Hansard, 2003-03-19

Order read for consideration in Committee of Supply [6th Allotted Day].

Head L -

Head L, Ministry of the Environment. Amendment No. (1), Dr Teo Ho Pin.

Sir, I beg to move, That the total sum to be allocated for Head L of the Main Estimates be reduced by $100. Sir, Singaporeans enjoy clean air, clean water and a clean living environment. This is mainly attributed to the Government's efforts in environment management. Over the last 30 years, three key strategies have been implemented to ensure that we have a clean and green environment, viz, planning, monitoring and enforcement. However, the new approach towards a sustainable environment is to involve all stakeholders in environment management efforts. We need to adopt new strategies to champion our sustainable development efforts for future generations of Singaporeans. We must also set new performance indicators for our environmental performance. Sir, I wish to ask the Minister the following questions: 1) Can the Minister update the House on the environmental performance in Singapore? 2) What are the measures taken to ensure clean air quality in Singapore? 3) What are the achievements in waste management and recycling? 4) What are the new measures taken to ensure better public health?

We have 160 minutes for this amendment. Prof. Low.

Sir, I am going to talk about the pollution from 2-stroke engine motorcycles. The registration of 2-stroke engine motorcycles was stopped many years ago. After so many years of stoppage of new registration, there are still many such motorcycles running on our roads. The poor emission control of such vehicles is polluting the environment badly. The amount of unburned hydrocarbons, the bluish smoke from the burning of lubricants, and the odour have caused excessive pollution of our air, and are actually making it unbearable to our road users. It affects the health of both pedestrians and other road users. The pollution generated is so bad that one should avoid trailing any such vehicle or to open up the window immediately after you pass such vehicles. For road users like us, who have invested so heavily in anti-pollution equipment in our cars and new trucks - I guess we pay about $3,000-$6,000 per car, inclusive of tax - is it not only fair for all the road users that we consider phasing out such air-polluting machines from the road? The question I would like to ask is: would the Ministry agree that the 2-stroke motorcycle is a poorly fitted and air-polluting machine? Should not such 2-stroke motocycles be completely phased out from our roads? If not, what measures does the Ministry plan to take to improve the emission from such vehicles?

Sir, I know that pneumonia is now a concern. The Minister for Health has given us the necessary answers and assurances, but we must take care and take necessary precautions. Now, I want to raise with the Minister for the Environment the issue of dengue. I know that there is no vaccine available now to treat dengue. So, the only way to prevent dengue is to have an effective vector control programme and to engage active public and community involvement in the programme. Sir, I would like to know whether the incidence of dengue is now under control, and what are the other preventive measures that the Ministry of the Environment is implementing to control the incidence of dengue.

Sir, while we are sitting here today, 150 government ministers and Heads of States are now attending the Third World Water Forum in Kyoto, Japan, calling for help for 1.4 billion people without access to safe drinking water. Singapore has a lot to be grateful for. The shortage of our own source of water supply has made us venture into new sources of water, including NEWater and desalination. To me, NEWater represents the spirit of Singapore. We have shown that, in times of need, we would master technology and, with our strong will to protect our independence, we are willing to do what is necessary. The result is NEWater. But, I suppose the battle is not over, because there are Singaporeans who are still relatively uncomfortable with NEWater. Sir, my question is: what more is the Ministry doing to help Singaporeans to be more comfortable with NEWater, and what are the plans to use NEWater through the reservoirs? In fact, I was attending a meeting, and someone said, "Why is Singapore, which is very well-known for being pragmatic, not using NEWater directly for consumption, because it has been proven to be very clean and safe?" I agree with the approach taken by the Ministry of the Environment to take it step by step. I would like to know what the plans are, in terms of our use of more NEWater in our reservoirs. What are the challenges to NEWater in terms of acceptance, and how will the Ministry of the Environment manage it? I would also like to ask whether the Ministry would look at other technologies available, to make more new sources of water available.

Sir, I welcome the various initiatives that the Ministry has taken to diversify and sustain Singapore's future water supply, and I think this has been a source of great reassurance to all Singaporeans. The Minister has used the vivid analogy of four taps, primarily the catchment water supply, Johor water, desalinated water and NEWater. The point that I wish to raise here is that the newer taps, specifically desalinated water and NEWater, are more energy-intensive sources of water supply. If we look at the new water process, in particular the aspects of ultra-filtration, reverse osmosis and ultra-violet treatment, as well as the desalination process, they entail a greater need for energy in order to generate the potable water supply. So, the question I have is whether we are substituting our reliance on imported water with a new dependence on imported oil or other sources of energy. Does this raise the question of a new vulnerability for Singapore, in the sense that our new source of water supply is now going to be dependent on the global oil market conditions? This point is particularly pertinent at this stage where there is considerable volatility in the global energy market. I would like to ask the Minister for his assessment of the new reliance on energy for our water supply, and whether there is a need to diversify, away from this vulnerability, through new technologies and, perhaps, new sources of energy as well. If so, what measures are being taken by the Ministry for that purpose?

