where Singaporeans develop mastery in every field, Singaporeans who are resourceful, inventive and break new grounds. This will take collective effort across our schools, IHLs and industry.

So, let me outline my Ministry's contribution to this. In 10 years of basic education, we aim to, first, equip every student with a strong foundation in literacy, numeracy and thinking skills, whatever their starting point. Mr Hri Kumar mentioned the importance of expressing our ideas well and being confident. I fully agree with him and I thank him for these useful suggestions on how we could do better. And, indeed, we are starting very early now in preschool and in our primary school, with our new reading and oracy programmes.

Literacy skill, numeracy skills and so on are vital, as they enable our students to keep learning and progressing. Rigour will be maintained through appropriate assessments as checkpoints to help them track progress and to make good decisions on the best pathway to continue learning. And, where necessary, students can access levelling up programmes to build their basics.

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Second, we will give every student broad exposure to a whole range of subjects and co-curricular activities (CCAs) to pique their interest in various fields – sports, arts, outdoor adventures and so on. I share Dr Benedict Tan's enthusiasm for outdoor and adventure-based learning and I thank him for his suggestion. I also thank Ms Rita Soh for her suggestions on art education and how we can continue to improve it.

Third, continue to improve on our teaching, to stimulate curiosity and let every student put knowledge into action. This includes using ICT to teach, as Ms Denise Phua had highlighted. In fact, I am happy to share that we are already developing our Student Learning Spaces, and, hopefully, we will have high-quality content and many high-quality ways of using these.

Fourth, build in every student deep wells of character. It matters in life, and it matters in achieving mastery because mastery takes effort and perseverance in careers and endeavours.

An important aspect of learning for mastery is to match our students' strengths and interests to opportunities in our schools and IHLs, in careers and enterprises. Mr Yee Jenn Jong mentioned the Gifted Education Programme (GEP), but I would like to go further. I would like to stimulate the curiosity of learning in all our children, provide plenty of learning opportunities for them in ways which are meaningful, for all our students, in all our schools.

A recent innovation in our schools is the Applied Learning Programmes or ALPs in almost all our secondary schools, and this is part of our "Every School A Good School" movement. In fun and creative ways, our students apply various domains of knowledge to solve complex, real-life problems in their field of interest.

Let me share two examples. First, Hillgrove Secondary. Hillgrove Secondary has an ALP on Flight and Aerospace. Students learn fundamental Aerospace theories and apply mathematics, science and design and technology by building and flying their own model planes. The students go on to take Advanced Elective Modules in Aerospace, where they learn how planes defy gravity while flying a flight simulator!

Rayner Lee really enjoyed learning at Hillgrove and, in fact, he is now doing Aerospace Technology at Nanyang Polytechnic and says, "I chose Hillgrove because of the Youth Flying Club CCA. I wanted to be a pilot. My parents and school teachers encouraged me to take the Private Pilot Licence PPL. Now that I have my licence, I hope to join the RSAF as a pilot." Well, I hope Rayner flies high.

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Another example is Damai Secondary's ALP on Health Science and Technology. Students apply concepts from Chemistry and Biology to construct biomedical devices. They built salinity sensors that can analyse urine samples to determine the health of a person. Damai students also develop a sense of empathy when thinking about their users. Through tie-ups with IHLs and the community, students are inspired by the possibilities of careers in the healthcare and medical technology sectors. As Mdm Fiona Han, a mother of three sons in Damai, puts it, "This is a great experience that allows them to broaden their future career choices."

Different ALPs open up different possibilities for students to put knowledge into action and bring learning to life. Learning becomes relevant and engaging for every student, in every school. We are not channelling students to specialise early. In fact, deep skills acquired in one field can be transferred to another.

For example, Ngee Ann Polytechnic uses the technical know-how in building unmanned aerial vehicles UAVs to build unmanned underwater vehicles UUVs to clean ship hulls – transferring skills from air to sea.

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A team in the Institute of Technical Education (ITE) worked with the Singapore Zoo's applied Medical Technology to design an incubator and succeeded in increasing the hatching rate of reptile eggs from 25% to 75%. So, if you see many more crocodiles in the zoo, you know why. It is quite productive!

We are fortunate that our vibrant economy has created a range of good jobs. With more choices, we need good Education and Career Guidance or ECG. There are many domains and fields that students could explore and develop deep skills in – whether it is design, business, arts, music or sports. By exposing students to possibilities, we empower them to make better choices and choose suitable pathways.

We will, hence, strengthen ECG at all levels. ECG curriculum in schools, ITEs and polytechnics will be enhanced and, by 2017, we will have a professional core of ECG counsellors and an online ECG portal that shows many exciting opportunities – enriched by our SkillsFuture initiatives.

Ms Rita Soh earlier spoke about how we should integrate the arts and sciences and how we should integrate the learning of head, hearts and hands. In fact, many meaningful and exciting things are also happening in our IHLs.

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If you have to build an exciting platform which the Prime Minister will stand on for a Chinese New Year celebration, how would you go about doing it? Well, Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD) students put to work their knowledge of engineering, design, arts and cultural awareness to create this year's Chinese New Year light-up display in Chinatown.

They designed a total of 338 goat lanterns, including 28 motorised ones. Three special goats, each weighing about 400 kilogrammes, were perched on a mountain to form the 10-metre-tall centerpiece. It is not only a wonderful sight to behold; it vividly brought in the Year of the Goat. And we all know that the Prime Minister was very pleased to grace the platform. You can see on the screen the Prime Minister's wefie with the team.

This is the fourth year SUTD students have helped to design the display for Chinese New Year and, each time, with each new animal of the horoscope, they learned from the previous year, pushed themselves to think differently and put all their skills and knowledge into a new masterpiece.

They put their heads, hearts and hands into creating this. And, indeed, our ITE motto is "Hands-on, Mind-on, Hearts-on." Be it ITE or SUTD, this is an important way to learn. And, indeed, this is what it means to go beyond learning for grades to learning for mastery.

The second major shift that we need to make together as a people is to go beyond learning in school to learning throughout life. Let me share with Members another story.

I was at the Seletar Aerospace Park recently. Fifty years ago, Seletar was better known for the smell of pig farms. Fifty years on, I visited Seletar to witness the delivery of our first Rolls-Royce TRENT 1000 jet engine, made in Singapore for a Singaporean company – Scoot. A world of difference!

I met three Singaporeans working there – Ravinder, Cheria and Siti Mariani. Ravinder is a team leader with 24 years of aerospace experience. You would have thought that he knows everything, but he told me, and I quote, "To me, every day is a learning process". And this gentleman was serious when he said that. It turns out that his son is also interested in aerospace engineering and so he decided that he, too, "had better return to school to pick up new skills and more skills", so that he can mentor his son and pass on his skills to the next generation.

So, he enrolled in Temasek Polytechnic's Diploma in Aerospace Engineering and is now six months into his course. All that, whilst working hard at Rolls-Royce mentoring his younger

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colleagues, like Cheria and Siti.

Cheria is technically Ravinder's "schoolmate" in Temasek Polytechnic or TP as she is also pursuing a Diploma in Aerospace Engineering, but she is one-third his age. As an intern, she is learning at the workplace even as Ravinder is learning in TP. Siti, an ITE student in Aerospace Technology, was also part of the team. And whilst working at a bookshop at Changi Airport, she saw the aeroplanes taking off and it piqued her interest. She started to wonder how planes fly.

Today, she is a Rolls-Royce ITE scholar, thrilled to be building an impressive and complex engine with some 30,000 parts! And learning all that as an intern. So, you see, it is not just about learning technical skills. She said, and I quote, "Rolls-Royce taught me to be versatile and assertive in order to keep up with changes in the aerospace industry."

Ravinder, Cheria and Siti are at different stages of life but all actively learning to be better, to succeed both at work and in life.

But I empathise with many Singaporeans who tell me, "Once we start work or have family commitments, it is hard to set aside time to learn." Indeed, we have to address the practical constraints to empower lifelong learning.

Our IHLs will play a leading role in empowering Singaporeans to learn everywhere, throughout life. Our IHLs will work with companies that are keen to make workplaces great places for learning. We will have more enhanced internship opportunities so that young people like Siti and Cheria can learn and solve real-life problems and acquire soft skills. I thank Mr Yee Jenn Jong and Ms Lee Li Lian for their suggestions on internships and how we can engage the different players.

Our IHLs will create SkillsFuture Earn-and-Learn Programmes so that Siti and Cheria and others can be mentored on the job and acquire skills when they graduate. Students who take up Earn-and-Learn are effectively enjoying one year or more of highly-subsidised education. But instead of learning just in our IHLs, they enjoy a blend of facilitated learning in our IHL and structured mentoring at work. They acquire a higher industry-recognised qualification through this.

We will also put in place skills-based modular courses. By the end of the year, there will be over 300 modular courses offered by our polytechnics and universities. These will be in specialist areas, such as Digital Forensics and Investigation at SP, Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering at NTU, Functional Genomics at UniSIM and Coaching and Counselling

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and Skills at RP. As you can see, a very wide range!

We will subsidise part-time, Specialist, and Advanced Diplomas for all Singaporeans more generously even if this is not the first time you are getting one and provide the even more generous SkillsFuture Mid-Career Enhanced Subsidies for Singaporeans aged 40 and above. I agree with Mrs Lina Chiam that we must encourage everyone to learn, including the elderly.

Our IHLs will play a leading role in specific sectors. For a start, we will appoint Sector Coordinators for 17 strategic sectors. These are sectors identified as future growth sectors or meeting critical needs in our society. Besides engineering and manufacturing sectors, we will also have early childhood education, which Senior Minister of State Indranee will speak more about later, as well as healthcare and many others.

Let me explain how this would work. Republic Polytechnic or RP, for instance, is the Sector Coordinator for Logistics. They will ensure a tighter nexus between learning in school and learning at work in the logistics sector. I want to commend the RP staff who were very enterprising in engaging industry players and galvanising 12 companies, including top players, like YCH Group, DHL Express and Yang Kee Logistics, to come together to design a 12-month Earn-and-Learn programme.

These companies will use RP's workplace training blueprints so that learning at work and learning at RP are integrated for maximum impact. Students who complete the programme will acquire skills that are in RP's Specialist Diploma in Supply Chain Management but they will do so on the job, be recognised for it and get paid in the process, without having to pay fees! They will learn how to deal with complexity and scale in global goods flow, data analytics, manage supply chains and inventories and devise plans to optimise transportation. As you can see, all are very high-skills areas. They will learn problem-solving, people skills and a range of soft skills. When they show that they have acquired and can apply the new skills, they will then take on greater responsibilities and see a wage increase. Mr Zainuddin Nordin earlier raised the issue of how we ensure that the skills that are learnt result in better progression. This is how, and I hope many more, industry players will come on board.

RP will provide specialised training for mentors to help companies build a network of industry mentors, skilled like Ravinder. This will multiply our effectiveness and spread expertise in the sector. I will do it systematically for each of these sectors. We will study different models of learning on-the-job, explore greater use of online learning and look at innovative approaches. This is how we will help all Singaporeans to go beyond learning in

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school to learning throughout life.

As we resolve to learn for mastery and learn throughout life, we need to rethink a few issues about learning and the significance of the changes. Let me share some observations. The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development or OECD did a recent survey of adult skills. Workers in Japan ranked highly in their skills but ranked poorly in terms of how well these skills are utilised on the job. At the opposite end, workers in the US ranked poorly in skills but ranked among the top in using skills on the job – so whatever skills they have, they use them to the fullest.

Much of our Budget Debate focused on the quality control of courses and whether workers get to attend. These courses to learn skills matter. But this OECD study paints a very vivid story that what matters even more is whether workers use the skills learnt. We must not end up debating which courses can enjoy the credit and so on. We must not end up using SkillsFuture Credit to chase another form of qualification or debate which courses can acquire qualifications. Training courses are just the means. Our focus must be on the ends – acquiring, mastering and using deep skills.

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So, if workers or companies attend courses to meet quotas or because there are some incentives for it, very little will be achieved from attending the courses. But if companies make the best use of the higher skills of workers, it leads to higher productivity and higher margins; in turn, they can pay higher wages. Higher skills, higher productivity and higher wages. This is the virtuous cycle that we must seek to achieve.

To achieve this virtuous cycle, companies play a critical role. So, I am glad that Mr Robert Yap, Chairman and CEO of YCH Group and also Chairman of Singapore National Employers Federation, has been very supportive of his company's collaboration with RP. I hope many more employers will take action to develop and use their employees' skills as part of their productivity and innovation strategy. And I thank Mr Thomas Chua for calling on industry associations to work closely with MOE and also calling on small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) who can come together in the industry associations to also work closely with us. We are always ready to work with them.

