Committee of Supply Debate: Ministry of Education
Learn for skills and life, not just grades: Heng Swee Keat
He urges change in the way parents, employers and teachers view education
By Sandra Davie, Senior Education Correspondent, The Straits Times, 7 Mar 2015
EDUCATION should be about more than just chasing marks and aceing exams, Education Minister Heng Swee Keat said yesterday when he called for a transformation in Singaporeans' attitude towards learning.
This is necessary as jobs will keep changing in future and people will need to keep learning, master skills and learn for life, he said.
Parents would have to give up their obsession with grades; employers would have to hire based on skills, not degrees; and teachers should strive for an all-round development of their students.
The new road map for the future was set out by Mr Heng in an hour-long speech in Parliament that spelt out the rationale for the radical move.
The education system, which has served Singapore well for the past 50 years, is at a crossroads, with two options.
One is a path with a narrow focus on grades and examinations, which could descend into "a spiralling paper chase and expanding tuition industry".
It leads to a dystopian future where stress levels climb, and "the system churns out students who excel in exams, but are ill-equipped to take on jobs of the future, nor find fulfilment in what they do".
"Unemployment or under-employment becomes pervasive. Everyone is worse off," Mr Heng said. "This is a grim road, but sadly one which other societies have already trodden down."
The other is a road no country has travelled, he said.
It requires employers to look beyond paper qualifications when hiring or promoting, and educators to focus on building a strong foundation of values in students.
Parents will need to recognise their children's strengths and build their characters instead of being preoccupied with grades.
But the route is uncharted territory, said Mr Heng, adding that Singaporeans will have to be pioneers in plotting the way forward.
His ministry always draws attention, and the debate on its budget saw 22 MPs rising to ask what it plans to do to improve the education system.
The four-hour debate started with Mr Lim Biow Chuan (Mountbatten), who chairs the Government Parliamentary Committee for Education, expressing his worry about whether there will be enough jobs for the increasing number of university graduates.
Ms Denise Phua (Moulmein-Kallang GRC) called for new types of schools without any streaming exam in the first 10 years, while Mr Png Eng Huat (Hougang) wants the ministry to look into why parents spend so much on tuition for their children.
Mr Heng, in laying out his new road map, said the change will entail three major shifts.
One is to go beyond learning for grades to learning for mastery of skills. In doing so, Singaporeans will become resourceful, innovative and pioneering in the field of their choice.
Second, develop a lifelong learning habit among Singaporeans so that they are equipped for changing economic realities.
The third is to move from learning for work to learning for life, so that a student develops interests beyond work and a commitment to serve society.
To make it all happen, the Government will introduce several key measures.
These include getting more students to do internships as well as expanding education and career counselling at all levels, from primary school onwards.
Workers will be offered more bite-size modular courses and generous fee subsidies.
In summing up, Mr Heng said: "These are fundamental changes that will take time. But we need to take the first step now, and take it together."
Students relying too much on tuition: MPs
Removal of PSLE for 10-year through-train model among suggestions raised
By Ng Jing Yng, TODAY, 6 Mar 2015
The perennial issue of students relying heavily on tuition was raised by several Members of Parliament today (March 6), as the Committee of Supply debate for the Ministry of Education (MOE) began.
Mounbatten MP Lim Biow Chuan raised concerns of tuition becoming a “crutch” for students, such that they have “lost the skill of self-directed learning”.
“They will always have a safety net in their tuition teachers,” said Mr Lim, as he suggested that schools can ask students performing well to consider if they really need tuition.
Ms Denise Phua (Moulmein-Kallang GRC) noted the pervasiveness of the tuition industry, where even polytechnic students go for such extra classes.
She said: “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.”
Ms Phua felt that the education landscape is shaped by a system where students are primarily promoted by academic scores and assigned to schools based on results from high-stake exams.