Sir, we are lucky to be able to take advantage of a new technology to produce NEWater, to avoid being arm-twisted by our neighbour, who proclaims to love our people's money. I am confident that, with the Government's multi-pronged approach on water provision, and with the many-taps-running concept, Singapore would be self-sufficient in our water supply in the future. I am of the view that being self-sufficient is not sufficient. To benefit the people, the effort in self-sufficiency in water must also translate into economic benefits for our people, ie, can Singaporeans benefit from lower water tariffs as a result of self-sufficiency in water supply? The deep sewer tunnel project is one that would provide the infrastructure for NEWater. With the development, water-borne fees were raised 100% some years ago. This has increased the total utility bill size for households. A water conservation tax of 30% was imposed on the first 40 cubic metres of consumption, which means that every household is subject to higher water bills, unless we do not use water at all. The rationale for this tax then was to gradually increase the water price, in anticipation of higher cost of water. Water consumption, at a higher quantity, is charged at a higher rate and tax. Sir, if we take all the charges and taxes in total, Singaporeans are paying a high water rate. I would like to know whether the water tariffs could be lowered, in view of the successful implementation of NEWater, which is less costly than expected. With the advancement in membrane technology, seawater desalination is also expected to cost less.

Sir, the availability of NEWater and desalinated water should not make us complacent. I am happy to note that the Ministry of the Environment has launched a comprehensive programme to educate the public on how to prevent wastage of potable water. What are the targets which the Ministry hopes to achieve in this water conservation programme? Sir, some domestic uses do not need potable water, eg, watering of plants, washing of void decks of HDB blocks, as well as the cleaning of commercial buildings. Would the Ministry consider a separate supply system of water to households and commercial users for non-potable usage?

Mr Chiam See Tong is not present. Prof. Low Seow Chay.

Sir, my cut is on the price of water. When the 1961 Water Agreement with Malaysia lapses, the alternative water supply will be through water recycling and desalination. As we know, the cost of water recycling is higher than the raw water supplied under the Water Agreement. One may worry about the potential rise in the water price after the series of NEWater plants are in operation. The announcement of the desalination contract awarded to the private sector as a BOO project confirmed the cost of water from desalination. The contract price for desalination is about $0.80 per cubic metre, which is still lower than the current domestic charge of water even before the water conservation tax is included. In my view, the Government should be able to keep the price of water for a long time, unless the basic parameters, eg, the energy cost, change substantially. The man-in-the-street is worried about the rise in the water bill after the introduction of NEWater and the water from desalination. The question is: would the Ministry commit that the price of water for domestic use would be kept at status quo until the expiry of the 1961 Water Agreement?

Sir, my topic is on waste minimisation. New water sources are one aspect of the need to educate Singaporeans about the value of water in Singapore. Minimisation of wastage is another. What are the plans to bring the message across to a wider cross-section of Singaporeans? Who are the worst wasters - commercial or residential users? What about hawker centres? 11.15 am We know that plastic bags and thimbles are being distributed free and that is a good way. But does ENV check whether those paraphernalia that are distributed are being applied in the households? If water use is still relatively unchanged after this campaign, what more will ENV do to minimise wastage?

Sir, household recycling participation increased from about one in seven in 2001 when the Recycling Campaign was launched to about one in three currently. The target rate for this year is one in two households. Sir, I would like to ask the Minister if he thinks the target set for this year is achievable. What are the initiatives the Ministry would be adopting to achieve this target? The Environment Ministry should be commended for its unstinting efforts to promote recycling. Clearly, there is heightened awareness among Singaporeans about recycling. Nonetheless, unlike the urge to go to the stall with the longest queue, recycling is not second nature to most Singaporeans. Much more needs to be, and can be, done. Education efforts should be stepped up. Young and old must be educated not only on the virtues of recycling, but also on the ABCs and best practices of recycling. They need to be taught what can be recycled and what cannot be, so that trash does not end up in the recycling bins. They should be encouraged to separate their recyclables into different bags so that papers, for instance, do not get damaged by wet cans. My legislative assistant, who lived in Germany for 16 years, shared with me that she feels very uneasy each time she mixes her trash, as in Germany, households sort trash for recycling. In Singapore, we often find non-recyclable trash in recycling bins. Students should not only be taught the virtues of recycling and brought to visit landfills and incinerators. They should be given ample opportunities to put into practice what they learn. I would like to suggest to the Ministry that NEA organise a national recycling competition for schools to promote recycling among our young. Collection points for recyclable materials could be made even more accessible. In fact, for every two public trash bins, perhaps there should be one for recycling. Over time, residents could be weaned from using plastic bags which are environmentally unfriendly for storing recyclable items, with the provision of reusable crates such as those SembWaste is using for landed housing estates. In HDB estates, I support the idea that the Government could also look into providing two chutes, one for recyclables and another for non-recyclables. Sir, NEA has clearly made a very good headstart in promoting recycling. But more needs to be done. Singaporeans must learn to treasure trash!