Another observation relates to how we direct our own learning or self-directed learning.

With SkillsFuture, various specialist and advanced diplomas and specialised, bite-sized modular courses are even more highly subsidised. In fact, there is an even wider range of courses available. Opportunities for learning will be across our IHLs – graduates of

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polytechnics, ITE or university can take relevant modules, or in WDA-certified courses or at the workplace.

With this array of courses, especially modular courses, the system is even more open and flexible. Besides the multiple pathways in our IHLs, you can now create your own learning pathways – build a portfolio of skills, just-in-time, tailored to your own needs, at your own pace. You can stack modules towards a qualification or just choose relevant modules. It empowers each of us to take charge, direct our own learning and build our own unique skills map. It empowers each of us to make the best use of the initiatives, including the SkillsFuture Credit and other learning opportunities.

Mr Ang Wei Neng highlighted the plight of middle-aged displaced workers. And this is why we have even greater subsidies for those aged above 40.

But this self-directed, independent learning must start young. Our teachers must not spoon-feed our students and give them model answers. In life, there are no model answers.

I once had a parent who wrote to me to argue for an extra mark for her child's term test in school. Rather than seek an extra mark in tests, let us nurture our children to make their mark in society.

We have to encourage our children to be independent, self-directed learners, skilful at figuring out their own way. Prof Tan Tai Yong made an important point that we must not over-protect our children so that they can develop adaptive resilience and learn to deal with uncertainties in life. But if we intervene when a child does not get an extra mark, how does he or she develop that resilience? Mr Lim Biow Chuan cautioned about the over-reliance on others to learn and how it can develop a crutch mentality. Mr Inderjit Singh made the same point and emphasised the importance of self-directed learning. Mr Singh also made suggestions on how we can create more diversity in our schools' profile, which we will study.

So, let us start early in our schools and make our children self-directed, independent learners. Let us all take a collective pause and see whether the way that we are bringing up our children in school or at home is helping them to develop that independence, that self-directed learning, the resourcefulness and initiative or whether we are spoon-feeding them and that they are going to lose that ability when the crutch is taken away, that they cannot go out and create, invent and build new things.

My next observation on learning for mastery relates to learning as a habit of mind. Structured courses are very useful, and that is why our IHLs are embarking on that and that

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is why the Workforce Development Agency (WDA) is also doing a lot more.

But no matter how many programmes we have under SkillsFuture, we cannot cover every learning possibility. It is not possible. Why? Because learning can take place in formal and informal modes – in the classroom or at the workplace, through self-reflection, team-learning or online learning, with friends or in groups. Lifelong learning is a habit of mind, rather than a mere act of attending courses.

So, it is important that even as we debate about SkillsFuture accreditation and the quality of courses and so on, we must not forget that it is not about attending courses per se. We need to seize learning opportunities everywhere, from anyone, throughout life and even on our own, like the way that Mr John Chang did at the Police Academy many years ago.

Finally, learning for mastery is not just about learning what is known. A lot of our learning is about learning how others have done it and how we might learn the basics from there. But it is also about exploring the unknown and inventing new possibilities by putting all of our knowledge to creative use, like what Prof Chong is doing to help parents have healthier babies.

So, let us nurture many more who seek mastery relentlessly in their field, who are inventive and resourceful and who can make breakthroughs for Singapore. I have made several observations about learning for mastery and learning throughout life and that it is not just about learning what is known; it is not just about attending courses; it is not just about relying on others but, rather, to be self-directed, independent learners.

Let me now move on to a third major shift. The third major shift that we need to make together is to go beyond learning for work to learning for life. Developing deep skills to succeed at work is important. But life is more than just work. Developing a lively interest in the world around us, in nature and culture, in sports and adventure, in having zest for life and a concern for others are what makes life purposeful and fulfilling. Earlier, Ms Kuik Shiao-Yin, Dr Benedict Tan and Ms Rita Soh all touched on this.

So, let me share another inspiring story, this time on Edward Chia. Edward is a 31-year-old entrepreneur who started his own business when he was 18 years old. His Timbre group of restaurants is well-known for good dining and live music. Timbre restaurants have a social mission. Combining food with music, his restaurants champion Singaporean musicians and give them a platform. His staff would applaud the performing bands and urge his diners to do the same. Edward shares that, and I quote, "Everything we do still counts back towards our social mission of supporting Singapore's music scene. At a very simple level, I had an idea

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I wanted to do, that idea was good for society and I just wanted to get it done." He gained respect from his team, many of whom were older, by getting his hands dirty and doing everything he asked of his staff. He washed toilets, cleaned the office, ran the bar and helped out in the kitchen. So, I agree with Mr Baey Yam Keng that it is very important for our children to learn all these skills. You see how important it is in life. Edward acknowledges that those early years were not easy but through working with his team, he also learnt from them.

Today, he pays that learning forward. His ventures provide a platform for budding chefs and he recently partnered Singapore start-up Infinium Robotics to develop drones that can navigate their way around tables to serve food. If this sounds like a scene from Star Wars, it is. There are eight drones delivering food, but this is still an experiment and an exciting one. What it means is that the waiters can work more productively and do things that machines cannot do.

Edward, for me, embodies the spirit of learning for life, in that he is passionate and innovative in his field. He gives back to the community and creates new opportunities for others. He has a deep interest in music and he wants to give Singaporean talent a platform. So, he runs enterprises with a mission. From musicians, now he is going on to helping budding chefs. So, I hope that we will have a more lively scene in the future.

I spoke to many Singaporeans during Our Singapore Conversation. Many shared their aspirations to live a life of purpose and spirit. They wanted to build a successful and cohesive society, a society where Singaporeans lead fulfilling lives, each in his own way.

Many have also expressed support for our student-centric, values-driven education. They believe we can develop each individual fully, and develop our sense of community, and our sense of personal and collective responsibility.

So, I am glad that our students experience the arts, music, sports, outdoor activities and overseas trips. In fact, I should add that there are very few school systems in the world – none that I know of – which send one-third of their students on overseas trips in order to give them the exposure. There is much we should be thankful for. They interact with peers around the world. And, by the way, these are not just students in our top schools. These are students in every school. They lead and participate in a wide range of CCAs. These experiences broaden their worldview and grow them as rugged individuals, physically active and healthy, appreciative of the finer things in life.

Like Edward Chia, we hope that they also develop a strong sense of purpose and a desire to help each other and give back to society.

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Ms Irene Ng earlier on spoke about the Edusave Character Awards. Let me emphasise that, for me, it is a very important signalling of a shift in our education in that we must place emphasis on character and values. It is a catalyst for change. But for the same reason, we should not overdo it and that is why the numbers are kept very small. But we will study her suggestion on how we can make it more meaningful. I am glad that many parents and many students have also spoken to me, and the school principals have noted the progress since we introduced this. And we are actually going beyond all these awards. What is a small part is really the signalling. The real change is in our schools' programmes – in the Character and Citizenship Education programme that has been revamped. And, more recently, in our Learning for Life programmes that reinforce these life skills.

In East View Secondary School, students work with community partners on food donation drives and reach out to promote health and IT skills to the neighbourhood residents. One student said, "The joy on people's faces has driven me to do more."

Over at Mayflower Secondary School, a project called "Spirit of Generosity" has students doing 50,000 acts of kindness to friends, family and the community to celebrate Singapore's 50th birthday. This has brought the school and its surrounding community together through the spirit of giving. Teachers and students alike love how this has made the school a more caring community. Indeed, in giving, we receive as much, if not more.

All across our schools, when students put values into action, character and citizenship education comes alive.

These efforts are all very commendable. We want to encourage our students in our schools, polytechnics and ITE to do more. SG50 giving will provide funds to enable students to support meaningful causes in the community.

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I thank Ms Kuik Shao-Yin for her suggestion on how this programme can work in partnership with VWOs to make it more impactful. Indeed, students will identify Institutions of a Public Character or IPCs that they would like to work with and donate funds to them and they will then partner these IPCs to make a real difference, however small, in their community.

Holistic education covers moral, cognitive, physical, social and aesthetic dimensions. So, I hope our students grow up to appreciate and contribute to the rich multi-dimensional aspects of life and grow richer in spirit and purpose.

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This is how we build a vibrant, creative and caring society. This is what it means to go beyond learning for work to learning for life – for a rich, purposeful and meaningful life.

Madam, allow me to say a few words in Mandarin to summarise what I have just said.

( In Mandarin ) : [ Please refer to Vernacular Speech .] The Pioneer Generation educators laid the foundation for Singapore's education system and prosperity of our country. They had the courage to chart new territories, were unafraid of difficulties and were resourceful in nurturing young generations of Singaporeans.

Ultimately, the aim of education is not just to learn to read and write, and to obtain good grades and paper qualifications. More importantly, it is to learn how to get along with others and have meaningful relationships.

Education has a deeper and broader meaning. Education is about educating the individual, which encompasses the moral, cognitive, physical, social and aesthetic dimensions. Before the teaching of knowledge, one has to educate the individual; and before educating the individual, one has to nurture the mind. We need to cultivate the right spirit before nurturing the mind.

With rapid economic and social development, we must keep abreast of the times, be flexible and constantly improve ourselves. We must pursue mastery and learn everywhere, learn throughout life and learn for life. We must build upon the foundation laid by the Pioneer Generation and continue to work hard, upholding their pioneering spirit.

In every domain, at any time and any place, we must strive to learn to live a fulfilling life. Let us shift our mindsets, continue the pioneering spirit and create a brighter future together.

Firstly, we should go beyond learning for grades to learning for mastery. Secondly, we should go beyond learning in school to learning throughout life. Thirdly, we should go beyond learning for work to learning for life.

( In English ): The three shifts that I have outlined – Learning for mastery, Learning throughout life, Learning for life – are important for every Singaporean. We want every Singaporean to have access to learning opportunities, whatever their starting point, just as Mr Zainudin Nordin earlier spoke about the importance of social mobility.

Many parents told me that they appreciate the structured supportive environment that student care centres provide for students after school. And, in fact, this is the reason why I

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have been expanding the student care centres in our schools over the years, a point which Ms Lee Li Lian and Mr Ang Wei Neng also mentioned. So, I appreciate that this is well received. MOE will continue to work with MSF to improve quality and accessibility. We have 100 school-based student care centres at the beginning of this year. I am happy to announce that we will set up another 20 school-based student care centres this year and another 20 next year. I would also like to thank Dr Intan for her suggestions on how we can overcome the constraints of high-quality manpower by getting older students to help out. Our main constraint is really the quality and number of staff.

We help students who need additional support to build a good foundation in literacy and numeracy through a comprehensive suite of levelling-up programmes from the kindergarten level right to secondary school. Educators with specialised training work in small groups with these students to motivate and teach them better. And the results have been very heartening. Let me share just two stories.

Siti, a Primary 6 student in Qihua Primary School last year, has dyslexia and was frequently absent from school. But her teachers, allied educators and counsellors all pitched in with such determined and tireless wrap-around support that she went from skipping school to discovering a new interest in mathematics and eventually emerging as Qihua's top scorer in Foundation subjects! Inspired by her teachers, she now aspires to be a teacher so that she can do for others what her teachers did for her.

Joshua could barely speak a word of English when he entered Da Qiao Primary at Primary 1. In one year, Joshua has graduated from the Learning Support Programme and gained confidence. Joshua's mother, Mrs Lim, worked with the school and used word cards the school prepared to practise together with Joshua at home.

Specialised programmes in our schools like Crest, Spectra, NorthLight and Assumption Pathway keep students engaged and help them build confidence.

Hairi picked up smoking, drinking and even joined a gang when he was a primary school student. He disliked school but loved football. His teachers at Crest Secondary recognised that and engaged him through football. And in Hairi's words, it was a "game-changer". So, Hairi started to enjoy school and blossomed as a peer leader. He quit smoking. Hairi's parents, having seen his change, have also enrolled his brother Hilmi in Crest.

For students in Special Education or SPED Schools, we have invested, as Deputy Prime Minister Tharman mentioned, 50% more in real terms to support them over the last few years. Our School-based Dyslexia Remediation programme has been a success. Dr Intan mentioned about the AEDs earlier. As Minister of State Sim Ann shared earlier, we expanded

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the programme to 60 more primary schools this year. Two-thirds of our primary schools now offer it, up from one-third just last year. By next year, 2016, all primary schools will have dyslexia remediation so that students with dyslexia will get help early in their primary school. Minister of State Sim Ann will touch on other efforts to support students across the spectrum of SEN later.

Let me touch on financial support. Education is already heavily subsidised but we will provide further support. Let me reiterate that this is not because more students are poor but because the Government is providing greater support. I will summarise some of the announcements made by Deputy Prime Minister Tharman and provide additional details.

