UNION'S SEMINAR ON "NEW CHALLENGES IN

NEWCHALLENGESIN SINGAPORE'SEDUCATIONSYSTEM

NEWCHALLENGESFOR EDUCATION
The challenges we face as a young nation are very clear:
to continue to earn a living in a rapidly changing,world and
therefore a world of instability and, particularly, economic un-
certainty; to build upon what we have been fortunate enough to
achieve in the past two decades; to grow as a society we want to
live in and be proud to leave Our children with a harmonious
living that makes all of us together Singaporean.We
have proved ourselves to be a viable nation despite the meagre
endowments that nature has given us by honestly recognising our
limitations and taking full advantage of whatever we,have. We
with this same frankness and determination, not only
continue to prove our viability as a nation and as an economy, but
also uplift the quality of life in our society to make it even
more meaningful and worthwhile, so that at the end of the day we
can say that we have done what We have had to do. This is the
challenge for us as a society.

Because we have no natural resources to ensure our

economic standing in the first place, we have overwhelmingly to
depend on our human resources. Because we have no control over
many factors that have a strong influence on our economy, we have
to develop these human resources of ours along certain,lines so
that WC can plan for contingencies like the oil crisis, the world
economic crisis and changes in the world scenario; we have to
develop ourselves into a hardworking, resilient, capable people

who have . . . . . /2*

 2
I

who have no illusions that life is a glossy-advertisement and you

can buy success in a bottle for a few cents or a few dollars with-
out any effort. This is the challenge for education

The challenge that educators must face is how to take care

of our children and bring them up to have a part in our Singapore
context - to prepare them to maintain and develop our society from
where we adults will leave off. This is the role of education in
the social and economic development of Singapore. It is a
difficult role. With successful family planning we have reduced
the annual live-birth of 61,775 in 1960 to 38,807 last year*
Obviously this reduction is necessary because the whole of
Singapore is only 58,000 hectaros (224 square miles) and We run
the risk of overcrowdedness. Yet at the same time we have only
e
2.3 million from which to draw all the leaders at the top, all the
second echelon executives ,and the whole, broad base of workers.
This is really a very tall order if you think carefully about it.
Human beings are not machine parts you can mass produce and slot,
in at different places in the whole machinery. But all the same,
We must ensure that everyone is effectively, positively employed
and occupied. Otherwise we kill have unemployment, no income for
the family, no food, clothing and shelter, and children not taken
care of - a social burden we can ill afford. Or else we have to
import experts or workers to fill the jobs that Singaporeans can-
not or do not want to take up. To some extend this may be unavoid-
able, first because we need to import expertise and second because
the unskilled or semi-skilled workers are willing to work and
hardy enough to take it. But our first and main-responsibility is
to our own citizens and it is ridiculous for a percentage of them
to remain unemployed in jobs that they can but are not willing to
do because they expect something better while we, on the other
hand, provide outsiders with an income and a place in our country.

So our education system must succeed in providing Us with

the necessary manpower required to fill the top loadership
positions, the high-calibre second echelon of executives and the
broad base of willing workers. This is a basic objective of
education,so that we can continue to be economically viable. More
than this, all of them have to be fully,educated, not merely
literate or intelligent or able to,work, in and to our Singapore
society. This means, first of all, a commitment to Singapore*

Singaporeans must ‘...* /3

 3

Singaporeans must have a bigger stake here as I believe more and

more already do. They must not just decide to suddenly "up and go"
when the chips are down. They must fee1 deeply that this is home -
both for themselves and their children. Commitment also means that
they each take it as a personal responsibility and are prepared to
make sacrifices to ensure that their home is a good home, secure,
well-run, productive, conducive for growth, cohesive and harmonious.

ADJUSTMENTSTO THE EDUCATIONSYSTEM

At the very outset, our education policy had been‘formulated
with social and economic development in mind; This included the
fullest developmcnt of individual potentialities with the purpose
of ensuring the collective development and welfare of our
democratic society; love for freedom, truth and justice; respect
for fundamental human rights; racial, religious and cultural
appreciation and tolerance; all other aspects involved in building
our nation, particularly loyalty and patriotism. The provisions
included universal education, free primary education, free parental
choice of language stream, equal treatment of the 4 official
languages, bilingualism, emphasis on vocational and technical
education, a balanced education with the development of knowledge
and shills necessary for economic development, social and, civic
values and consciousness, health education and services as well as
extra-curricular activities to ensure a healthy and robust society.