Sir, I support Dr Amy Khor in commending the Ministry of the Environment for the efforts and progress that it has made in promoting recycling in homes and the achievements made that one in three households now recycle. My concerns are: what is the cost of collection of the recycled materials from house-to-house per household per month? What is the value of the recycled materials collected per household per month? What is the average volume of the recycled materials versus the average volume of the refuse per household? Would the refuse collection companies be able to sustain this door-to-door collection? What other alternatives has ENV explored? In addition, more education programmes should be emphasised in the following areas: Educate the people at home, the young and old, the school children, especially primary school children, where enthusiasm can still be cultivated on recycling and what can be recycled. Most households are familiar with the recycling of papers. Many do not know what are the materials that can be recycled, for example, glass, aluminium cans and bottles and at what stage must these materials be cleaned before they are thrown into the recycling bins. Have some education materials in Tagalog and Bahasa Indonesia to enable our maids to recycle too. I have noticed that ENV has introduced recycling bins in some of the public places, for example, Orchard Road, hawker centres and MRT stations. Are these suitable for homes to recycle? These would be suitable for small volumes of waste, most probably as a by-product of the activities at these places. I am suggesting that we designate some areas within HDB estates and private estates where recycling bins are there all the time where the refuse collection contractor collects daily. This could eventually be the more sustainable centres for collection of recycling materials in the long run and are near to the homes where larger volumes of recycling materials are available.

Sir, based on the Ministry's projections on its current waste generation and recycling rates, a new landfill is required once in every 25-30 years. That would mean that our current landfill at Pulau Semakau will probably last us till, say, 2030. From that point of view, this is a deadline that is far more imminent than our second Water Agreement with Malaysia which expires in 2061. It is more critical in the sense that land is not a renewable source unless we count reclamation. We really need to address this issue in a hurry, it seems to me, to ensure that landfill life is extended for as long as possible. I would like to raise the question from both the supply and demand side. From the supply side, clearly, this is not sustainable but it seems to me that we would need plans for at least one or two more landfills for the foreseeable future. The question that I have for the Minister is: what are the plans in that regard? But perhaps, more importantly, on the demand side, many speakers have alluded to the point on recycling. It seems to me that land is a strategic resource and providing additional landfill sites is going to be extremely costly for Singapore. Should we not be involved in a very intensive way in educating Singaporeans on the need to recycle and creating the right incentives and, dare I say it, disincentives, so that the behaviour adjusts to this reality?