We will top up Edusave accounts or Post-Secondary Education Accounts of Singapore Citizen students aged seven to 20 – reaching more than half a million Singaporeans. We will waive fees for PSLE, GCE "N", "O" and "A" levels for Singapore Citizen students in Government-funded schools starting this year. We will waive vocational examination fees for Singapore Citizen students in Government-funded SPED schools and specialised schools – including ITE Skills Certificate and WSQ modules. We will provide subsidies comparable to the current GCE "A" level fees for Singapore Citizen students in Government-funded schools who sit the International Baccalaureate (IB) Diploma examination. We will waive examination fees for Singapore Citizen students enrolled full-time in ITEs and polytechnics, starting from Academic Year 2015. Our focus on national, mainstream schools is important because it provides an important bonding experience. And where private schools are relevant, the specific relevant agencies will deal with these.

The MOE Financial Assistance Scheme or FAS has been enhanced over the years. In 2012, we raised the income ceiling and also introduced a per capita income criterion to allow more students to benefit. From 1 April this year, we will provide transport subsidies under MOE's FAS. This will provide further support for lower-income families. Those travelling by public transport will receive $120 in transport credits annually. For primary school students taking the school bus, MOE's FAS will cover 50% of the regular school bus fare. In addition, we will double the sum of annual grants for school-based financial assistance from $5 million to $11 million per year for the next three years. This will give schools more resources to provide further targeted assistance to students from less advantaged backgrounds. We will also raise the income criteria of Edusave Merit Bursary from $5,000 to $6,000 to benefit more students.

No child should be left behind, whatever their starting point. We are doing more to support students with a weaker start, be it learning needs, special needs or financial needs. Spending in these areas, across all levels – from schools to IHLs – has more than doubled from $200 million to $500 million, as compared to five years ago.

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But to uplift our students, not just academically but also in social-emotional growth, we need both resources and "heartware". I echo Mr Sam Tan's point that we must focus on "heartware". "Heartware" comes from supportive parents, persevering students, dedicated educators and supportive community. Senior Parliamentary Secretary Hawazi will speak more on how we will engage parents and the community in bringing out the best in our children, including character-building.

I very much appreciate the many educators and volunteers who worked doggedly in our schools, self-help groups and other VWOs. They put in much time and heart into doing this important work, quietly, unstintingly. I have the greatest admiration for them.

I find it most encouraging that students who received help are giving back at this very young age. For example, Jia Qi from Teck Whye Secondary was supported by FAS, and he discovered and developed his passion in mathematics through Teck Whye's Math enrichment programmes and personal motivation workshops. So, Jia Qi gives back enthusiastically by coaching his friends in mathematics through the school's peer tutoring programme and derives great satisfaction from his friends' improvement.

Umaira was supported by the Independent School Bursary to attend Raffles Girls' School (RGS). Grateful for the opportunity, she now wants to spread the message that students of diverse backgrounds are welcome in RGS through a Malay language and culture competition for primary schools this year.

We must not shy away from excellence but we must make sure that those who are excellent in whatever they do have a heart to give back to society.

Let me now make some concluding remarks.

I began by speaking about how our Pioneer Generation made hard choices at critical points of nation-building. They faced many crossroads – each right decision helped us progress.

Today, we face a new crossroads – do we focus narrowly on grades and examinations, or do we focus on what is truly important by building strong values and deep skills throughout our lives? Do we fixate on narrow measurements of our value, or do we actually be people of value, with values?

Madam, to me, the path is clear. It is to do everything we can to be people of deep skills and strong values.

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We take the pioneering path, to nurture Singaporeans who are inventive, resilient and caring. We have some idea of the qualities of this pioneering path. It will have learning on the job, learning just in time, learning in the right place at the right time, learning without boundaries – without the boundaries of institutional walls, age, place or time.

I am happy to hear many Members speak in support of the spirit of this because we must take this pioneering path together, as a whole society. We are not the only ones at a crossroads. Others, too, are asking – what is the future of education? I have been reading their projections, but as I read through what they wrote, I realised that much of what they envision in the future, we are doing now.

And what is special about our mission is that we are not thinking about the future of education in just one school or one university. We are thinking about the future of education for our whole nation.

We are pioneering a path that will shape our whole society, one that will require collective effort from everyone in society. Millions of individual actions and choices by Singaporeans will move our nation towards a brighter future.

3.30 pm

Our students in schools today are between five and 25 years old. In 50 years, they will be 55 to 75 years old. They will be the Pioneer Generation at SG100. Will we be stuck with the "study book" culture that brought us this far in our first 50 years? Or will we, and this younger generation, live again the pioneering spirit and transform how we work and learn?

I am confident that we can succeed, as there are already many new pioneers in our midst. Each of the examples I raised in my speech are pioneers. But we need many more pioneers, in every school, in every field, in every job.

Singaporeans who take ownership of learning throughout life, like John, Prof Chong, Ravinder, Cheria and Siti – who are passionate and innovative and make a difference to the lives of others, like Edward, Umaira and Jia Qi.

Teachers and schools who focus on holistic education, build in students a strong foundation and make learning real and relevant, like those in Hillgrove and Damai Secondary, SUTD, TP, ITE, RP and so on. Parents who build on every child's strength and interest beyond academics, like Fiona and Ravinder. Employers who truly value our people and help our people acquire relevant skills, like YCH and Rolls-Royce. A society that respects every job and

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encourages everyone to achieve mastery in their own fields, in their own way.

These are fundamental changes that will take time. But we need to take the first step now and take it together. The journey of transformation will not be easy. But every decision, every action, by everyone, counts.

Learn for mastery. Learn throughout life. Learn for life. This must be our compass as we chart our way forward.

Madam, in this SG50 year, let us appreciate and build on our pioneers' precious legacy. Let us reflect on where we are today and where we want to go. Let us inspire all Singaporeans to take this pioneering path and live the pioneering spirit, together, and create an even better 50 years ahead of us. [ Applause. ]

The Senior Minister of State for Education and Law (Ms Indranee Rajah) : Mdm Chairperson, the Minister has given an overview of the future of education and what the Ministry of Education (MOE) is doing. I will speak on two specific areas: preschool and tertiary education.

Ms Irene Ng and Mr Zainudin Nordin touched on social and emotional resources of our young and supporting low-income students. We aim to give our children a good start in life. Research shows that children who have a good early childhood education tend to do well later in life. A good educational foundation early in life is, therefore, extremely important.

We are doing this in two ways. First, by promoting consistency of standards in content and teaching across the sector. Secondly, through MOE Kindergartens or MKs. To-date, we have 10 MKs which provide quality preschool education that is affordable to Singaporeans. Five more will open next year. The MKs aim to pilot teaching and learning resources and establish good practices for sharing with the preschool sector.

Giving every child a good start does not mean that the child in preschool must be able to do the Primary 1 syllabus while still in preschool! There is still a preconception that a child is doing well only if the child is doing something beyond that child's level. That should not be the case at the preschool stage; the child should learn in a way that is appropriate to his age and stage of development. What is important is: what they learn, that is, the content; and how they learn, the pedagogy.

For content, MOE has developed the Nurturing Early Learners Curriculum, a toolkit of kindergarten curriculum resources. This contains guidelines for a holistic preschool education, including learning areas, such as numeracy, motor skills development, language

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and literacy and social and emotional development.

In terms of how they learn, MOE has two core pedagogies: to engage children in learning through, firstly, purposeful play, and, secondly, quality interactions between teachers and children.

The MKs of today are not the kindergartens that we remember. Children no longer learn through spelling lists and rote memory. Today, we encourage children to learn, explore and ask questions about their world through play. The teachers plan learning activities that are fun and enjoyable for the children and help them achieve intended learning outcomes holistically.

Mr Hri Kumar talked about communication skills. We are helping our children to build a strong foundation through bilingualism. Research increasingly shows the importance of learning languages at a young age. Children who are exposed to two languages from young are more likely to be able to acquire both languages at a higher level of proficiency than their peers who start later.

Researchers compared a group of children who learnt a second language earlier and used it longer with another group who learnt a second language later. They found that the group of early bilinguals were more fluent and proficient than their peers. The early bilinguals also had greater self-regulation skills and ability to focus on a given task.

We have made bilingualism a key feature of our MKs so that our children will be fluent in English and Mother Tongue and will have a strong anchor on which to build their language capabilities as they grow older.

Our MKs have the Weeks of Wonder or WoW. These are term projects that facilitate language learning. Each year, children do four WoW projects, two in English and two in Mother Tongue, where they work together with their peers and teachers to investigate topics of interest in Mother Tongue. With your permission, Mdm Chairman, may I display some slides on the screens?

The Chairman : Yes, please. [ Slides were shown to hon Members. ]

Ms Indranee Rajah: Here, you see the MK children visiting a flower shop. These are the ones doing Tamil Language and interviewing the Indian owner about the use of roses in the Indian culture. They also interviewed others and searched through books and the Internet. The owner showed them around his shop, demonstrated how a rose garland was made using banana strings and explained the use of roses on different occasions in the Indian culture.

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The children were so excited that they decided to set up their own florist shop! This required them to work with each other, practise their Tamil and express their creativity. The children also learnt about the value of teaching others when they went home and created rose bouquets with their families using recycled materials for their flower shop.

This WoW project illustrates the pedagogical approach of learning through play as well as innovative techniques for language learning.

But in order to provide good preschool education, we must also have good preschool teachers. MOE is working closely with the Early Childhood Development Agency or ECDA to train preschool teachers. We have developed the Nurturing Early Learners Framework which guides preschools in designing and implementing a quality kindergarten curriculum for children aged four to six.

We have also launched the Educators' Guide which helps teachers translate the Framework into quality learning experiences for children. About 6,000 preschool educators were expected to be trained by end-2014.

We need more Early Childhood professionals to meet the growing demand for services. If you are interested in teaching, if you like children and are passionate about helping them build character and a strong foundation for life, do consider a career in Early Childhood Care and Education. I would also encourage persons, including women who have left the workforce and wish to return, to consider a career in early childhood.

There are many different pathways to become an early childhood professional, with entry and training into the sector at all levels. There are early childhood courses at ITE, polytechnic and university levels, each providing a stepping stone to the next level, in combination with work experience.

For pre-service trainees, there are the ECDA Training Awards for both full-time ITE and polytechnic diplomas in Early Childhood Care and Education courses. The ITE Training Award was introduced last year. The take-up has been promising, with about 20 ITE students receiving the award to date.

Mr Ang Wei Neng and Mr Zainudin Nordin asked about support for mid-career learners. There are also pathways for mid-career professionals who want to enter the sector. Li Xian was an auditor in an accounting firm for four years. She wanted to change her job for a better work-life balance. Inspired by her older sister who is an early childhood professional, Li Xian took the Singapore Polytechnic Conversion Diploma in Early Childhood Education and completed the one-year course in September last year. She is happy with her career change

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and says that she is "enjoying the moments of satisfaction and the priceless hugs of the children on a daily basis!"

There are also part-time courses for those who cannot study full-time. Working professionals can take the part-time Diploma in Early Childhood Care and Education at our polytechnics from October this year. These courses will give recognition for prior learning and competencies gained through work experience, which will shorten the overall course hours. ECDA is also working closely with WDA to develop structured competency-based pathways.

SkillsFuture has been a prominent feature of this Budget, and MOE is actively involved in implementing various aspects of SkillsFuture. First, enhanced education and career guidance will now be an integral part of our education system.

And for this, let me share Daniel's story. Daniel was an ITE student, completing a Higher Nitec in Mechanical Engineering when I first met him last year. Like many young people, he was not sure what his next step should be. He had taken Mechanical Engineering at ITE but it was not his first choice. He was not sure he wanted to continue in engineering. I asked him what he thought he might like to do. He said either culinary arts or sports science but, again, he was not sure. I offered to arrange internships for him so he would be in a better position to decide. He opted to try culinary arts.

I asked PS Cafe, which operates in my constituency, if they could take him on. They kindly agreed to do so. Daniel duly went for his internship which he enjoyed tremendously. The outcome, however, is interesting and this is how Daniel made his decision.

He spoke to the other chefs and they shared their experiences and advice. He also spoke to his section head of Mechanical Engineering at ITE. He knew he really enjoyed his work as a chef and had fun in the kitchen. But he also considered the cost of sacrificing and throwing away everything he had learnt in the two years. So, after much thought, he decided to continue with engineering and not to discard what he has learnt. Cooking remains a passion for him but he wants to have something which builds on his engineering background as a career. And if his passion for culinary arts is still strong, he may go back to it later in life. I suppose he can use the SkillsFuture Credits.