Making suggestions to reduce the stress levels of education here, she called for the removal of the Primary School Leaving Examination (PSLE) and to start a 10-year through-train school model. Among other things, she also called for specialised schools such as the Gifted or Special Assistance Plan schools to be done away and students of mixed abilities to be placed under one roof.
“Employers including the civil service must lead the way to find more aggressive ways of hiring, promoting and recognising employees beyond the usual academics,” she added.
Likewise, Non-constituency MP Yee Jenn Jong asked for a public survey to be done so as to gather views on implementing a 10-year through train school here.
Mr Png Eng Huat (Hougang SMC) also highlighted the huge amounts of money spent on tuition, even as the MOE has stated publicly that tuition is unnecessary. Mr Png asked for a public survey to be done to properly assess the tuition culture.
Pointing to the “Teach Less Learn More” move started by MOE in 2006 to spur holistic education, Mr Png said: “I am not sure how much lesser the schools are teaching right now but the perception on the ground is the students are learning more from tuition”.
More students to qualify for MOE bursary
Household income ceiling raised so that more can apply
By Pearl Lee, The Straits Times, 7 Mar 2015
MORE students from lower-income families will soon be able to apply for a bursary from the Ministry of Education (MOE).
MOE will raise the gross household income ceiling for the Edusave Merit Bursary to $6,000 from $5,000, starting from this year.
Similarly, the per capita household income ceiling for the bursary will be raised from $1,250 per month to $1,500.
"I want every Singaporean to have access to learning opportunities, whatever their starting point," Education Minister Heng Swee Keat said in Parliament yesterday during the debate on MOE's budget.
The bursary, which ranges from $200 to $500 a year, is open to students who fall within the qualifying income bracket and whose grades are in the top 25 per cent of their cohort.
The Government is also helping schools to provide better support for their students.
Primary schools with more children from lower-income families will receive annual government grants of $40,000 per year until 2017.
Secondary schools and junior colleges can each get annual grants of $60,000.
Currently, all schools receive a grant of $30,000.
The money will help ramp up school-based financial assistance for students.
The school-based financial aid scheme helps students through measures such as transport allowance and meal coupons.
It can cover students who do not qualify for the MOE's financial aid scheme - such as a student who is facing a family crisis.
Special education (SPED) schools will be supported too.
They will receive average annual grants for their school-based financial assistance scheme of $25,000 until 2017, up from the current $15,000.
Minister of State for Education Sim Ann said: "Parents of children with special education needs are more likely to face additional financial outlay."
"That is why it is so important to help them with affordability," added Ms Sim, who is also the Minister of State for Communications and Information.
Students who are now receiving financial aid from the MOE will, from next month, be given a $120 transport credit per year, to defray the costs of public transport.
SPED school students on MOE's financial aid will also be eligible for this transport credit.
For primary school pupils who take the school bus, the financial aid scheme will be expanded to cover half of their bus fees.
SPED school students who ride the school bus are already eligible for transport subsidies from the Ministry of Social and Family Development that cover up to 80 per cent of fees.
"No child should be left behind whatever their starting point," said Mr Heng.
"We are doing more to support students with a weaker start, be it learning needs, special needs or financial needs."
Other measures
NO EXAM FEES
Primary and secondary schools and junior colleges: From this year, students will not have to pay fees for national exams, which include the Primary School Leaving Examination (PSLE), O-, N-, and A-level exams. The fees ranged from $19 for the PSLE, to between $300 and $600 for the rest.
Special education schools: Students do not have to pay to take national exams, nor for exams that lead to a national vocational certification.
Public schools that offer International Baccalaureate Diploma (IBDP) exams: Students will receive subsidies equivalent to the exam fees waived for A-level students. The amount is about half of what the IBDP costs. The IBDP exams are not administered by the local exam board.
Polytechnics and Institute of Technical Education: Full-time students will not have to pay exam fees, which are about $25 a year for ITE students and $30 for poly students.