Sir, I was in China late last year. China right now is going through a very fast pace of change - urbanisation and industrialisation. Some of the officials that I met told me that one of the key concerns they face in China today is that, as they go through the fast pace of development, how do they ensure that the environment is protected so that, in time to come, the environment will continue to be liveable. I asked them, "How do you know? What kind of performance indicators would you use so that you know whether the environment is being protected?" They replied to me in Chinese. They said, "This is our target. Tian kong shi lan de. Yuan di shi lu de. Liu shui shi qing de. Kong qi shi tian de." Loosely translated, what he meant was the sky hopefully will remain blue, the land remains green, the water pure and clear, and the air will remain fresh. Sir, earlier, various MPs, Dr Teo Ho Pin and others, asked for an update of the environmental performance. So I asked my officials at NEA the same questions. I asked my officials, "Tell me, what is the colour of our sky?" And my colleagues in NEA told me, "Minister, we are okay. The sky is still blue and the air is fresh." I said, "On what basis did you come to that conclusion?" He said if we were to look at the pollutant standards index (PSI), in fact, since 1993, on the average, about 70% of the days in Singapore, the PSI is less than 50, which is in the good range. But in the last two years, it has gone up to more than 80%. In other words, the number of days in Singapore with PSI within the good range has gone up and that includes those days where we were affected by the regional haze. If we were to exclude the period of the regional haze, in fact, last year, 98% of the days in Singapore were within the PSI. If not for the regional haze, almost every day, we do enjoy good air quality in Singapore. Sir, I want to emphasise that this clear air and blue sky in Singapore did not happen by chance. Over the years, we have worked very closely with the industries to control emission from the industries. In fact, we are working very closely with the industries to promote the use of cleaner fuel as well. Take, for example, the generation of electricity. In the year 2000, about 19% of the electricity in Singapore was generated using natural gas. It has gone up to 47% last year, which means almost half of the electricity we use today is generated using natural gas, which is a source of cleaner energy. At the same time, we have also stepped up enforcement in monitoring, in terms of vehicle emissions. In fact, over the years, we have progressively tightened up on the emission standards and, together with enforcement standards, I am happy to inform the House that the percentage of smoky vehicles in Singapore has declined from 5.8% 10 years ago to 0.8% last year. So this combination of factors, emission control in the industries and vehicular emission, has led to a better quality of air in Singapore. Prof. Low Seow Chay asked whether two-stroke motorcycles are a problem and whether we can phase out two-stroke motorcycles completely. Sir, firstly, I want to clarify that the registration of two-stroke motorcycles has not stopped. Even today, anybody can still register a two-stroke motorcycle as long as the vehicle satisfies our emission standards. I agree with Prof. Low that the two-stroke motorcycles at times can be a problem because the design of the vehicle is such that the owner needs to mix the lubrication oil together with the petrol in the engine. And at times, if you were to add too much of the lubrication oil, the motorcycle will end up emitting white smoke. But I was told that the newer two-stroke motorcycles now come with this automatic pump and this pump will ensure that a correct dose of lubrication oil is being added. I want to inform Prof. Low that there is no plan at all for us to phase out the two-stroke motorcycles because we are not aware of any country in this world that has done so. As far as ENV is concerned, as long as any vehicle, whether it is two-stroke or four-stroke, satisfies our emission standards, it should be allowed on the road. Sir, let me move on to the area of weather forecast. None of the Members here asked me about the quality of our weather forecast. But I thought since we are talking about clean and fresh air, it is useful also to say a few words about the work put in by my colleagues in the area of weather forecasting. Sir, I remember sometime ago, we, including myself, often make fun of our weather forecast. Why? Because, without listening to the weather forecast, you and I know that the weather forecast will be "scattered showers at isolated places". Obviously, many of us did not find it very useful. But let us be very fair to our Weather Department because it is very difficult to forecast weather in a tropical island where the weather season is shorter and, therefore, it is very difficult for us to be accurate. But what the weather forecasting officials have done is that, since 1997, they have been fully aware that members of the public do expect a more useful form of weather forecasting. So, in 1997, we divided Singapore into various regions. In 1997, we started with five regions and, in the year 2000, it had gone up to 19 regions and, at this moment, they are working on 32 regions. What this means is that you can now actually ask for the weather forecast for a specific region because the whole of Singapore is now divided into 32 regions. Depending whether you are in Jurong or Tuas or wherever, you can ask for the weather forecast which is specific to that particular location. 