He has since applied for Polytechnic admission in engineering-related courses, including Engineering and Product Design. These courses would offer the prospect of interesting, practical and stable jobs and they allow him to leverage his Mechanical Engineering skills foundation yet explore new areas. However, his internship at PS.Cafe provided him with valuable experience and he now has the option of revisiting culinary arts at a later stage if

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he wants. But the most important part about this story is that the advice, guidance and the internship empowered Daniel to make an informed choice that was his own decision. This story illustrates the importance of Education and Career Guidance or ECG. And this can be delivered through structured ECG programmes, short internships or industrial visits.

Mr Ang Wei Neng noted that ECG counsellors need to be properly trained. We agree. MOE will play a coordinating role to ensure that ECG programmes are relevant to students from primary to post-secondary levels. And a Central ECG Unit is being set up within MOE to oversee planning and implementation of ECG.

We will pilot an enhanced engagement programme for Secondary 2 and 3 students to build awareness of industries and sectors and the applied learning environment in polytechnics. And, this year, we will begin with 50 schools for the Secondary 2 students, and 24 schools for the Secondary 3 students. At the polytechnics and ITE, we will introduce more systematic ECG through a common set of ECG outcomes and learning objectives.

Another aspect of SkillsFuture which MOE is closely involved in implementing is internships and industrial attachments. The benefits of internships are clear. They provide an authentic learning environment which allows the student to gain real-life practical knowledge and hands-on experience.

Mr Yee Jenn Jong spoke about the management of industrial internships. Some companies do them well, some not so well. We agree that more can be done to improve internships. It has to be done sector by sector. And the Government and the IHLs will support, but the employers must do their part.

3.45 pm

In the early childhood sector, ECDA has provided a capability grant to centres that host enhanced internships for students from the full-time Early Childhood Care and Education courses at the IHLs. The grant will help employers defray costs of developing and running internship programmes. For instance, the cost of training, deployment of mentors as well as costs in providing stipends and teaching and learning resources for interns. ECDA is also working with IHLs to develop structured internship programmes for specific durations, which will help companies plan their internships better.

We need more companies to support enhanced internships to provide meaningful work assignments and mentoring by experienced professionals. We also need companies to provide places for on-the-job training within the SkillsFuture Earn-and-Learn Programme. Polytechnic and ITE graduates who successfully complete this skills training programme will

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receive industry-recognised qualifications, such as advanced diplomas, specialised diplomas or certificates.

Members have spoken about the need for manpower. The Earn-and-Learn Programme is, in fact, a powerful recruitment platform and pipeline of talent for local businesses, MNCs and SMEs alike. I would encourage companies to take it up.

Lifelong learning is another important aspect of SkillsFuture. Let me tell you Johnny's story.

I met Mr Johnny Ng, Managing Director of NKH Building Services, a company that does pump services and maintenance. Johnny finished his GCE "O" levels in 1977 and proceeded straight to National Service (NS). He found it difficult to get a job after NS. He realised he needed to upgrade himself and took part-time courses at the then-Singapore Vocational Institute (SVI) and, later, ITE. From 1988 to 1992, he took electrical studies as he was then working with his brother to install and maintain control panels.

From 1993 to 1994, he obtained his qualification as a licensed electrical worker. As business expanded, he realised he needed other skills. So, between 1992 and 1995, he took up management courses at the Chinese Chamber of Commerce and Industry. And at the same time, electronics was booming. He saw the opportunity but realised he did not have the skills. So, between 1995 and 1999, he took electronics courses at ITE.

Then, came the 1998 crisis which hit many businesses hard, including Johnny's. Undeterred, he modified his business plan to ride out the crisis. He changed his business focus, from installing pumps to the maintenance of pumps, a more shock-proof business model. To equip himself for this new direction, he then took courses in plumbing from 1999 to 2002 and air-conditioning from 2002 to 2005. Not content with this, from 2003 to 2004, he became a licensed plumber. And somewhere between the electronics, air-cons and the pumps, he managed to notice the pretty girl in the seat behind him at ITE and married her.

On the strength of continuing education and training from ITE and SVI courses, Johnny transformed himself over 15 years, from a GCE "O" level school leaver to where he is today – the owner of a million-dollar business. His company is still growing and he has not stopped learning. He continues to take other courses and he remains very grateful to ITE, not just for his success in life but also for his wife!

The MOE-funded CET courses at the polytechnics and ITE and WDA-funded WSQ courses will help people to progress through life, just like Johnny. There are also short

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courses offered by the polytechnics and ITE in a wide range of interest areas.

Our IHLs are also Centres of Innovation. Let me now tell you Derek's story.

Derek graduated from Republic Polytechnic or RP in 2008. His dream was to start a business to make fish bak kwa. After NS, he started a company in 2011 with RP and SPRING Singapore's help. But his first venture failed. However, he did not give up. He continued to pitch for investments, look for opportunities and he continued to work with his mentor from RP's Centre for Enterprise and Communication to improve his business plan.

The original product was not so good in presentation and also in terms of how it was done. Derek tapped on what he learnt during his final-year project at RP about processes to prevent the introduction of bacteria. This led Derek to vacuum-seal the fish bak kwa, to increase its shelf-life without adding preservatives. Derek relaunched Ocean King in 2013 and secured his first funding in October 2014. It comes in three flavours – King Salmon, Big-Eye Tuna and Blue Marlin. Today, Ocean King is set on making the world's finest fish bak kwa, a new take on a timeless tradition and enjoyment of bak kwa without the guilt.

Derek's polytechnic education put him in good stead to be an entrepreneur. His story also shows how our polytechnics' Centres of Innovation can help industry.

This is the new face of education – learning and collaboration do not need to stop when school ends. Education and industry are intertwined and, when done well, can spur entrepreneurship, support innovation and productivity, generate economic activity and help make dreams come true. Mdm Chairperson, if I may now say a few words in Malay.

( In Malay ) : [ Please refer to Vernacular Speech .] Mr Zainudin asked about the desired outcomes of pre-employment programmes and lifelong learning.

With SkillsFuture, our students will have many more opportunities to succeed in life. It is not possible to have guaranteed employment places waiting for everyone. But with SkillsFuture, we can greatly improve their employment prospects and opportunities to progress in their careers.

ECG will help our students to recognise their strengths and identify good job opportunities in many different sectors. Internships will also enable students to gain real life skills and get to know the industry better. If they do well in their internships, employers will want to employ them.

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The Earn-and-Learn programme will enable them to work and receive a salary, and study and obtain additional qualifications at the same time. The Continuing Education and Training or lifelong learning programmes will allow them to upgrade their skills throughout their lives. This will enable them to get better increments and promotion, and also move into supervisory, managerial or even ownership positions. The story of Mr Johnny Ng that I shared earlier shows how this can be done.

I would like to encourage our students to take advantage of the opportunities offered by SkillsFuture. With hard work and determination, everyone can succeed, no matter what your starting point.

( In English ): Madam, I will now continue in English.

Prof Tan Tai Yong spoke about the need to support research in the Humanities and Social Sciences or HSS. HSS contributes to a better understanding of our society. It complements Science and Technology research. Investment in HSS research is important for Singapore's development. Concerted efforts are needed to deepen research grounded in Singapore's context.

Currently, MOE supports research funding for the social sciences through the Academic Research Fund. Many Government agencies commission HSS research in areas relevant to public policy. The Government is considering a bigger push in HSS research, guided by the consideration of serving Singapore's needs. The Government will engage the academic community further on this.

The Chairman : Order, I propose to take the break now.

[(proc text) Thereupon Mdm Speaker left the Chair of Committee and took the Chair of the House. (proc text)]

Mdm Speaker : Order. I suspend the Sitting and will take the Chair again at 4.15 pm.

Sitting accordingly suspended

at 3.54pm until 4.15pm.

Sitting resumed at 4.15pm

[Mdm Speaker in the Chair]

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Debate in the Committee of Supply resumed.

[Mdm Speaker in the Chair]

Head K (cont) –

Students at Risk of Being Left Behind

Ms Denise Phua Lay Peng : Madam, I wish to draw the Ministry of Education's (MOE) attention to three groups of children that I think could be at risk of being left behind.

The first is children from lower income families. I am glad that financial assistance and other schemes such as after-school care have been put in place for these children.

US research had suggested that students' performance decline after long school holidays, especially for those from families with low income. As Mayor of Central District, I observed that many children from lower-income families engage in little learning or enrichment activities during their school holidays. They tend to lack adult supervision due to the work commitments of their parents and absence of caregivers. This is unlike their peers from more affluent families who can afford additional learning experiences, such as outside enrichment programmes like family vacations.

My Community Development Council (CDC) team and I had organised holiday camps for these children, trying to help them close the gap with their more affluent peers. We taught them how to write e-books, play musical instrument, new games and even make and edit movies.

However, I fear these efforts on the ground are not systemic and regular enough to make sustainable impact. I urge MOE to work with the relevant partners to ensure that students who lack adult supervision during school holidays can continue to learn and are not being left even further behind their more affluent peers.

Next, Madam, on students with special needs in both mainstream schools and the Institutes of Higher Learning (IHLs).

The Allied Educator or AED scheme. The introduction of the AED scheme in 2009 was a significant initiative for students with special needs in mainstream primary and secondary schools. The number of Allied Educators has grown from 600 in 2009 to more than 2,400 in 2014. Their role can be challenging, especially for those involved in teaching and learning and behavioural management support. I would like to seek the Ministry's update of the AED

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scheme, the achievements and challenges to date and how MOE might partner further the major disability partners to support and equip these professionals.

On Disability Support Offices. In 2013, students with special educational needs in IHLs received the great news that there will be a Disability Support Office or DSO in each publicly funded university, polytechnic, ITE college and arts institutions. This is a game changer and will give excellent support for those students, as support had been inconsistent and dependent very much on the good hearts of individual IHLs. I would like to seek an update on the status of the set-up of these DSOs.

On the Special Education Needs or SEN Fund, in the same year, MOE had also announced the setting up of a SEN Fund to help students with physical, hearing or visual impairment. This fund currently does not include the three most common forms of learning disabilities, namely, dyslexia, ADHD and autism. I seek the Ministry's favourable consideration to include these students as candidates for the use of the SEN Fund.

Students with special needs in SPED schools. Thanks to the enthusiasm of Minister of State Sim Ann and the Minister, SPED schools have continued to receive much support. There are some gaps that I would like to bring up for attention.

First, a portal for teaching materials for core common life skills. After expending a lot of time and resources in developing curriculum framework, it is time for MOE to start populating the framework.

Currently, each volunteer welfare organisation (VWO) and their respective SPED schools are developing their own resources. For greater productivity, I urge MOE to allocate resources to develop a portal – a repository of core materials in core topics such as daily living skills, literacy and numeracy. Instead of only asking the educators to populate the framework, MOE can invest in local and foreign content so that more is available quickly for both schools and families to use.

Second, SPED schools offering mainstream curriculum. Efforts have been made in this aspect but there are still disconnects. SPED teachers, for example, who are teaching the PSLE, are not granted the opportunities to be in the markers' pool for better exposure and development.

Third, on ICT. Most recently, the very useful ICT Learning Roadmap for MOE mainstream school Info Clubs were planned and budgeted, but only with mainstream schools in mind. SPED schools who wish to enrol their students were advised to engage the vendors

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separately.

Fourth, on inclusion in good national initiatives. All students, whether taking mainstream academics or not, should also be included in the other good national initiatives, such as the school-based Dyslexia Remediation Programme, applied learning programme and even the SkillsFuture Master Plan.

The Chairman: Ms Phua, please conclude. We are out of time.

Ms Denise Phua Lay Peng: I thank and congratulate the MOE team for the diligent work that they have done and I want to tell you that you have made a difference.

Mother Tongue Exemptions

Mr Yee Jenn Jong: Madam, I agree with bilingualism being a cornerstone of our education system. All students in our primary and secondary schools now have to offer a Mother Tongue Language or MTL.

In a recent Parliamentary reply, MOE had said that around 3.5% of students are exempted from MTL at the PSLE yearly. I accept that there are genuine reasons for exemptions, such as those who join our education system mid-way without prior learning of the MTL or there are medical reasons that adversely affect their ability to cope with MTL.

In another reply, MOE cited that on average, over the past five years, 178 MTL exemptions were given at PSLE in the five schools with the highest exemptions. This is 35.6 students per school, which is around 15% to 17% of the PSLE cohort in an average school.

This is high compared to the national average of 3.5%. Has MOE examined the reasons why there are wide variations in MTL exemptions across schools? Has MOE or have the principals of schools with high exemptions sought to interview applicants to probe further into the reasons for seeking MTL exemptions? Seeking exemption based on medical reasons is costly. Is there a strong correlation between MTL exemptions and the socioeconomic status of parents?