At the opening of the First Orientation Seminar of the

Industrial Training Board (ITB) on Rationale for and Implications
of the Revised Secondary Education System" early this year, I
mentioned how our education system has come a long way from the one
we inherited when we first achieved independence. The Government
built up the educational.structure, set up the Adult Education
Board (AEB), initiated important developments in vocational
education and made industrial training a major.instrument of
economic policy. In 1968, a Technical Education Department (TED)
was set up in the Ministry of Education to develop and administer
both the vocational schools as wall as technical education in
standard schools. It began shaping up industrial training until,
in 1973, the Industrial Training Board (ITB) was established to
take over and extend TED responsibilities to further promote and
develop industrial training programmes to suit the, demands and.

needs of . ..e. /4.

needs of industries. Recently, it has been announced that the AEB
will be merged with ITB into a single authority for even better
coordination and provisions for our citizens.

I also mentioned that our Government recognises and

accepts that pupils have different aptitudes. There arc those who
can achieve a fair amount of success in academic pursuits. But
there are also others, less academically inclined, who have
difficulty with the academic school curriculum. To insist that
the latter group continue with the academic programme would be
tantamount' to subjecting them to severe and unnecessary strain and
also denying them the chance to have their other abilities and
aptitudes recognised and developed.

The problem of how best to cater for the different

attitudes of our young people is one that has occupied our
planners for some time. On the one hand, there are shortages of
workers in various categroies and manpower projections indicate
future imbalances between supply and demand. On the other, there,
are the many pupils who, despite showing little academic aptitude,
keep being automatically promoted each year eventually to fail
when they take the Primary School Leaving Examinations or General.
Certificate Education Ordinary Level Examinations.

With this in mind, the Government has introduced two

adjustments since last year- the Basic Course in the Primary
School System and its attendant Junior Trainee Scheme (JTS), and
the Revised Secondary Education System (RSES). Both of these,
when fully implemented, will broaden the scope of our education
system to provide not only for those who arc able to follow the
normal school curriculum, but also those whose abilities mainly
lie outside this curriculum. The Government in this way aims to ,
find a place for everyone up to the age of 18 years,- in a school,
training institutions or extension education centre, learning
skills that would equip him for adult life, or in some form of
supervised employment. Vocational training will be accorded parity
with academic education in importance.

The Government does not accept that children who do not

make the grade in academic schools will be failures in life. They
must be given an opportunity to succeed in something else. We are
giving them this opportunity. The extend of our commitment to

their future... 15.

their future can be seen,in the fact that we are spending about
two and a half times ($2,O0O as against $870) more to train a child
in vocational skills than to keep him in schools We would not be
spending this money simply to produce failures.

Another significant adjustment in the system involves the

Pre-university level, Several considerations have had to be taken
into accountc The first involved the use of English for our
commercial, economic and,technological development. In order to
import Western expertise; upgrade our technological sophistication
and apply them for our economic progress, as well as to have
economic and trade relation with the advanced countries of the
West, we have to make use of English and develop our skills in it
up to the university level, Wehave an advantage here because
English has been steadily stressed from the past, whereas other
languages like German: French and Japanese have just recently been
introduced for OUr secondary school pupils: The second consider-
ation is that students from the non..English stream schools are at
a disadvantage compared to their English stream counterparts when
competing for degrees in the University of Singapore, or for jobs
in the private sector, It is, therefore, only fair to make
provisions for these pupils earlier, that is, at the Pre-university
level, so that they would not have to handle both the content load
of the university courses while upgrading their English at the
same time, Thus adjustments at the Pre-university level have been
made for non-English stream pupils to opt for English as a medium
of instruction in 2 or 3 years, with specially tailored English
programmes to help them. In addition, and in keeping with the
rationale for using English, courses in Economics, Science and
Mathematics are being conducted in English from this year in all
Pro-university classes, At the same time, more emphasis is being.
placed on bilingualism, including admission requirements into Pre-
university and Junior College courses of a GCE '0' level Grade 6
for the first language and a Grade 6 for the second language in
1979, and a Grade 7 for the second language in 1980,

THE ROLES AND FUNCTIONS0F ITB

The role of the Industrial Training Board (ITB) is to

centralise , coordinate and 'intensify industrial training, A
statutory board will enable industry and labour to participate
more fully towards common goals. It will have more flexibility in
an area where slowness to respond to changing conditions can result
in high training wastage on the one hand and critical skill short-
ages on the other. A board will also be better able to deal with
the problems of disseminating the right kind of conceptions about
industrial training. While industrial training is primarily the
responsibility of industry, it is imperative to ensure that
national interests are served. A major function of the board will
be to encourage industry to play its proper role in the national
industrial training effort.