11.30 am What is even more useful is that, instead of giving a 24-hour forecast, which is quite general and not specific enough, we are increasingly moving towards a three-hour forecast, what we call "now-cast". So far, based on the reaction from the public, it is clear that most of the public find this "now-cast" concept quite useful. For example, businesses are coming to us to ask for weather forecasts for specific areas of business operations. For recreation, there are times you may organise outdoor functions at West Coast Park, East Coast Park, and so on. In fact, we are getting more inquiries regarding the weather forecast for that particular location for the next three hours. Schools, for example, are coming to us to ask for lightning watch, and so on. In fact, last year, about 330,000 hits were recorded on our Internet homepage and 2.1 million Singaporeans actually accessed our hotline. What we are doing now is to work closely with the media to ensure that this improvement in the quality of forecast will lead to improvement in the quality of broadcast. There is no point having all these good forecasts if the information is not being broadcast to the public. So if you were to pay attention to our TV 5 News, for example, you will notice that the weather forecast today - and it has been going on for the last few weeks at least - is a graphical representation showing the weather forecast in the morning, afternoon and evening. So the forecast is now more specific. If you look at today's Lianhe Zaobao, again the weather forecast is represented in nice graphics, indicating the weather forecast for the different times of the day. If you listen to our radio, you will also notice that nowadays they will give you the weather forecast at about 16-17 times a day, and updated based on the latest 3-hour forecast. We hope that by working closely with the media, we will be able to provide better and more useful weather forecasts for members of the public. Sir, let me move on to the area of land. I asked my colleagues what is the colour of our land and they told me, "Minister, yes, it is still green and clean." In fact, in year 2001, the STB conducted a survey among the visitors to Singapore and 99% of them actually rated Singapore as a clean city. PERC did a survey last year for the expatriates. Again, they highlighted that the cleanliness of Singapore is one of the top three most attractive features of Singapore. Sir, the reason why we are able to continue to maintain a high standard of cleanliness in Singapore for public places is because ENV and NEA will never stop looking for new and better ways of keeping Singapore clean. Four years ago, we opened up public cleansing for competition by the private sector. Today, we have two companies cleaning the highways and roads, and they make use of very advanced equipment and machinery. They train their workers so that they can make use of this machinery in a most effective and productive manner. For example, one of the two companies, Onix, actually makes use of GPS to track the movement of their road-sweepers. At any point in time, the supervisor sitting in the control room will be able to look at the map and indicate the exact location of these mechanical sweepers. He is even able to tell whether the sweepers were just cruising or actually sweeping because all the information is being transmitted. This is very important because it enables them to make sure that areas that are supposed to be cleaned at a certain time of the day are actually being done. On the part of NEA, our officers likewise make use of IT. In fact, we have this Mobile Investigation Team (MIT) and they are all equipped with PDAs. Using the PDAs, they are now able to download any comments or feedback from the public channelled from our call centre. In fact, right at this moment, every day, we are able to respond to at least two out of three calls within the same day. Sir, as a result, the number of complaints regarding the cleanliness of Singapore has dropped by about 30%. Sir, my message here is that, on the part of NEA and ENV, we will continue to work very closely with the private sector to make sure that Singapore will remain clean and green. Sir, what about water? Water, obviously is clean and clear from the tap that you have and in the reservoirs. But, more importantly, I also want to highlight that even the amount of "brown" water that we have in Singapore has declined. I am referring to floods. In 1992, about 10 years ago, we had about 335 hectares of flood-prone areas in Singapore. Over the last ten years, we have been able to reduce the flood-prone areas by 50% to 172 hectares today. And, over the next five years, we intend to further reduce the areas by one third to 110 hectares. In fact, Members will notice that, in the last three years, there was not a single case of a major flood in Singapore. There was no flood that was more than 0.5 metre deep with a duration of more than one hour and with a flooded area of one hectare, which is about 1.5 times the size of a football field. Even minor floods, which are less than 0.3 metre and short duration, have also come down from 10 in 2000 to 7 last year. Sir, I have talked about the colour of the sky, the air, land, and so on. My officers then reminded me that there is one colour I have not asked. I said, "What is that?" They said, "You should ask us about the colour of our public health." I said, "Very good. So what is the colour of our public health?" They said, "The colour is pink." I asked them, "How can you tell me that the colour of our public health is pink when I know for sure that the number of dengue cases last year has gone up?" They told me that the number of dengue cases has gone up from 2,370 the year before to almost 4,000 last year, an increase of 66%, and I said, "Look, with a 66% increase in dengue cases, I refuse to accept that the colour of our public health is pink." They asked me to listen to their explanation. Having listened to their explanation, I agreed with them that they were right. Sir, what happened was this. Last year, there was a world-wide resurgence of dengue. In fact, if you look at several countries in our region, for example, in Thailand, the number of dengue cases went up by 650%. In Cambodia, it went up by 250%. In Laos, 131%. In Malaysia, there were 54 deaths. In Thailand, there were 171 cases of death. In fact, the NEA anticipated this resurgence last year and in 2001 - they did not wait till 2002 to take action - before the resurgence took place, they stepped up preventive measures. NEA worked with the pest control companies to intensify ground surveillance. NEA officers visited more than 48,000 landed properties to advise the homeowners to take measures to prevent mosquito breeding. At the same time, they conducted systematic checks on the school compounds. We even conducted roving exhibitions for the various construction sites. So, because of this combination of efforts by the private sector, the people sector and NEA, even though we could not escape the world-wide increase in dengue, at least, we did well in minimising the impact and we were able to keep the situation under control. So, on the whole, I would say that we have done well in terms of the environmental performance. We see a blue sky, green land, fresh air, clear water and pink health. I guess the next set of questions asked