I hope students will not find ways to opt out of MTL even if they find the subject difficult or parents worry that offering MTL may pull down their children's PSLE T-Score.

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Regulating Private Special Schools

Ms Denise Phua Lay Peng: Madam, the Private Education Act was passed in September 2009 to strengthen and level up the private education sector. As a result, the Council for Private Education or CPE was set up to raise standards in the sector through effective regulation, industry development and consumer education. A wide range of private education institutions exists in Singapore.

It is the private special education schools that I wish to draw the Ministry's attention to. Privately run special schools have been sprouting up in Singapore. Some of them are owned by local operators whilst others are foreign-owned. Children with special needs from both local and expatriate families attend these classes.

However, because this education offering is targeted at a very vulnerable segment of children and families, I believe the Ministry of Education (MOE) must exercise a stronger moral responsibility and take a more active role in overseeing these schools or centres.

The strategic thrusts of the CPE are to ensure quality assurance and effective consumer education, amongst others. These private special schools are known in the market as MOE-registered and it is highly plausible that their education programmes, facilities and even pricings are perceived to be endorsed by MOE by the parents.

I urge MOE to conduct proper due diligence and reference checks before registering these schools and perform its duty of ensuring quality assurance and effective consumer education. To protect the consumers – in this case, the children – after they have been abused or harmed might be too late in some instances.

Quality assurance cannot be just about hardware or administration, in the business of education. I would like to seek the Ministry's inputs on how it intends to protect the interests of especially the children, some of whom may not even be able to express themselves.

Disability Support Offices

Ms Chia Yong Yong (Nominated Member): Madam, thank you. I thank also the MOE for its enlightened approach in including persons with disabilities (PwDs) in mainstream education. And as the hon Member Ms Denise Phua has pointed out, the setting up of the Disability Support Offices or DSOs was welcome news to the sector last year. Likewise, the launch of the Special Education Needs Fund. We also hope that Ministry would consider extending to children of other disabilities.

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Apart from funds, and apart from just skills and equipment, I would also like to ask more specifically how much budget will be allocated for capability development and training of the persons who will be staffing the DSOs? Also, in relation to that, on a broader and higher-level culture of the IHLs. We cannot have DSOs built as operating as silos. They are there to facilitate but they are not there to do all the work. So, how does Ministry envisage that steps will be taken to build a culture of inclusiveness from top down and amongst the faculty and staff of the IHLs?

Multinational Youth Interaction

Dr Benedict Tan: Madam, I would like to encourage multinational interactions among youths through sports. We can do this by bringing together students from local MOE schools and the international schools, increasing interaction and exchanges through sports and games.

Singapore at its core has always been multicultural, multi-ethnic and multilingual. And particular attention has been paid to integration and the development of the Singapore identity since Independence. Over the years, we have seen more and more international schools being set up in Singapore and expanding. We also have local schools, setting up their sister international schools. This may create a divide but it also presents opportunities.

There are many nationalities living, working and studying in Singapore. To leverage on this cultural diversity, to give greater exposure to Singaporean students and to be inclusive, I feel that our inter-school competitions or what is now known as the National School Games, should include international schools as well.

Currently, the schools from the two ecosystems – the MOE and the non-MOE schools – do not interact much. The platforms and avenues for interaction do not present themselves naturally. Sports offers such a bridge.

Granted, there will be operational challenges, such as the timing of school semesters, vacation periods, fixtures and scheduling, manpower and cost sharing issues. But I do believe that the benefits of having a vibrant, inclusive school sports ecosystem will provide many tangible and intangible benefits for the young and prepare them for increasing globalisation.

Sports Co-curricular Activities

Mr Yee Jenn Jong: Madam, several Members, including myself, have spoken previously about a greater level of sports engagement for our pupils and to increase the number of sports on offer by schools. Active participation in sports from young can hopefully help

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students develop a culture of active sports in the future.

I wish to suggest how we can add to schools' efforts to provide more sports engagements for students. Number one: introduce more fun competitions for sports within schools, which can be tiered so students who are at a lesser skill level can move up to a higher level when skills have improved.

Number two: introduce the concept of a minor co-curricular activity (CCA) where students who want regular exposure to various sports can sign up for as a second or even third CCA. The time commitment may not be as intense as a regular CCA, but it will allow students to try out more sports. CCA points would be correspondingly lesser.

Number three: recognise and award CCA points for the achievements of students who participate regularly and competitively with external training providers outside of school hours, even if the school does not offer the sports as a CCA. This might encourage students to pursue sports of their interest at a serious level when schools are not able to find the resources to offer that sport as a CCA.

Lastly, allow international schools to join in the local inter-school competitions to increase the level of competition, a point that was also just raised by Nominated Member Dr Benedict Tan.

Revamp of Schools' Sports Day

Dr Benedict Tan: Madam, following my speech in Parliament on 19 January this year where I identified 10 worrying trends in Singapore's sports participation, many parents and students as well as Members of this House approached me to personally provide even more evidence of such trends. In particular, they affirmed that their schools are too focused on winning medals and that there are not enough opportunities to learn sports through the local school system. They are particularly unhappy at being rejected by the school team, especially at the primary school level. And when they pursue the sport on their own outside the school, their participation is not recognised.

This all-or-none scenario, whereby you are either good enough to make the school team or you are completely shut out, exists during sports day as well. If you are not good enough to represent your house, then you cannot compete during sports day. Instead, you get "arrowed" to attend as a spectator. And these are not the enthusiastic fans that you see in Brazilian stadiums – both students and teachers tell me that they are mostly reluctant participants. With such negative experiences, is it a wonder why many of our young develop

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an aversion to sports and physical activity?

Instead of having only a small proportion of the school population competing in track and field events during sports day while the majority sits and watches, why not engage the

whole population by transforming sports day into a sports festival? During the sports festival, we can give students opportunities to try their hand at the various sports and games. If a child takes a liking to a particular sport during such a try-out, the school can link up with external providers such as ActiveSG and various community centre groups to deepen his or her interest in the sport. And this out-of-school activity should be recognised as a CCA, even if it is at a recreational level as suggested by the Member before me.

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Yes, MOE has explained that the Physical Education or PE curriculum rotates students through various sports. But we know that given the limited time for PE and the time taken up just to prepare for NAPFA, such exposure is too superficial to get the student hooked onto a lifetime of active living. Let us give our young, especially those in Primary schools, a positive sporting experience and a positive start by reviewing the format of their sports day.

Madam, let me conclude by commending the Minister and his team at MOE for their insight and pioneering work in transforming our education system.

The Minister of State for Education (Ms Sim Ann) : Madam, Minister Heng spoke about the need for us to go beyond a narrow focus on grades and exams, and emphasise deep skills, holistic education, strong values and lifelong learning. We want an economy that is resilient and flexible as well as a society that is caring, harmonious and cohesive.

I will now speak on how the Ministry of Education (MOE) seeks to realise our vision in the areas of bilingualism and support for students with special education needs.

Earlier, Minister Heng and Senior Minister of State Indranee Rajah acknowledged the points made by Mr Hri Kumar on language and communication skills. Because language and communication are integral to what we are trying to achieve for our students, I think his points bear being acknowledged by the third speaker from MOE.

English, our working language, provides a common platform for Singaporeans of all races and backgrounds to interact with and understand one another. Spoken English is also a key competency for the global economy. MOE is committed to improving our students' proficiency in it. We have created more opportunities for primary school students to speak, ask questions and interact in class through the implementation of the Strategies for English

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Language Learning and Reading (STELLAR) Programme in 2010. We increased the weightage of the listening and speaking components of the GCE "N" and "O" level English Language examinations in 2013. Our pre-university students must offer Project Work, which emphasises group discussion and requires students to make an oral presentation as part of their assessment.

Our Mother Tongue Languages (MTLs) are an anchor to our Asian culture and traditional values and provide a foundation for our students to acquire cross-cultural competencies. The Member's speech highlights a key tension between extrinsic and intrinsic motivations in the learning of MTL. Extrinsic motivations like bonus points can be useful. They encourage students to persevere and stretch themselves. They also signal the importance that we place on our Mother Tongue Languages. However, over-reliance on these motivators can have drawbacks, for instance, ending up with situations where students stop putting in effort once the motivators are no longer there.

On the other hand, intrinsic motivation nurtures self-directed learners who will maintain good communication skills in their MTLs over their lifetimes. Therefore, while extrinsic motivators like bonus points do exist, our core goal is to foster intrinsic motivation.

We aim to teach the Mother Tongue Languages in fun and engaging ways that will interest our students. For instance, all our schools organise Mother Tongue Language Fortnights annually. These Fortnights are meant to provide opportunities for students to learn and use their MTLs in authentic contexts.

In addition, we recognise that we are more likely to sustain our children's interest in the MTLs by leveraging on their instinctive feel for technology. To this end, we have introduced initiatives such as the Oracy eLand in 2011 and the iMTL Portal in 2013. Both are online portals that aim to teach students how to communicate in their MTLs through multimedia, games and interactive tasks. Mdm Chairperson, I would now like to say a few words in Mandarin.

( In Mandarin ) : [ Please refer to Vernacular Speech .] This year, MOE adopted the 2015 Primary School Mother Tongue Curriculum. This curriculum places emphasis on students' oral and written interaction skills, and on learning through authentic, everyday activities in our daily life. For example, our teachers will guide students to discuss food items sold in the canteen and thereafter teach them how to use the relevant phrases and sentences. To reinforce what the students have learnt, our teachers will assign tasks for the students to complete by using the new phrases and sentences they have learned.

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Parents and teachers have given very positive feedback on this curriculum. They think that the curriculum's authentic and applied nature has captured the attention of the students. Ms Patricia Lua's child just started primary school this January. Ms Lua said that this curriculum has provided many opportunities for the children to engage in interactive dialogues and is conducive to developing the children's oral communication capability.

Although her child has only been in Primary 1 for two months, he is already starting to speak more Mandarin as compared to before he started primary school and often shares what he learns in school with his parents at home in Mandarin.

( In English ): To reinforce what is taught in the classroom, we want our students to apply their MTL communication skills outside the classroom. MOE works with community partners to provide opportunities for students to do so and these activities reach out to more than 100,000 participants each year.

Our teachers work with the Malay Language Learning and Promotion Committee to author and publish books under the Lower Primary Storybooks Project, so as to foster the love of reading among young children. Xinmin Secondary School collaborates with the Committee for the Promotion of Chinese Language and Learning and zbCOMMA 逗号 to organise the "CreateYour Own Newspaper" Competition for secondary schools.

Last year, I attended Avvaiyar Vizha, an event organised by the Tamil Language Learning and Promotion Committee and the Tamil Language and Cultural Society to commemorate an influential female Tamil poet. I was heartened by how our schools worked together with community partners to promote greater awareness of Tamil literature and hone our students' skills in spoken Tamil.

In response to Ms Denise Phua's question about the private Special Education or SPED schools, I will first describe the overall landscape of MOE's support for students with Special Educational Needs or SEN. MOE's broad approach is to support them in education settings most appropriate for their needs. Students who have the cognitive abilities and adaptive skills to learn in mainstream settings are provided for in our mainstream schools. Students who require intensive specialised assistance in their education to optimise learning and their potential for independent living are provided for in the 20 SPED schools funded by MOE and operated by Voluntary Welfare Organisations. The vast majority of our students with SEN are catered for in these two types of settings.

A small number of private education institutions or PEIs offer full-time Special Education courses. The majority of students enrolled across these schools are non-Singaporeans. These schools do provide additional choice for some Singaporean parents too.

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While we will carefully consider the Member's proposal, these schools are currently regulated through the Private Education Act by the Council for Private Education, a statutory board under MOE. While the Council does not accredit the academic quality of programmes offered by PEIs, its regulatory framework aims to safeguard the interests of students and parents and to help them make more informed choices. The Council ensures minimum standards in corporate and academic governance, strengthens student fee protection measures and requires the PEIs to disclose key information on courses and teachers.

Whenever cases involving privately-funded SPED schools come to the Council's attention, they are looked into carefully. The Council has also taken the appropriate steps to address issues at these schools and I wish to assure Ms Phua that we do not condone abuse or criminal misconduct in any of our PEIs, including private SPED schools. If any evidence of such conduct is uncovered, the matter will be referred to the Police.

We also acknowledge the Member's concern for students who are at risk of being "left behind" and I wish to emphasise that MOE is committed to ensuring that all students have the opportunity to fulfil their potential. Minister Heng has touched on various measures including enhanced financial assistance.