The ITB is thus primarily concerned with training skilled

workers to support Singapore's planned economic growth. Through
its'programmes it aims to develop a broad base of workers equipped
with the skills required in modern industry. In certain areas
where demand for artisan skills exists, notably in the construction
industry, the Board also conducts courses to meet this need.

The Board's major activities cover:-

4 full-time courses for school-leavers;

b) part-time courses for industrial workers;

0) specially tailored ad hoc courses for industries;

d) the promotion and supervision of apprenticeship

training schemes;

0) trade testing and certification;

f) research and manpower development; and

9) the Junior Trainee Scheme.

The Board works closely with the Economic Development Board and the
Ministry of Finance (Development Division) to establish the broad
skilled workers requirements of'the economy, both in terms of
numbers and trade areas. These projections determine the nature of
the courses run and the size of intakes,into ITB institutions. Ihe
Board also maintains continuous contact, through meetings, visits,
seminars and discussions, with individual companies and trade
associations. Its officers go out to industry regularly and
systematically discuss training needs. As a matter of fact, ITB
reflects the significance of and the stress placed on,tripartite
representation comprising members from the Government, the

industries and ... /7.

industries and the labour movement. This mechanism for constant
consultation and the pooling of resources ensures the success of
ITB in providing training programmes and syllabuses relevant to
industrial requirements and beneficial to workers. ITB has 10
Trade Advisory Committees on the Applied Arts, Automotive,
Construction, Electrial, Electronics, Fashion Arts, Hotel, Metal,
Printing and Woodbased Trades. Members comprise professionals
from the industrial and public sectors to ensure communication a
and feedback between industry and the Board to examine and review
the facilities and programmes for industrial training, and
recommend improvements in them as wall as advise on the training
of the Board's staff and standards of certification in each trade.

A research unit supports such consultation and feedback by

conducting action studies for review or evaluation purposes as well
as to update planning data and determine now and changing require-
ment .

Seminar participants would by now know or have been

involved directly or indirectly with the revised Primary and
Secondary Education Systems. Primary school pupils Who are over-
aged for their grade levels and are not academically inclined,
having failed three times during their school career, are now
automatically channelled to one of the four levels of the Basic
Course Programme, Basic One to Basic Four, affecting Primary Three
to Primary Six pupils in the abovemontioned groups. The curriculum
prepares pupils for the work of work by developing basic literacy,
numeracy and manipulative skills. The inculcation of proper work
attitudes, particularly in Basic Four, stresses Work ethics, work
discipline and work safety. In addition, technical Workshop
practice for boys and domestic science lessons for girls are
included.

Basic Four pupils may opt to come under the Junior Trainee
Scheme run by ITB specially to place them in supervised employment
or oh-the-job training for a period of three years or until they
reach the age of 18, Whichever is earlier In addition to Working
36 hours a week, they undergo an extension education programme of
6 hours in one day of the Week run by the Adult Education Board.
The programme aims to maintain and consolidate the level of
literacy and numeracy acquired in the Basic Course and includes
languages, arithmetic and social and civic education. Junior

Tr ainees are . . . . . /8.

d=

Trainees are paid by-their employers, even during the day they
attend classes, and are entitled to annual leave and other employ-
ment benefits according to laws

ITB is also promoting formal training schemes in cxO-

operation with employers? organisations and firms to enable JUnior
Trainees to acquire skills above the leve1 of operatives. For the
1977 batch of junior Trainees alone, 30 % have been emplaced in
training schemes in areas like pipefitting, cane-furniture making
and building construction. These schemes include 3 to 6 months
full-time institutional training at a vocational,institute,
followed by on-the-job training at the workplace, and leading to
Certificates of Competencyc By the end of January 1978, 2,355
Junior Trainees (91%) have been emplaced in 198 firms, including
5 training schemes

With the abolitionof automatic promotion in the secondary

schools as well this year, continual and semestral assessments,
promotion, retention and channelling have been instituted,
Secondary school pupils who are not academically inclined will now
have the opportunity to enter into full-time vocational training,
either in the ITB training institutes or the AEB commercial
centres. The ITB institutes offer training in a wide range of
trades on a part-time or full-time basis. In all 47 trades are
included.