by the Members of Parliament, is how long can the current state of environment continue. In short, is our environment today more sustainable than before? Sir, here I am happy to say that our assessment is, yes. Indeed, the environment in Singapore has become more sustainable. Take, for example, the area of water supply, as mentioned by Mr Zainul. The global community is today attending the World Water Forum in Japan. The concern of the global community is that by the year 2025, which is not far from now, at least two-thirds of the world's population will be faced with water shortage. So sustainability of water supply is now a global concern. In the case of Singapore, if you had watched BBC World yesterday, it was reported that Singapore is the poorest country in the Asia-Pacific in terms of water availability per capita, meaning that the availability of water per capita, in terms of national resources, we are the worst in the Asia-Pacific. And, if you look at the global picture, how can we solve this problem? If we were to keep on looking for solutions to increase water supply world-wide by 20-30%, I do not think we are going to go too far. What this world needs is an approach to the solution that is able to increase water supply by 200-300%, if we want to be able to overcome this water challenge on a world-wide basis. So, how can that be done? How can we create a quantum leap in the water capacity? The answer is very simple. Firstly, we must all look for new ways to add to new sources of supply and, at the same time, find ways to multiply every drop so that every drop becomes two drops or even more. In fact, this is exactly what we are doing in Singapore. Over the years we have added new sources of supply to our supply system. So the PUB has awarded a desalination tender. By 2005, the plant would be producing desalinated water. PUB is expanding our local catchment areas to add to the supply locally. At the same time, last year, we have succeeded in putting in place a system to multiply the water sources in Singapore through the construction and installation of NEWater plants. Right now, two NEWater plants are in operation at Bedok and Kranji. The third plant is under construction in Seletar and the fourth plant will be built at Ulu Pandan. So together they will produce 55 million gallons of NEWater per day. At this moment, every day we supply about 2 million gallons to the reservoirs and, at the same time, we supply NEWater to the wafer fab park, as well as to some commercial buildings for the cooling of the air-conditioned towers. In fact, for every drop of water today that we channel to the reservoirs, there are another 3.5 drops being supplied to the industry and commercial buildings for non-potable use. So, we are actually making good use of the NEWater. Mr Zainul asked whether we have any plans to make more use of NEWater. Sir, the intention is that by the time when the Ulu Pandan plant is ready, we would have four NEWater plants at four different parts of Singapore. Each of these plants will have a separate reticulation system, bringing the NEWater to the industrial estates and commercial heart within that area, so that, over time, as much of the non-potable use of water as possible would be met through NEWater. In this way we will be able to free up more PUB water for domestic use. Sir, by the year 2005, as I mentioned, we will have four national taps - desalination, NEWater, local catchment and water from Malaysia. Mr Zainul asked whether we are working on other sources of supply. Obviously, PUB would not stop at these four sources. We will continue to monitor advances in technology and, at the right time, we will set up new demonstration plants like what we did years ago with NEWater and, at the right time, going into the fifth tap. At this moment, I am not able to give any indication on when will it happen because, at the end of the day, we want to make sure that the technology is able to produce the quality of water that we need and, more importantly, at a price that is cost competitive. Sir, various Members asked about the affordability of supply. Mr Low Thia Khiang asked whether it is possible for the PUB to lower the water tariff so that the benefits of these new sources can be shared with the public. Prof. Low Seow Chay asked whether PUB can fix the price of water at what it is today, until the expiration of the 1961 Water Agreement in 2011. Sir, let me explain very clearly the situation. Members of the House are fully aware that NEWater today has a new home, the NEWater Visitor Centre. There are about 2,000 visitors every week visiting the NEWater Visitor Centre trying to learn more about NEWater. The other day when I talked to Mr NEWater, he was not in a very good mood. In fact, he was a bit down. I asked him why. I said, "Look, you should be in a very happy mood now that you have so many visitors trying to learn more about you at your new home." He said, "Yes, I am very happy, but from time to time I feel that I have been misunderstood." I said, "In what way are you misunderstood?" He said, "I think about 90% of Singaporeans are very happy with me. They accepted the fact that I am clean, I am pure and I am safe to drink. I have no problem with that. But from time to time, I have problems with Members of Parliament like Mr Low Thia Khiang and Prof. Low Seow Chay, who complained, that because of me, the price of PUB water will go up. That gets me very upset." I said, "That is a very good point. I am going to Parliament today, what would you want me to convey to them on your behalf?" He said, "Mr Lim, please tell them that if not for NEWater, Singaporeans will have to pay even more for the water that they are drinking today." I said, "Why? How do I convey that to Mr Low, for example?" He said, "You tell Mr Low, if not for NEWater, Singapore may have no choice but to find ways to extend the 1961 Water Agreement because, without NEWater, we will not be able to find other cost-effective solutions to reduce our dependency on Malaysia. If we were to agree to the demands by the Malaysians - remember they asked to increase the price of raw water to RM3 per 1,000 gallons - please tell Mr Low that RM3 per 1,000 gallons would translate to 30 cents per cubic metre. In other words, if not for NEWater, if we are forced to agree to the demands by the Malaysian Government and sign that new water agreement starting from 2011, and start paying RM3 per 1,000 gallons starting from today, the date of the agreement, the cost of water in Singapore will go up by 30 cents per cubic metre." And Mr NEWater said, "That is not all, because the Malaysians did not stop at RM3 per 1,000 gallons. Do not forget that their demand went up to RM6.25 per 1,000 gallons, and this is translated to 62 1/2 cents per cubic metre. Please explain this very clearly to Mr Low Thia Khiang and Prof. Low Seow Chay that because of me, NEWater, you are now able to avoid the need to pay another 62 1/2 cents per cubic metre, just for raw water coming from Malaysia." 