On the issue of a potential digital gap, I would like to share that our schools can loan computing devices to students from lower-income backgrounds. And on the issue of international exposure, our Trips for International Experience (TIE) initiative provide all students with the opportunity to embark on overseas learning programmes. Our schools, polytechnics and ITEs are also provided with an Opportunity Fund which can be used to subsidise computer purchases as well as overseas visits, student exchange programmes and school enrichment programmes for students from less advantaged backgrounds.

On the Member's suggestions on supporting SEN in the mainstream schools, we constantly welcome feedback from VWOs, the community and other stakeholders for strengthening our models of provision for support. Such feedback has been very useful to us in the past and we will continue to seek feedback and refine what we are currently doing.

On SEN, the Ministry is committed to uplifting the current level of support, with 10% to 20% of teachers in every mainstream school trained to have deeper knowledge and skills to support students with special needs. They work together with Allied Educators (Learning and Behavioural Support), otherwise known as AEDs (LBS), who have been posted to all primary schools and 69 secondary schools.

I wish to thank several Members – Ms Chia Yong Yong, Ms Denise Phua and Dr Intan Azura – for expressing strong interest in our AEDs (LBS). I wish to share that MOE is

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committed to attracting, retaining and systematically training our AEDs (LBS). We have increased the numbers of AEDs (LBS) from 300 in 2010 to around 400 today. In addition, all newly recruited officers undergo a one-year full-time diploma in Special Education offered by the National Institute of Education or NIE before they are deployed. We also provide in-service professional development by sponsoring officers to attend the Advanced Diploma in Special Education and we will continue to review our AEDs (LBS) staffing to ensure adequacy of support for our students with SEN. I cannot agree more with our Members that, when doing so, we must always be careful, because it is important to recruit officers who have the right disposition, the right heart for our students with SEN and the potential to do a great job.

We have also invested more to help students with dyslexia, and this has been shared by Minister Heng just now. We introduced the school-based Dyslexia Remediation or SDR Programme in 2012 and, since then, we have been scaling it up as quickly as we can. Along the way, we have refined our instructional methods and trained more instructors. This year sees the expansion of the SDR Programme to 60 additional schools and the programme will be made available to all primary schools in 2016.

Support for children with SEN also comes in the form of allowing special arrangements for some of them sitting for national examinations and one example would be the Mother Tongue Language exemptions at PSLE that Mr Yee Jenn Jong spoke about.

We have made special accommodations for a small group of students at PSLE who have compelling reasons for finding it hard to cope with MTLs. Among these students, some may have joined or re-joined the school system mid-stream without having learnt MTLs before. Others are students with certified medical conditions or SEN, such as dyslexia, autism spectrum disorder or ASD and attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder or ADHD.

Each exemption appeal citing medical grounds or SEN is carefully reviewed by an MOE panel comprising specialists who will consider submitted evidence such as medical reports, school reports, examination results and work samples. I wish to highlight that exemptions are not given lightly. If the child indeed has the condition cited in the application, exemption will be considered. And if the Member knows of instances where this is not so, he can provide us with the details and we will be sure to look into these cases.

I would now like to thank Ms Chia Yong Yong for asking about the SEN Support Offices or SSO or Disability Support Offices or DSOs in our Institutes of Higher Learning or IHLs as well as capability development and manpower training to help make them more effective in supporting of students with SEN. These are the key initiatives to support our students with SEN in our IHLs. Every ITE college, polytechnic and publicly funded university now has an SSO that serves as a first-stop help point. The SSOs also administer the SEN Fund, which helps ITE

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and polytechnic students with physical or sensory impairment purchase Assistive Technology devices or support services.

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More than 500 students have sought help from these offices. To enhance capability development, the SSOs in the polytechnics and ITE colleges meet every three months to share best practices. This month, Singapore Polytechnic will be hosting a workshop on Accessible Education by Brandman University's Office of Disability Services for the SSOs in all our IHLs.

Our IHLs have also been actively conducting staff training on basic SEN awareness and support on campus since 2013. The training introduces IHL staff to a wide range of SEN and teaches classroom strategies to support students in their learning.

In our polytechnics and ITEs, 1,500 staff members have been trained, including one in five of these institutions' academic staff. Over the next five years, our polytechnics and ITEs will work towards training all their academic staff in basic SEN awareness and support. Our universities also provide training opportunities for staff who interact with students with SEN. So, I think quite a lot is happening in the SSOs in our IHLs and I want to thank Ms Chia as well as Ms Phua for their strong support of this initiative.

Let me cite the example of a student who has been helped by this initiative. He is Lionel Tan, an 18 year-old Business Services student at ITE College Central with a visual impairment. Upon receiving an offer for the Nitec in Info Communication Technology or ICT course, the ITE's Learning Accessibility Office spoke to Lionel to understand his needs. Through this session, which included a tour of the ICT labs, Lionel realised that the course might not be suitable for him. The Learning Accessibility Office then worked with Lionel to identify his other interests and helped him enrol in a course suitable to his strengths and needs. The Office then helped provide Lionel with the appropriate support. A discussion between Lionel's lecturers and his former teachers at Ahmad Ibrahim Secondary School was arranged. The Office also purchased a text-to-speech software and a note-taking device using the SEN Fund. Lionel's lecturers have also worked with the Office to provide him with accessible learning materials.

I wish to thank Ms Phua for her proposal to allow students with other types of SEN to tap on the SEN Fund. The SEN Fund has to be viewed in the context of this broader framework of measures to support students with SEN. We aim to tailor our support measures to the specific needs of students, such as access arrangements for students with dyslexia, orientation of training facilities for students with autism spectrum disorder and

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additional assistance in classroom learning for students with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder. MOE and our IHLs will continue to review the range of support available from time to time and work towards strengthening it.

Deputy Prime Minister Tharman and Minister Heng have spoken about how our spending on SPED schools has increased by 50% over the last five years. Please allow me to flesh out how this has translated into new and better programmes that enhance the affordability, accessibility and quality of SPED. With your permission, Mdm Chair, I wish to display an infographic on our screens.

The Chairman : Yes, please. [ A slide was shown to hon Members. ]

Ms Sim Ann : Regarding affordability, we know that parents of children with SEN are more likely to face additional financial outlay and that is why it is so important to help them with affordability. MOE, therefore, provides substantial financial support. We have extended various schemes to our SPED schools over the years, including the Edusave Scheme, the SPED Financial Assistance Scheme or FAS and the School Breakfast Programme.

We will continue to extend financial support to help our SPED students fulfil their aspirations. This year, we will be enhancing school-based financial assistance for the next three years to $25,000 per school on average, up from $15,000. We will also enhance the SPED FAS to include a public transport subsidy.

At the same time, we will fully subsidise the examination fees paid by Singaporean students in SPED schools taking national examinations as well as examinations leading up to national vocational certification.

To give a sense of what this entails, let me cite the example of Shaherah bte Daud, a 16-year-old student at Metta School. Shaherah aspires to be a chef and will be taking the ITE Skills Certificate in Baking Practice. Shaherah does not need to pay for the assessments for ISC Type 1 and Type 3 modules over the next two years. If she wishes to improve her mastery of baking, she will not need to pay for the assessments for the Type 2 and Type 4 modules subsequently. From now until she reaches 21 years of age, Shaherah can take these assessments and work towards obtaining her certification.

For accessibility, MOE works to make it easier for children who need special education to be placed in the right schools. To this end, we regularly upgrade school infrastructure and expand the capacity of some SPED schools to meet the rising demand for places. Today, 15 SPED schools are purpose-built and five have been refurbished.

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We also want to help parents make the important decision of placing their child in the right school. To do so, we have introduced Post-Diagnosis Educational Guidance, providing accurate information and advice, as well as emotional support, to parents whose children have been recommended for placement in a SPED school.

The key plank in our efforts to raise the quality of SPED has been the SPED Curriculum Framework, put in place in 2012. This guides SPED schools in delivering a quality and holistic education and helps SPED students achieve living, learning and working outcomes. I want to thank Ms Denise Phua for working tirelessly with us on improving the curriculum and also for her new suggestions, all of which we will study.

We have also directed additional resources to SPED schools like the Teaching and Learning Fund, the Curriculum Enhancement Fund, the High Needs Grant to fund manpower to support students who need more help, the MOE-Tote Board ICT Fund for schools to purchase infocomm technology as an aid to teaching and a Parent Support Group Fund to build and sustain home-school partnerships.

Beyond funding, MOE recognises that it is crucial for SPED schools to have skilled and dedicated teachers and staff. We support SPED teachers to upgrade their skills by developing milestone programmes like the Diploma in Special Education and awarding post-graduate scholarships to deserving teachers. We also fund SPED schools generously to conduct training workshops and send teachers for conferences and learning journeys.

One key initiative has been the Advanced Diploma in Special Education targeted at experienced teachers. We have received very positive feedback about the Advanced Diploma. Educators have found it meaningful and enriching and appreciated the research-to-practice approach taken by the course.

Given the context of SPED, we know that our parents and SPED educators are very concerned about what their children or students would do after they leave school. To help address this concern, we have been working hard on helping SPED students be future-ready.

We introduced a Vocational Education Framework in 2010 to cater to students who can go further in terms of work capability. We have also facilitated quality vocational education programmes in SPED schools serving students with mild intellectual disability leading to national certification in selected industry areas and this has enabled one in four SPED graduates to be successfully employed.

For students who can work but may not benefit from vocational certification, we have worked with MSF, SG Enable and the SPED schools to prototype a School-to-Work

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programme in five SPED schools starting in 2014. We intend to make it available to more SPED schools in phases from 2016.

These measures provide different pathways for our students to build a robust foundation of skills and prepare for the world of work. And, in this regard, I think we can think of our SPED sector as being an early adopter of the key spirit of SkillsFuture.

Madam, the Government has been doing more to ensure that we continue to be a society that gives hope and assurance to all. MOE will continue to work with MSF, NCSS, SG Enable and other partners to embrace Singaporeans with special needs as full and integral members of Singapore society.

But the Government cannot do it alone. I wish to thank the VWOs, supportive employers and businesses, our educators and everyone who have worked hard to build an inclusive society.

The Senior Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Education (Mr Hawazi Daipi) : Mdm Chairperson, I do not think I can complete my speech within 12.5 minutes. May I seek your permission to extend my speaking time for about five minutes?

The Chairman : Yes. Five minutes is fine.

Mr Hawazi Daipi: Mdm Chairperson, schools, parents and the community are key partners in the collective effort to forge a future where our people are valued for what they are and beyond the credentials they possess. To develop our children holistically and equip them with the strong foundation of values, the Ministry of Education (MOE) has strengthened art, music, sports and outdoor activities as well as internationalisation efforts in schools.

In the area of sports, we agree with Dr Benedict Tan and Mr Yee Jenn Jong that all students would benefit from participating in sports and co-curricular activities (CCAs) at competitive and non-competitive levels as part of their holistic development.

I am pleased to inform Members that with the revised Physical Education (PE) programme, all our students learn fundamental movement skills and concepts, and are given broad exposure to at least six sports, as well as dance, gymnastics, athletics, swimming and outdoor education. Dr Benedict Tan had suggested that all students should play a sport during Sports Day. Sports Day is one of many opportunities for student participation. Besides Sports Day, schools provide a wide range of sporting experiences for all students throughout the year, such as inter-class and inter-house games, cross-country meets, Sports Carnival and

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the Sports Education Programme.

The CCA programme complements these experiences and more than 60 Sports CCAs are offered in our schools. About a third of all our students participate in sports CCAs, of which 60% are non-school team players. The range of CCAs offered within each school would depend on student interests and availability of facilities, financial and manpower resources. Each type of sporting experience serves a different purpose and allows for excellence and mass participation to co-exist.

Dr Tan may be pleased to know that through outdoor education in the curriculum, all primary and secondary school students learn simple navigation and outdoor living skills such as cooking and shelter building. All students would have attended at least one outdoor adventure camp by the end of Primary 6 and at least two camps by the end of Secondary 4, one of which is an outdoor adventure camp. Through sports, CCAs and outdoor education, our students experience to work in teams, develop resilience and ruggedness and discover aspects of themselves that they might not discover in the classroom.

Such out-of-classroom experiences also occur through cross-cultural experiences provided by schools through multiple platforms, such as exchange programmes, overseas learning journeys and partnering foreign communities based in Singapore. These internationalisation efforts better prepare our students for the globalised environment as they develop the 21st Century Competencies of global awareness and cross-cultural skills.