TOP-UPS TO STUDENT ACCOUNTS
Edusave: Primary and secondary school students will receive a one-off top-up of $150 to their Edusave accounts this year. This is on top of the $200 and $240 the Education Ministry puts annually into the accounts of a primary and secondary school student respectively.
Post-secondary education account: Singaporeans aged 17 to 20 will receive a one-off top-up of either $500 or $250 this year, depending on the annual value of their homes.
Grant to boost pre-school internships
Early Childhood Capability Grant will support longer, structured stints
By Amelia Teng, The Straits Times, 7 Mar 2015
ASPIRING pre-school teachers in the polytechnics and Institute of Technical Education (ITE) will soon be able to gain more work experience through longer and more structured internships. These will last 51/2 months - almost twice as long as current stints.
Students will be assigned to mentors who are certified as teachers by the Early Childhood Development Agency (ECDA), have at least three years of experience in the sector, and have completed a mentoring course recognised by ECDA.
From this year, childcare centres and kindergartens that host full-time students in early childhood studies can tap a new ECDA grant to get more of them to take interns from Ngee Ann Polytechnic, Temasek Polytechnic and ITE.
Ms Indranee Rajah, Senior Minister of State for Education and Law, said in Parliament yesterday: "We need more companies to support enhanced internships from polytechnics and ITE, to provide meaningful work assignments and mentoring by experienced professionals."
The Early Childhood Capability Grant will support the cost of deploying mentors, providing stipends and other materials.
Participating operators will get $1,700 for each intern, to recognise extra work for teachers who act as mentors, or to hire relief staff to cover their duties.
In addition, they will be given $200 per intern for teaching materials and resources required for the interns to complete projects as part of their courses.
ECDA will also co-fund half of the minimum monthly stipends of interns - $600 for those from ITE and $700 for polytechnic interns.
The first batch of 24 final-year students in Ngee Ann Polytechnic's child psychology and early education course will start their stints in September.
They will be followed next year by 97 Temasek Polytechnic early childhood studies students in March, and 80 students doing ITE's Higher Nitec in early childhood education in September.
By 2019, 400 students would have done revamped internships.
Pre-school operators said the new grant will encourage them to take in more interns, at a time when the sector struggles with retaining teachers.
Mrs Liaw-Tan Xinhui, director of Ameba Schoolhouse, said: "It's a win-win situation. Centres can train students in their final year of studies whom they could hire and students get job experience and an allowance."
Eshkol Valley Preschool managing director Vincent Yap added that longer stints will give student-teachers more time to build better rapport with children.
"That will help them to deliver lessons better, and have a good experience. Hopefully they will have a better impression of the industry and stay on," he said.
This initiative is part of SkillsFuture, a national effort to integrate education, training and career progression. Other plans include a pilot to familiarise secondary school students with companies and polytechnics to help them make better decisions about their future courses and careers.
To strengthen the link between study and work, the Ministry of Education has appointed the five polytechnics and ITE to coordinate initiatives with industry partners in 17 sectors. For example, Republic Polytechnic, the sector coordinator for logistics, has gathered 12 firms for a year-long, work-study scheme.
Post by Indranee Rajah.
Teen gets financial help and pays it forward by tutoring peers
By Calvin Yang, The Straits Times, 7 Mar 2015
FROM the day he started Secondary 1 in 2012, Poh Jia Qi has received help to pay for things such as school fees, textbooks and school meals.
The Teck Whye Secondary School student, who has been on the Ministry of Education's (MOE) Financial Assistance Scheme, also gets help from the Opportunity Fund. This is one other source for schools to tap to provide further assistance to needy students by subsidising school-based enrichment programmes.
"I am fortunate to be able to receive similar opportunities as my peers," said Jia Qi, 16, who lives in a four-room Housing Board flat in Teck Whye with his parents and two school-going brothers, aged 19 and 14.
"I don't have to worry about my financial situation and can focus on my studies," he added.