11.45 am Sir, I think Mr NEWater has a very good point, because the point is that the introduction of NEWater has now reduced the need for the PUB and the Government to increase the price of water. As a result, we are now able to stretch for as long as we can and keep the price of water at the current level. Prof. Low Seow Chay asked whether the PUB can assure the public to keep the present tariff up to the year 2011, meaning no change in the water tariff up to 2011. My response to Prof. Low Seow Chay is, yes, we can assure the public that there will be no increase in the water tariff for the next 10 years if Prof. Low Seow Chay can promise us that, over the next 10 years, firstly, there will be no increase in water demand; secondly, there will be no inflation; and, thirdly, post-2011, the water demand in Singapore will remain at where it is today. And without asking Prof. Low Seow Chay, I know that his answers to my three questions will be, no, no and no. Because water demand in Singapore continues to go up. It has to be. The population continues to grow; economic activities continue to expand, so water demand will continue to go up. As long as water demand in Singapore continues to increase, the PUB and the Government will have to undertake the challenge to continue to source for additional supply, whether through adding new supply or multiplying existing supply. And it does not matter where the additional sources of supply are coming from. It does not matter where they come from. One thing for sure is that all future sources of supply will be more expensive than the existing source of supply. It is very easy to understand. Just imagine that we have a tree. This tree bears fruits every day, except that the fruit is in the form of water, because this is a water tree. And what has happened over the last 30-40 years, we have been using all the low-lying fruits every day. Every morning, we go to this tree. We just reach out to the tree, pluck the fruits and we drink the water in the fruits. We have been doing this every day, and we will continue to do it for the next 30-50 years. But the problem is that all the low-lying fruits have been plucked every day, and it is not enough to meet our increased demand in the future. So what do we have to do? We have to reach out for the fruits that are higher up. To reach out for those fruits higher up, we need more effort. We have got to take out the ladder. The same thing applies to water supply. For the local catchment water that we talk about - Marina Barrage and the Lower Seletar Water Scheme - in fact, the filtration method that will be deployed for this new scheme will no longer be the traditional approach, but membrane will be used, because we want to assure the quality. Members are aware of the cost of desalinated water, which is more expensive than what we have today. Even water from Malaysia. Some Members have suggested why not we go back to Malaysia and talk about more water from Malaysia. Again, please do not forget the last offer from Malaysia for treated water. It worked out to RM10.5 per 1,000 gallons, which is $1.05 per cubic metre. At $1.05, the treated water from Malaysia in the future, as demanded by them, will be as expensive, if not more than desalinated water. Let me say that while I share the concerns of the Members that we have to keep the cost of water affordable to Singaporeans, I suggest to Members of the House that, let us not mislead the members of the public. If we give Singaporeans the impression that it is possible for us to lower the cost of water in the future, then I think we are being irresponsible. Because if we look at all possible avenues in the future, there is no way any country, Singapore included, can find a lower cost of water supply in the future. Does it then mean that we have to keep on paying more and more for water? The answer is no. Sir, the answer is no because the real key to our solution in keeping water prices low is water conservation. We can try to use less water, because if every one of us here can use less water, then we need to add less water in the future, and thereby reduce the overall cost of water supply. In this regard, let me respond to the question from Mr Zainul Abidin. He wanted to know who are the worst water wasters in Singapore today. I am happy to inform Mr Zainul that on a per capita basis, Singaporeans today consume about 165 litres of water every day, and it has stabilised over the last five years. In fact, at 165 litres per day, the water consumption in Singapore on a per capita basis is one of the lowest among the cities of comparable density. In fact, if we look at household consumption, among the households that consume more than 40 cubic metres per month, the percentage has come down from 10% 10 years ago to about 6% today. What is even more encouraging is that among the households that consume less than 20 cubic metres per month, it has increased from 56% 10 years ago to 65%. In other words, two out of every three households in Singapore today consume less than 20 cubic metres of water every month. I think this is a very good sign. Likewise, in the industries. In fact, many of our companies promote recycling. Take, for example, wafer fab plants. The recycling rate has now exceeded 50%. And for all commercial premises, PUB does require the mandatory installation of water saving devices. On the whole, I think we are conserving, and I do not think there is any major waster, so to speak, in Singapore. Mr Othman asked what is our target in water conservation. Sir, the target of PUB is to keep the water consumption per capita at 165 litres per person per day, meaning that as we continue our economic growth and social upgrading, we hope that water consumption will not increase on a per capita basis. Mr Zainul asked whether the methods that we are using today - thimbles and so on - have been effective. I am happy to say that the PUB launched the water efficient homes in February, just last