Courses in ITB's vocational institutes are conducted at

three levels' 0 the Industrial Technician Certificate (ITC), the
Trade and the Artisan levels. ITC courses cater for production
management and supervisory skills development, with emphasis on
theoretical content, Trade courses lead to the National Trade
Certificate Grades 3 and 2 (NTC 3 and NTC 2), The NTC 3 is for
those who have acquired the basic skills and knowledge of the
-trade:, while the NTC 2 is awarded to those who have roached the
standard of a fully competent craftsmanr These courses have a
heavy practical bias. From NTC 2, the industrial worker can
progress to the NTC 1 or master craftsman level. Artisan courses
provide more narrowly specialised, short-term training in
specific skills to fit industrial requirementsu

Enrolment figures at. the end of January 1978, including

part-time and . ./9.

part-time and full-time trainees, stood at 1850 (17%) ITC, 491 (4%)
NTC 2, 8,168 (74%) NTC 3 and 588 (5%) Artisan. ,Since the Board's
inception,up to the same date, it has awarded 1,921 ITC, 2,129
NTC 2, 13,347 NTC 3 and 2,018 Artisan Certificates.

THE BOLES OF TEACHERS

As our education system is being constantly refined by

these changes recently made as well as others that will come in
the future; so also must the teaching profession be refined and
upgraded in terms of professionalism This is essential for
achieving national goals in the midst of world and societal
changes. Teachers are in a privileged position to mould the ,
lives of future adult Singaporeans. In being thus privileged,
they have very heavy responsibilities too. Obviously a lot of
sacrifices arc called for as they give fully of themselves to the
proper upbringing and education of the pupils under their charge,
to ensure that we can meet the challenges We face as a society.

first and foremost, teachers must be fully committed to

their calling. This means that they must, have the right type of
concern for their pupils whose growth and development they must
supervise with constant vigilance and care. This often calls for
the large expenditure of energy in raising them; the exercise of
patience, sympathy and understanding; the adoption of a firm
attitude in correcting them; the maintenance of a close rapport
with them so as to remain approachable; the readiness to go out
of the way to help the least among those pupils.

To effectively help and exercise concern for pupils,

teaohers need to know a great deal about children and how to
handle them best; they must know each pupil well individually;
they must know their potentials, weaknesses and aspirations; they
must know the system and its recent refinements thoroughly; they
must also have a good grasp of the subjects they are teaching and
read a lot on and about these areas to keep up to data; they must
keep in close touch with and be able to understand the larger
context in which they are working, that is, our society and the
world at large and the trends and directions being taken. But
they must not merely impart this knowledge of theirs. They have
to filter and analyse and apply this knowledge for the benefit of

their . . . . . /IO.
their pupils. This,in turn calls. for a constant upgrading of
professional skills, an attitude of continuous learning, in and
for the education of their pupils

however, I am not for one moment advocating that teachers

should be know-alls and perfect. Like everybody else, they have
their limitations too! It is enough that they give of their best,
within their limitations and, of course) without going to the
other extreme of losing total confidence and letting things and
themselves slide, It is important, therefore, that teachers co-
operate,among themselves and with other professionals as well as
parents, their superior officers and the children under their
charge, so as to arrive at the best possible combination of
effort. For instance, teachers must know where to go for help in
carrying out their professional duties. When they talk shop, it
is to improve their abilities rather than to gossip and grouse,
to have a positive and confident outlook rather than to work up
their frustrations or self pity. The roles of the teachers are
very difficult to fulfil. As Isee it, there are only two kinds
of teachers who find them easy. The first group comprises those,
who have teaching in their blood. They know exactly what to do.
Their very presence commands the respect of pupils, yet those
children feel so comfortable with them that they look upon such
teachers as friends and will do anything for them. Teaching life
becomes easy. Al1 the hard work becomes part and parcel of the
day or the week, which passes all too quickly, and each completed
task has a bouying effect, making the next seem more manageable.
Such teachers sleep easy too!