We agree with Dr Benedict Tan that sports is an effective platform that can be used to foster interaction between our youth and those of other nationalities. This is already being done through sports events, such as the Annual ASEAN School Games, National School Games, and school-based collaborations between local and international schools. For example, Jurong Secondary and North Vista Secondary meet the Singapore American School annually for friendly games in basketball; and Queensway Secondary has organised friendly games in football and basketball with the Australian International School for the past two years.

However, holistic development is not the sole responsibility of schools. Parents and the community must play their part to offer these opportunities. Community clubs, Sport Singapore, National Sports Associations and People's Association (PA) offer many such programmes and activities, and students and parents should participate in these to further develop their interests and strengths in various domains.

Let me now talk about SkillsFuture. The Minister and Senior Minister of State Indranee have spoken about SkillsFuture and the importance of helping children discover their unique

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strengths and interests, enabling them to pursue different pathways to their fullest potential.

All schools do this through their Education and Career Guidance (ECG) efforts. Let me respond to Mr Ang Wei Neng's query on the role parents can play in career counselling. It is important that parents recognise that the competencies and skills that were needed for jobs of today may not be the same ones that their children will need for the jobs of tomorrow.

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Parents can partner schools in their ECG efforts. Using resources such as the MOE e-careers portal and Parents-in-Education website, parents can support our young in exploring various education pathways and making informed choices based on their interests, strengths and work values.

In Presbyterian High School in Ang Mo Kio, students go through a Celebrate Life! Seminar that helps them identify various pathways based on their interests, strengths and aspirations. The school includes parents by introducing the e-careers portal to them and encouraging them to use its tools to guide their child in setting and achieving their goals in life. Parents are also made more aware of various pathways through learning journeys to Post-Secondary Education Institutes and Institutes of Higher Learning.

At Greenview Secondary School in Pasir Ris, parents are involved in the programme named "Work Attachment with Parents". For three days during the June holidays, parents of Secondary 2 and 3 students volunteer to take their children to work to expose them to the work they do in various jobs such as in the wet market, prisons, aviation and paediatric oncology. The students reflected that they had greater appreciation for their parents after witnessing how hard they worked and the kind of realities they faced in the workplace. Such authentic experiences are invaluable and prepare students well for the expectations of the workplace.

By engaging in ECG efforts, parents may discover that their children want to pursue pathways that may be more unconventional. After the GCE "O" level examinations, Ariel De Silva qualified for the polytechnic but found that none of the courses she qualified for were of interest to her. Her mother, Mrs Sarie De Silva, recognised her strengths in creativity, language skills and storytelling, and encouraged her to pursue the early childhood education course at ITE. As a result of pursuing her passion, Ariel did well in ITE and went on to Temasek Polytechnic. She is now a qualified pre-school teacher.

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As parents, we must have faith that when our children pursue what they are strong in and passionate about, they will find success and fulfilment.

Parents can also come together through the Parent Support Group (PSG) network to support schools' ECG efforts by giving students exposure to occupations beyond what their own parents are engaged in.

In Eunos Primary School, upper primary students use the e-careers portal to learn about different occupations during ECG lessons. These come to life through a work-shadowing programme where PSG members host Primary 6 students at their workplaces to give them real-world experiences. This initiative has benefited 120 students since its implementation in 2012, and more parents from the PSG are coming forward to support this programme.

Pei Hwa Secondary School in Sengkang engages the PSG, alumni, school advisory committee or SAC and industry partners in a structured ECG programme for all students. The PSG, alumni and SAC host in-conversation sessions with students to share about their education and career choices, and the lessons learnt through their personal challenges. Secondary 3 students can opt to participate in work attachment opportunities at Resorts World Sentosa, Wildlife Reserves Singapore, and selected hotels and retail outlets. These efforts culminate in an ECG Day for Secondary 4 and 5 students where industry partners, former students or lecturers from IHLs are invited as keynote speakers and course advisors.

Thus, industry partners are very important, and perhaps no one speaks as credibly on workplace requirements and expectations than our industry leaders. We will embark on a series, "What Bosses Want", where industry captains shared about the skills, attitudes, and attributes valued by employers. This series aims to raise parents' awareness and appreciation of the variety of career options available, and the importance of nurturing children's strengths and interests and imbibing in them values such as initiatives, resilience, motivation and adaptability.

By working collectively to enhance our ECG efforts, we are better placed to help widen our children's opportunities for success.

Beyond involvement in ECG efforts, the PSG network helps parents support schools and each other in nurturing their children holistically. I am happy to note that almost all schools have a PSG made up of enthusiastic and supportive parents. MOE has been encouraging the development of PSGs and sees value in establishing supportive networks amongst them.

We plan to organise a series of four networking sessions for PSG leaders this year. These sessions will bring together the PSG leaders and school staff to synergise efforts for

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enhancing school-home partnerships. About 730 participants will be attending these four sessions.

I attended the first session on 28 February and was heartened to see such an engaged group of PSG leaders and staff from the East Zone, discussing the various ways parents and schools can collaborate and support each other in their clusters.

I met a number of PSG leaders who have been active in their children's schools for many years, some of whom continue to contribute even after their children had graduated. One such parent is Mr George Punnoose, current PSG Chairman at Canossa Convent Primary. He has been with the PSG for nine years, and says that he continues to be active even though his daughter has graduated because of his love for the children and the desire to bring cheer to their school life through the PSG activities.

I also met active PSG leaders who had come from other countries and had placed their children in our schools because they appreciate our education system. Their involvement in schools and PSGs enhances the cultural diversity and global awareness of the children in the school.

Generally, PSGs comprise more mothers and I was especially encouraged therefore to see so many fathers at this session on 28 February. Mr Gordon Tan, PSG Chairman in St Hilda's Secondary School, joined the PSG in 2012 because he wanted to be "the Best Father" for his son, especially during the formative teenage years. Through parent-child bonding activities, he got to know his son better and together, they have created many treasured memories.

Another father, Mr Muchtar Bin Abdul Karim, Chairman of PSG in Junyuan Primary School, was in the school's first graduating cohort. He enrolled his daughter in 2014 and joined the school's PSG as a way to give back to his alma mater. He believes that his presence in school helps his daughter grow in confidence and hopes that it inspires her to follow in his footsteps by giving back to the community.

The fathers I met shared that their involvement in PSG allowed them to play greater role in shaping the way their children developed. They felt that it was important for PSGs to reach out to more fathers and want to do their part to promote this.

Such engaged and supportive parents are positive role models for other parents. To further encourage these mentoring relationships, I am pleased to inform that the 9th Council of COMPASS will launch a COMPASS-PSG Mentoring Programme or Scheme. Depending on the needs of the school, the Scheme will match PSGs who would like support in developing

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further with PSG Mentors from COMPASS. Our PSG representatives on COMPASS are all experienced members of PSGs in schools and are well-placed to provide support to other PSGs.

When COMPASS member, Mr Tio Chong Heng, shared at the inaugural PSG Conference in 2014 about the fathers' group in St Hilda's Primary School, PSG representatives from several schools, namely Rulang Primary, Bukit Timah Primary, Bedok Green Primary, and Guangyang Primary, were inspired to explore how fathers could be involved in their schools. A visit to St Hilda's Primary to observe how the fathers' group conducted itself paved the way for a rock-climbing father-child bonding activity last year for Bedok Green Primary School.

Through this Scheme, we hope to encourage PSGs to strengthen their partnership with schools to benefit their children and prepare them for the world of tomorrow.

Madam, when we work together as a community to provide opportunities for our children and extend our definitions of success, we will teach our children that they are each valued for their unique strengths, talents, and interests. We will better enable our children to succeed in society in the future. Madam, if I may, let me conclude my speech in Malay.

( In Malay ) : [ Please refer to Vernacular Speech .] Mdm Chair, the world that our children will live and work in when they grow up will be one that is very different from what we know of today. Lifelong learning is, therefore, very important. We need to help our children acquire the knowledge, skills, and competencies that will prepare them to face the uncertainties and complexities of the future.

Such skills include communication skills, information skills and teamwork. More importantly, we need to help them develop into people of good character, capable of making sound decisions, and facing challenges with resilience and adaptability. These are the qualities that will hold them in good stead for the future. These are also the qualities that employers look for in the worker of the future as they desire employees who show initiative, are motivated, and passionate when performing their duties.

Therefore, it is critical that parents and schools work together to help children develop these qualities and discover what they are motivated by and passionate about. This can be done through Education and Career Guidance or ECG for their children. While MOE will provide secondary schools, junior colleges, centralised institutes, polytechnics and the Institutes of Technical Education (ITEs) with ECG counsellors, parents must do their part to really get to know their children. This means spending quality time with them to help them

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explore different opportunities and possibilities for themselves.

I encourage all parents to support the schools' efforts in the Education and Career Guidance (ECG) by using resources such as the ECG portal and the Parents-in-Education website to explore different career pathways for their children in the future. These resources provide parents with tips on how they can guide and assist their children in making mature decisions about their future. There is also information on the various educational pathways, and guiding questions and self-profiling tools to help students make informed choices based on their interests, strengths and values.

When our children discover what motivates them, and where their strengths and interests lie, parents and schools can work together to give them opportunities to pursue these. Sometimes, it requires parents to step out of their comfort zone so as to encourage their children to try something new. Only through such explorations will children be able to discover new aspects of themselves.

The parents of Adly Azizi Adly Azamin are examples of how giving your child the space to explore something new can turn into a positive light for the future. When Adly Azizi first picked up dance as his CCA in Montfort Junior School, he had no formal training in dance but, through the CCA, he discovered his talent and developed a deep passion for it. Despite having limited dance experience, Adly auditioned for admission into School of the Arts (SOTA) with the support of his family. Today, Adly is a driven and enthusiastic 15-year-old pursuing his dance journey in SOTA's Faculty of Dance.

Parents and schools must work together to help our children learn about the different pathways that are available to them, and give them the space to pursue what they are good at and interested in, to the highest level they are capable of. We should encourage them to pursue options that will bring them joy and fulfilment, and value them for whatever paths that they choose to take. In this way, opportunities for our child to succeed will be widened. Mdm Chair, thank you.

5.15 pm

The Chairman : We have a little bit of time for clarification. Mr Zainal Sapari?

Mr Zainal Sapari: Mdm Chair, my clarification in Malay please.

( In Malay ) : [ Please refer to Vernacular Speech .] The Minister for Education, in his speech, said that no children will be left behind whatever their starting point. Can the Minister share the Government's position on the suggestions by several Members of Parliament for the

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waiver of examination fees to be given to every Singaporean student, even though they are in private schools like the full-time madrasahs, and whether this suggestion will be considered by the Government in this year's Budget?

Mr Heng Swee Keat: Madam, all Singaporeans taking the national examinations as private candidates, including madrasah students, currently already receive a subsidy on their examination fees. And, indeed, our education system is inclusive. And as I have said, and I stand by what I have said – no child will be left behind. All parents can choose to enrol their children in mainstream schools to receive a heavily subsidised education, which now includes full waiver of national examination fees.

So, our policy remains that we want all our Singaporean children to enrol in our mainstream schools, to go through a common educational experience, and grow up together. Therefore, it is not about the equalisation of all conditions between mainstream schools and private schools. If private schools are necessary for specific reasons, the agency coordinating it will look at their needs in that very specific context.

Mr Lim Biow Chuan: Thank you, Mdm Chairman. Let me thank the Minister for sharing MOE's key area of focus. I hope the concerns and suggestions that we have raised will be brought back to the Ministry of Education (MOE) for consideration, because many of us spoke on many topics like outdoor activities and arts. Minister spoke about going beyond grades. The reality is that in many schools, the emphasis on good grades is still very strong, which explains why there is such a strong tuition culture. We may talk about looking beyond grades but the schools do look at grades.

The other point that I wanted to ask the Minister is that I had, in my speech, asked about bringing forward the enhanced subsidy for mid-career persons instead of beyond 40 to five years after work. I know the Minister for Finance had already spoken about it. I hope the Minister would bring it back, discuss with MOF to see whether we can consider bringing forward the enhanced subsidies for mid-career Singaporeans.

Mr Heng Swee Keat: Well, Mdm Chair, certainly we would look at all the suggestions that have been raised. In this short speech, it is not possible for me to cover every idea that has been suggested, so I thank all Members for your suggestions.

On the question of beyond grades, indeed, it is not just a change. As I had said in my speech, we need to take this transformation together, as parents, as educators, as school leaders, as employers, as a society at large. So, this is a major transformational effort that will require every one of us to really pitch in. And as I said, every decision, every action,

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everyone counts.

In terms of the enhanced mid-career subsidy, we will certainly discuss this with MOF. But let me say that many of our courses are already indeed highly subsidised. And, as I said, our focus should not just be about the subsidies and the particular courses. When we talk about lifelong learning, at the end of the day, it is the utilisation of those skills and learning can take place in many different contexts. The example of the US versus Japan gives us a very vivid lesson that we got to focus on how to make it work and the technical details can then follow from there.