His father works as a cleaning supervisor while his mother is a coffee shop assistant. They take home a total income of $2,500 monthly.
Both parents welcomed the enhancements in subsidies to needy students. Jia Qi's mother, Madam Wong Meow Foon, 48, said: "Children should not be denied an education just because they cannot afford it.
"I am thankful that my children are able to receive more help. But they must work hard and make full use of the opportunities given to them."
Last year, Jia Qi began coaching his friends in mathematics through the school's peer tutoring programme.
He was one of the students praised by Education Minister Heng Swee Keat for paying it forward at a young age.
Said Jia Qi: "I like helping my classmates, especially with maths problems that they have trouble with. I would like to give back as much as I can."
Subsidies, bite-size courses for workers
By Sandra Davie, Senior Education Correspondent, The Straits Times, 7 Mar 2015
BY THE second half of this year, Singaporeans can choose from a range of 200 bite-size, modular courses offered by the universities and another 100 run by the five polytechnics.
Among the courses are one on digital forensics by Singapore Polytechnic and another on counselling and coaching by Republic Polytechnic. Nanyang Technological University will run a course on naval architecture and marine engineering, while SIM University will offer one on functional genomics, which is the study of genes and how they affect the working of the body.
The courses will be taught using a blended learning approach, in which students will learn online as well as attend classes at the universities and polytechnics.
They can take standalone modules to gain particular skills, or take several and "stack" them to attain a diploma or degree.
Participants who are aged 40 and above will receive government subsidies that cover at least 90 per cent of the cost of courses funded by the Ministry of Education (MOE) at universities, polytechnics and the Institute of Technical Education.
The national training body, Singapore Workforce Development Agency (WDA), will pay up to 90 per cent of skills upgrading course fees.
Participants can use their SkillsFuture Credits - the cash grants that all Singaporeans aged 25 and above will receive from next year - to offset the remaining fees.
The revamped training programmes, along with the higher subsidies and study awards, are part of the Government's SkillsFuture initiatives to encourage workers to develop the deep skills needed to take Singapore's economy to the next level.
Education Minister Heng Swee Keat, who gave details on the upgrading opportunities for adults yesterday during the debate on his ministry's budget in Parliament, said with this array of courses, the system is even more open and flexible. He said it allows workers to create their own learning pathways and build a portfolio of skills, tailored to their needs and at their pace.
He said: "It empowers each of us to take charge, direct our own learning, and build our own unique skills map."
Responding to MPs' concern on whether the increased subsidies from the Government would result in the courses becoming another form of qualification for Singaporeans to chase, Mr Heng said that workers should not do so.
Instead, they should focus on mastering and, more importantly, using deep skills to gain higher wages, he said.
He also urged companies to make the best use of workers' higher skills as it will lead to higher productivity and higher profit margins.
The companies can then raise workers' pay.
"Higher skills, higher productivity, higher wages. This is the virtuous cycle that we must seek to create," he said.
More student care centres
By Amelia Teng, The Straits Times, 7 Mar 2015
MORE schools will have after-school care services for families who need an extra hand to help take care of their children.
The Education Ministry will bump up the number of schools with such services from the current 105 to 140 by the end of next year.
This year, 15 more student care centres will be set up, followed by 20 next year. The number of children served by the centres will grow from more than 10,000 to more than 12,000.
Demand has risen for student care centres in schools in recent years, with some centres even needing to conduct balloting for places.
These centres, which are run by voluntary welfare organisations or commercial operators, offer services such as homework supervision and meals.
In Parliament yesterday, several MPs such as Dr Intan Azura Mokhtar (Ang Mo Kio) and Mr Patrick Tay (Nee Soon) spoke on the importance of student care centres for dual-income families.
Education Minister Heng Swee Keat said yesterday during the debate on his ministry's budget: "Many parents told me that they appreciate the structured, supportive environment that student care centres provide for students after school."