The other group comprises those who find teaching easy

because it does not occupy or bother their minds at all. They go
through half the day mechanically, more preoccupied with what to
do the rest of the day and night or the weekends and holidays.
They do not even bother to prepare for the next lesson, all they
need to do being to ask a colleague as they walk to class what
next to teach. These, however, are not teachers. They merely use
teaching as a cover, as a convenience. Their pupils knew them
soon enough. They cannot draw sustenance from youngsters the way
the first group does. They dread going to class and facing their
pupils. Their level of tolerance is low and they draw the line
thick and clear between what they think they are paid to do and

what would . . . . . /11

what would be most unreasonablo to ask them to do. They snigger,
at those who work hard for the sake of the pupils and the
school,
but are,only too eager to pass more of the 'buck to them. Teaching
is easy, but not on their conscience, when it occasionally pricks
them.

For the rest of our teachers, playing their roles is very

difficult, for it requires a great deal of effort and sacrifice
First they have to learn to cope with many children and many
duties, not least, their duties at home. Then, they have to learn
to cope with changes in themselves, other people, including their
colleagues and their pupils. They have also to cope with adjust-
ments in the system, like the revised Primary and Secondary
Education Systemsr These adjustments require them to perform now
tasks or to carry out old ones in different ways: they have to be
more systematic and careful with their pupils' records; their
marking and pupil assessment will have to count for more; they
have to keep track of their pupils1 progress more intently to
decide in the and, one way or another, whether in all fairness one
pupil.may benefit from extra or accelerated help to go beyond the
class, while another definitely requires another year at the same
level, and yet another cannot proceed - and so advise the principal
in his decision to promote, retain or channel out the pupil.
Teachers will have to guide and counsel their pupils more than
over, especially because of the new provisions which may conflict
with their aspirations or the aspirations of their parents. Some
times pupils need the help of their teachers to bridge the gap
that has grown between parents and their children. Thus, when
meeting parents, teachers have to play the role of advising them
on their childrents abilities and weaknesses and how these ,affect
or will affect the pupils' future. This would. include advice on
the future course to be chosen, especially if the pupil is to be
channelled to the vocational stream. In all this, the teacher
must deal with both pupils and parents tactfully and sympathetically,.
calling on all his knowledge and powers to help every individual.
pupil to find his best potential and direction. And all this is
apart,from, and over and above, the instructions in and out of
class, the covering of syllabuses, the imbuing of the right
attitudes towards self, others, society; towards learning, living
the present and preparing for the future

It is not . . ./12.
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It is not surprising to find the teacher's tasks, like any

other worthwhile set of tasks, difficult to perform. Nor can,the
ability to perform them be acquired overnightp It takes long,
arduous years to develop into Master Teachers, and then mainly in
specific areas, not in everythingo

TIE ROLES OF TEACHERS'UNIONS

What roles can Teaohers ' Unions then play in all this?

I trust that
the deliberadions during this Seminar will
focus on this theme* I trust also that the theme will receive wide
and in-depth treatment. In view of this, I would like. to make a
few suggestions which 1 hope may help in your deliberations.

As it exists today, the present situation in relation to

service conditions would not serve as a means for vigorous
discussiono Improvements have been made and are continually,looked
into so as to attract and retain high calibre teachers. And., in
addition to this, there are incentives and benefits which teachers
already enjoys

At this juncture, it seems more to the point for Teachers'

Unions to emphasise the professional upgrading of their members
with more vigour. In view of this I would like to put forward some
suggestions which Seminar participants might wish to discuss.

a) What have Unions achieved so far in the light of

their objectives? What more can be achieved?

b). What are the professional needs of members and

what have or have not boon met - by whom and how?

0) What is the relationship of Unions and Union

activities with the present education system and
how can members actively contribute to the
profession in regard to the system?

f4 What programme of action would Unions be able to _

carry out to effectively upgrade the professiona
lism of members and other teachers in relation to
the present tasks to be performed?

e) . . . . . /I30
 13

c> What sourses or resources are available, and may be

tapped in helping members upgrade themselves pro-
fessionally to meet the challenges in education,
e.g. is there a mechanism for identifying the
outstanding members or attracting them or
providing them with support to tap their expertise
for the benefit of the other members?

CONCLUSION
In conclusion, I would like to thank the Singapore Malay
Teachers' Union for inviting me to deliver a paper at this Seminar
I believe a Seminar like this is a step in the right direction
towards upgrading the quality of member as well as a clear
indication of the concern the Union has in promoting, such pro-
fessionlism among teachers, I look forward with keen interest to
hearing of the result of your deliberations in this conference. a