Ms Denise Phua Lay Peng : Thank you, Madam. Madam, I would like to seek two clarifications; one is to seek Minister's thoughts on the integrated 10-year through-train schools. I want to clarify that I do not mean compromising any form of rigour in academics. I really think the rigour of academics and character building must remain so. I just want to seek again the Minister's thoughts on this, since I have been asking several times.

The second clarification is for Minister of State Sim Ann. For the special needs students, if a special solution can be found to ensure that the SPED schools are not left out of all the good things that are happening at the national level, for example, the very good school-based Dyslexia Remediation Programme that is currently ongoing. I thought that was very good. There is a number of special needs students who also have co-morbidities. They have different conditions at the same time, including dyslexia. So, I would like to seek your opinion on that as well.

Mr Heng Swee Keat : Mdm Chair, I think Ms Denise Phua exemplifies learning for mastery and lifelong learning. One important quality is really about perseverance, and really pushing and pushing. We all recall that Ms Phua had filed the Adjournment Motion some months back. So, let me say at the outset, that in the spirit of what I said, I welcome any form of innovation and that we have to keep an open mind to possibilities. We have to explore new and better ways of doing things, and therefore, we will look at this with serious consideration.

Earlier on, Mr Inderjit Singh mentioned about the scarcity mentality. If we think that there is one pathway to success, whether in school or at work, what would we as parents, students, or individuals do? Well, we will do everything we can to get onto that pathway. In fact, we see that in many different systems.

In some systems, they have been busy with changing all these and the end result is many of them lament that the education system has lost its rigour and students are very ill-prepared for, not to mention the future but even the present. In other systems, it is driven

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by so much pressure that they have decided that they will abolish the PSLE, the GCE "O" levels, and they have a through-train system, not just for 10 years, but 12 years, all the way.

For as long as there is only one path to success, the pressure will manifest itself at some point. In the systems that I have studied, it manifests itself in two areas: one, how do I get onto that path? So, first, at the primary school level, I get into a good primary school and, therefore, I can get into a good secondary school and I can get into a good high school?

Then, the pressure goes downwards. Why not get into a good kindergarten so that I can get into a good primary school? And then it goes further down, why not a good nursery so that I can get into a good kindergarten? A friend of mine had a grandchild who was being assessed at the age of three for entry into one of these nurseries overseas. She said her grandchild had his first failure in life at the age of three because he fell asleep while being assessed. The assessment for the other kids took so long that by the time it came to his turn, it was his usual nap time.

That is one point of pressure. The other point of pressure is at the high school, because the high school determines whether you get into university, and whether you get into university determines whether you succeed in life.

I recently met a Singaporean who married a lady and, in this place, his parents-in-law asked him "Which university do you come from?" And after he gave the answer, he became quite an outcast in the family. So, the pressure then exerts itself at two extremes.

I am not saying that through-train is a bad idea. I am saying that what we need to do is to think about what is driving that pressure and how can we innovate within that.

About two years back, I met a very thoughtful educator in China. When we were discussing this issue, she said to me that for as long as we think we have this scarcity mentality and we think there is one path to success, then the way we look at life will be something like this: 千军万马过一条独木桥. In English, it means thousands of horses and soldiers all rushing to cross that one narrow wooden bridge. Would there not be pressure in the system? Would it lead to better education? Certainly, there will be pressure. That is one way of dealing with the problem.

The other is whether we have an abundance mentality. When we have an abundance mentality, then success is not defined by one pathway, but many pathways. Success in schools, success at work, many, many different pathways. As I said, back in 1965, when we first became independent, 读书 was an important way to get ahead because that was the

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biggest skills gap.

Today, we have enormous changes in our economy, many jobs are being created, requiring very deep skills in every area and, therefore, the pathways have multiplied. But our thinking about education and pathways have not kept up with these changes.

When we think about the future, it is very important for us not to think about that one lone single wooden bridge, but really building many bridges. Not just wooden bridges, but iron bridges, steel bridges, find different ways of crossing the river, specialised boats, motorised boats, submarines, whatever.

In that way, we can create many more pathways to success and, indeed, the SkillsFuture fellowship awards, the SkillsFuture Credit, the SkillsFuture Awards and all these modularised courses are really many different ways to empower Singaporeans to create our own pathways, to build our own skills map, so that we can stay relevant. At the same time, we need employers to come onboard to make full use of these skills and, in that way, companies can have higher productivity, higher margin, that can then translate into higher wages and create a virtual circle of many more successful pathways.

Indeed, some Singaporeans might choose to be self-employed, to be entrepreneurs and again build skills to be successful in those different areas. So, really. this is the fundamental transformation that we need to make – thinking about success beyond school, but success in many different fields and having this abundance mentality to think of new possibilities, having this inventive, resourceful mindset to think about new ways of doing things.

In that regard, let me reiterate that I am always open to good ideas, and we must always explore whether there are better ways of doing things. But I want to reiterate the point that at the end of the day, fundamentally, having looked at systems all over the world, I think what we need is that major transformation in the way we think about success, about pathways and in the way that we go out to create those pathways.

Ms Sim Ann : Madam, I wish to respond to Ms Denise Phua's clarification about sharing more programmes like Dyslexia Remediation with our SPED schools. She reminded me of the fact that our specialists have begun working with our SPED schools on reading and literacy improvements for our students as part of our SPED curriculum framework. If memory serves me right, I think that this effort actually predates our School-based Dyslexia Remediation Programme by a bit. As for her suggestion, we will study it seriously.

Ms Irene Ng Phek Hoong : I would like to ask about the stress levels on the students. I welcome the Ministry of Education's (MOE) shift to go beyond grades. But, on the ground,

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the reality is that there is increasing pressure on the students to chase good grades, given the very competitive system and also the high expectations of parents. I am worried about those who find it hard to cope with stress and become exposed to problems like depression and low self-esteem, who may then be vulnerable to suicidal thoughts.

5.30 pm

Can I ask the Minister how the Ministry is building up the emotional resources of students to cope with the pressures, given the rapid pace of change and also to work with parents to manage their expectations and to be open to the multiple pathways that the Minister has just talked about?

Mr Heng Swee Keat: Mdm Chair, I thank Ms Irene Ng for the question. Indeed, I share the Member's concern that we must look at the socio-emotional competencies of our students. Over the last few years in particular, we have strengthened the learning of socio-emotional competencies in our schools through a variety of programmes that is incorporated in the syllabus. At the same time, as Senior Parliamentary Secretary Hawazi has emphasised, at the end of the day, parents play a very, very important role. The communication between parents and their children is critical.

I am very happy that many different organisations and Parent Support Groups (PSGs) have come forward to help and to work together with the schools, and to help one another in this effort. I have met some of these groups. I have been very impressed by what they do because when parents are able to share what each of them is going through, it creates a certain sense of community that we are in this together. This will be a work that will always have to go on and we have to watch the socio-emotional health of our children so that they grow up to be well-adjusted, happy individuals, and very much like what I said in my speech about learning for life and not just learning for grades.

Mr Yee Jenn Jong: Madam, I have two questions for the Minister. First, I have to say that I agree wholeheartedly with the Minister that learning should not be for grades but for mastery. The Minister has said that these changes he spoke about go beyond schools.

First, surely the Minister will agree that we will still need the school to implement the changes that we want and there may be some historical structures that may give a different message to what the Minister has said. For example, centralised GEP gives a certain elite status to the nine selected schools and will continue this perception in parents that these are the top and popular schools. So, should we be bold to critically examine historical systems that may have served their purposes and there may be different ways to achieve

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what it was set up for?

My second question has been asked but I will ask it in a different way to be persistent. Would the Minister agree that the integrated primary to secondary schools will actually go very well with the Minister's own message that learning is not just for grades but for curiosity and mastery? It will let parents truly buy into the Minister's message for this option and to subscribe for such schools, so that they do not need to have the children chase for top grades in PSLE to get into the good schools.

I have heard what the Minister said, but I feel that we can actually exclude the top schools from this exercise and leave the original pathways unchanged so that we do not transfer that pressure downwards, as the Minister has just said.

Mr Heng Swee Keat: I thank Mr Yee for first agreeing wholeheartedly with me about learning for mastery. He raised two questions. First, I talked about beyond school, but what are we doing in schools? Indeed, when I spoke about going beyond school, when I used the word "beyond", what I mean is that you need to do things in school, and you then need to go beyond that. So, it is not "either or". It is that you need to do both and do both well.

On the Gifted Education Programme (GEP) and how that might change perceptions and so on, the point that I have made in my speech is that we have now a variety of Applied Learning Programmes. But I want to go beyond this discussion about whether one or two GEPs are creating all this stress and problems; to go beyond that and think about how, in a very big school system like ours where we have about 180 secondary schools, we can create opportunities in every school.

I am very committed to this "Every School A Good School" movement. That is why I have introduced the Applied Learning Programme and the Learning for Life Programme. This is beginning to have its effects and parents are beginning to see that each of these schools offers something interesting or special that can help their children learn.

I mentioned in my speech the example of Damai Secondary School and how one parent had three of her kids in this Health Sciences programme. So, it is to have this abundance mentality to think about how we can create new possibilities, rather than to focus on one or two specific areas. That we really want to work across a very broad front to create the multiple paths of success that I spoke about.

On the Member's second question about whether in this spirit, if we have the integrated programme, would it not help so that parents do not chase the points and so on. Again, I mentioned in my reply to Ms Denise Phua that, at the end of the day – and we have just

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spoken for over four hours on how important it is for our society to make this major transformation – what is the central focus of our efforts? The central focus of our efforts over the next many years is to create this transformation in our mindsets by everyone, in order to make this very major change possible.

I am open to considering what might be the merits of particular ideas and particular things that we could do. But I also need to be very clear that with the resources that we have and the attention that we have, that I focus it on what will make the biggest impact. So, if we are convinced that, indeed, creating the through-train schools can make the impact, again let me repeat, I am open to considering it. But I have spent a lot of time thinking about these issues, studying systems all over the world, discussing with educators all over the world and trying to understand what is driving the behaviour of education and social systems all around the world. And I do think that this SkillsFuture initiative and this transformation that I spoke about, in terms of learning for mastery, learning throughout one's life, learning for life, is really the transformation that we need to make. And there are many things that we can do within this context.

Mr Muhamad Faisal Bin Abdul Manap (Aljunied): Madam, in Malay, please.

( In Malay ) : [ Please refer to Vernacular Speech .] Just a moment ago, the Minister mentioned the Edusave Merit Bursary. I would like to seek clarification from the Minister on the Edusave Merit Bursary and other Edusave awards, whether madrasah students are eligible to receive the Edusave Merit Bursary or the other Edusave awards.

Mr Heng Swee Keat: I believe Minister of State Sim Ann moved the Bill in this House on extending Edusave to all students. So, I hope that the hon Member was aware of this.

Mr Muhamad Faisal Bin Abdul Manap: I would just like to know whether it is including the Edusave Bursary Award or is it just the Edusave scheme itself?

Mr Heng Swee Keat: It is the Edusave amount that we credit into the account.

The Chairman: Mr Manap, do you want to clarify further?

Mr Muhamad Faisal Bin Abdul Manap: Yes, because my understanding is that the Edusave scheme, does it cover —

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The Chairman: I think the Minister just answered it does not cover. In my view, it covers only the amount credited into the account.

Mr Muhamad Faisal Bin Abdul Manap: I just want to know whether the Edusave awards, plus the bursary, as mentioned just now, will be made available to the madrasah students.

Mr Heng Swee Keat: I think I have answered the hon Member's question that the Edusave amount is for the account, for the students to use for their extra-curricular activities, not for the other awards.

The Chairman: If there are no other clarifications, Mr Lim Biow Chuan, would you like to withdraw your amendment?

Mr Lim Biow Chuan: Thank you, Mdm Chairperson. Madam, allow me the opportunity to thank the Minister, the Senior Minister of State, the Minister of State and the Senior Parliamentary Secretary for their replies to our many questions and clarifications. On behalf of the Government Parliamentary Committee or GPC, I also want to take the opportunity to put on record our deep appreciation to MOE as well as the thousands of teachers and other educators involved in preparing our children for the future. Mdm Chairperson, I beg leave to withdraw my amendment.

[(proc text) Amendment, by leave, withdrawn (proc text)].

[(proc text) The sum of $11,400,000,000 for Head K ordered to stand part of the Main Estimates (proc text)].

[(proc text) The sum of $700,000,000 for Head K ordered to stand part of the Development Estimates. (proc text)]

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