A mission to change a nation's attitude towards learning
By Lydia Lim, Associate Opinion Editor, The Straits Times, 7 Mar 2015
THE Education Minister spoke calmly but the challenge he laid before the House during scrutiny of his ministry's budget yesterday, was nothing short of staggering.
It is to overhaul this country's entrenched approach to school, studies and success - an approach that has not only worked for plenty of people here but also won praise internationally.
It involves overturning decades of received wisdom about the surest route to a good life, a formula Ms Denise Phua (Moulmein-Kallang GRC) summed up thus:
"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 talked away. People can only be convinced if they see and encounter sufficient evidence and personal experiences to replace it."
Well, replacing it is what Education Minister Heng Swee Keat would have people do.
In its place, he held up a new education paradigm comprising three shifts in attitudes:
- go beyond learning for grades to learning for mastery;
- learn not just in schools but throughout life; and
- learn not for work but for life.
It is a bold transformation which will need the "collective will and action of employers, teachers, parents and students", he said. What's more, "this is a path that no society has charted out fully yet. I've been looking at education systems around the world. Charting this new territory will require us to once again be pioneers".
Of the 21 MPs who spoke on the budget estimates for the Education Ministry, most said they, too, want change. Mr Lim Biow Chuan (Mountbatten) criticised the reliance on tuition, calling it a "crutch" that could cost students the skill of self-directed learning.
Ms Phua and Mr Inderjit Singh (Ang Mo Kio GRC) spoke about an unhealthy obsession among parents with getting their children into top schools and among employers with hiring graduates from these schools. Ms Irene Ng (Tampines GRC) questioned the approach schools take to develop character. Non-Constituency MP Yee Jenn Jong called for a broader understanding of giftedness, beyond that used in the Gifted Education Programme.
One worrying fact that emerged from their speeches is that grades may be the only benchmark many have for quality. After decades of living in what a former education minister once described as an "exam meritocracy", many employers, parents and students may not know how to judge the worth of a school, and indeed, the worth of a person, apart from grades and paper qualifications. They need help to make a paradigm shift to valuing mastery and lifelong learning.
The good news is that the seeds of how to do so were also present in yesterday's debate, in the stories Mr Heng told, and in the passion with which some members spoke about the learning that mattered to them.
On a recent visit to the Rolls- Royce factory in Seletar, Mr Heng met Siti, an Institute of Technical Education student who is studying aerospace technology. She became interested in aeroplanes when she worked at a bookshop in Changi Airport and wondered how planes fly. Today, she is a Rolls-Royce-ITE scholarship holder and thrilled to have the chance as an intern to work on the Trent 1000 engine, a complex piece of machinery.
And that is what SkillsFuture is about at a personal level. It is about each person paying attention to what sparks an interest in him or her, daring to pursue that interest, and investing time and effort to master the skills needed to turn that interest into a career.
Nominated MP Rita Soh did that. In primary school, she loved art class. She shared with the House her joy in making art using different media, from potato cuttings to plasticine. Later, when she took classes in technical studies and woodwork, she "fell in love" with making things with her hands and decided to pursue a career that let her keep doing so. Today, she is an architect for whom success springs from having the passion to master a craft.
Of course, stories alone cannot nudge a society to change but the economic reality is such that even those who do not want to change may have change forced upon them. Mr Ang Wei Neng (Jurong GRC) spoke of middle-aged, middle managers displaced from manufacturing sector jobs as a result of economic restructuring. He tried to help several find jobs but most could not cope with a transition to the services sector.
That too is part of the new paradigm, and explains why lifelong learning will have to become a way of life for workers of all ages.
As Singapore navigates this change, resistance may well be futile, for the plan is to bring everyone along.
For as Mr Heng put it: "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."
That is a bold undertaking, one befitting a surprisingly successful small nation as it turns 50.
Committee of Supply Debate: Ministry of Home Affairs
Home Team to get 2,000 more officers
By Lim Yi Han, The Straits Times, 7 Mar 2015
ANOTHER 2,000 officers will be added to the Home Team in the next five years to ensure that it has enough muscle to keep Singapore safe, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Home Affairs Teo Chee Hean said yesterday.
Still, this is a slower pace of recruitment compared with the last decade, when 5,400 officers were brought in, boosting the Home Team from about 19,300 officers in 2004 to 24,700 last year.
The 2,000 to be added include uniformed and non-uniformed officers for the police and civil defence forces, the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority, Central Narcotics Bureau and Prisons.
"There are natural limits to how much we can grow the Home Team, given the smaller cohorts of young Singaporeans entering the workforce each year," Mr Teo told Parliament during the debate on his ministry's budget. "We will partially address this issue by re- employing more of our officers."
The retirement age for uniformed junior officers was raised to 55 in 2013, matching that of senior officers. Both may be given extensions to work until 60. The ministry plans to further leverage technology and involve the public to help alleviate manpower issues.
But Mr Teo assured the House that the Special Operations Command (SOC) will get the manpower it needs to respond effectively to large-scale incidents.
In the wake of the 2013 Little India riot, Singapore's worst public disorder incident in 40 years, then police commissioner Ng Joo Hee told a Committee of Inquiry he would need 1,000 more police officers. This would let him deploy more men to the SOC.
Mr Teo said yesterday the SOC is on track to add 300 officers by 2017, and aims to recruit 150 officers by the year end. "This involves selecting very good people, making sure that they are well trained and properly equipped. So, it takes a bit of time."
'Stay united' should terror acts occur
DPM Teo: Home Team will build up capability to react to threats swiftly
By Nur Asyiqin Mohamad Salleh, The Straits Times, 7 Mar 2015
IN SPITE of Singapore's best efforts to guard against the terror threat, it is not possible to ensure an attack will never happen here, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Home Affairs Teo Chee Hean told Parliament yesterday.
Singaporeans therefore have to be ready to stand united as a community, and maintain social cohesion and harmony in the aftermath of an incident, he said.
On its part, the Home Team will continue to deter and deal with terrorism by securing Singapore's borders, strengthening infrastructure and building up its capability to respond to threats swiftly and effectively, he added.
"We will continue to conduct exercises to hone our response, as well as enhance our intelligence capabilities and work with international partners to identify and pre-empt terrorism threats," said DPM Teo during the debate on the Ministry of Home Affairs budget.
He said he agreed with Mr Hri Kumar Nair (Bishan-Toa Payoh GRC) and Mr Arthur Fong (West Coast GRC), who said Singapore had to ensure its society was ready to withstand a terror attack.
"Those who carry out such attacks seek to divide our society and strike fear in innocent people," said Mr Teo. "If an incident were to occur, we must stand united as a community and condemn the violent acts of these particular individuals. Such extreme views do not reflect the beliefs of the wider community, and indeed are rejected by them.
"As Singaporeans, we must continue to build on what we have in common, rather than accentuate our differences. We must also carry on with our daily lives, reach out to each other, and not allow fear to paralyse our society."
His comments come amid global concern about the danger posed by the conflict in Syria and Iraq, which has drawn more than 20,000 foreign fighters from over 60 countries, a number far greater and more diverse than in the Afghan conflict in the late 1980s.
An estimated 350 fighters from South-east Asia have gone to Syria and Iraq, Mr Teo noted.
"Upon their return home, these fighters may be more prone to violence. And almost on a daily or weekly basis, we see new revelations, videos of fighters from our region who have been involved in Syria and Iraq," he added.
Mr Teo said self-radicalised individuals may also be influenced by the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria militant group to carry out attacks in their countries that are hard to detect and prevent.
Last December's Sydney siege, January's Paris attacks and last month's Copenhagen shooting took place even when these countries were on high alert, he noted.
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