month, at the Paya Lebar constituency. About 3,000 households in 31 blocks were given bags and thimbles. Later on, after a survey, we found that about one-third of them actually installed those water saving devices that were given to them. I think this is a very good sign. PUB's plan is that over the next 15 months, it will be working with 23 constituencies to reach out to 100,000 homes in 1,000 blocks, and these are mainly the older HDB blocks. Our objective is to help the households, through these water saving devices, to reduce their water consumption by about 5-8% per month. We think this is doable, and we hope that water conservation, over time, will become a way of life. Mr Othman asked whether ENV will consider a separate supply system for households for non-potable use. The answer is no, because we find that it is not cost effective to do so. And as I have mentioned earlier, most of the NEWater is channelled to the industries and to the commercial buildings for non-potable use. There is therefore no need and it is not cost effective to set up a separate system for the households. Sir, on water, let me conclude by saying that on the supply side, we have succeeded in closing the water loop. On the demand side, our challenge now is to reduce wastage and to encourage more conservation. I believe that by working together, Singapore will have enough water at affordable prices for a long time to come, and we have to work together to make sure that Singapore will forever be on the right side of the global water divide. Sir, let me move on quickly to the area of solid waste management. Mr Iswaran asked whether the landfill site at Pulau Semakau at this moment can last for 25 years. He also asked what will happen post-2030. Mr Iswaran's concern is a valid one. Because, in the past, our plan was to build a new incineration plant every 5-7 years and find a new landfill site the size of Pulau Semakau, which is as large as Sentosa island, every 25 years. Then we came to the conclusion that it is not sustainable. And that is the reason why, as mentioned by Mdm Cynthia Phua, we are now moving towards zero landfill. Dr Teo Ho Pin asked what were the achievements so far. Dr Amy Khor also asked whether the target we set in the national recycling programmes is realistic. I am happy to say that at the national level, in fact, the levels of recycling is on the rise from 40% about five years ago to 45% last year, and we are now on track to achieve 60% by 2012. One of the key objectives under the recycling programme is to promote recycling in the HDB estates and in the private estates. So far, we have been able to achieve the target of one in three households taking part in recycling at the end of last year. Our target, as mentioned by Dr Amy Khor, for this year, is to increase the participation rate to one out of every two. What this means is that we have to move from the coverage of service to the quality of service, ie, making sure that the recycling system will become more effective, more convenient, to members of the public. As we continue in our programmes, one of our future thrusts would be the condominiums as well. So far, we talk about HDB estates and private estates. Right now, in Singapore, there are about 1,500 condominiums. I am happy to say that from April last year, only one in 25 of these condominiums took part in recycling. But at the end of last year, it has gone up to one in seven, and our target for this year is to go up to one in four. At the same time, we are also increasing the setting up of recycling at public places. Dr Amy Khor suggested that we should have one recycling bin to two trash bags at public places. I am not sure whether that is doable. But I am happy to share with Dr Amy Khor that the number of recycling bins at public places has been on the increase. In fact, in the year 2001, we had 1,700 of them. Last year, it went up to 3,800. And our target this year is to go up to 4,500, ie, a three-fold increase over a period of two years. If need be, and if it is viable, we will try to move towards the target as proposed by Dr Amy Khor. Sir, my conclusion here is that because of these various recycling programmes, we have extended the lifespan of Pulau Semakau from 25 years to more than 30 years now. In fact, our assessment at this moment is that Pulau Semakau can now last for 35 years because of the reduction in waste and the increase in recycling. But we are not going to stop here. Even 35 years in our view is not good enough. Our target is to increase the national recycling rate to 60%, so that Pulau Semakau, in its current form, can be stretched to 50 years rather than 35 years. What we have to do is to, firstly, continue to reduce the amount of waste going to incineration plants; secondly, continue to reduce the amount of incineration bottom ash going to landfills; and, lastly, divert away those wastes which are going directly into the landfill site. Mdm Cynthia Phua asked whether the system today is cost effective and sustainable. Dr Amy Khor suggested why do we not have separate chutes for the HDB blocks so that we do not have to do door-to-door collections and so on. I agree fully with the view expressed by Mdm Cynthia Phua and Dr Amy Khor. The door-to-door collection does provide a convenient service for members of the public, but the cost of collection is high, because it is labour intensive. So, in the NEA, in fact, we are now in a discussion with the HDB to explore the possibility of having a separate chute for recyclable wastes along the corridors of some of the HDB flats. When will this be done? Once we have sorted out the details, I am sure HDB and NEA will provide more details when they are ready to do so. 12.00 noon Sir, let me, in conclusion, come back to the most important question, which is asked by Mr Iswaran, ie, at the rate we are going, whether we are going to have one or two more landfill sites, and where are these landfill sites. Will Singapore run out of landfill sites by 2030? Let me assure him that this will not be the case. Firstly, as I mentioned, we have now extended the life-span of Pulau Semakau, through recycling and waste minimisation, to 35 years. And we intend to continue our efforts so that its life-span can be extended to 50 years. Secondly, Pulau Semakau still has got room for further expansion. In fact, Phase 2 of Pulau Semakau is as big as Phase 1 of Pulau Semakau. If we are able to extend the life-span of Phase 1 of Pulau Semakau to 50 years, then, together with Phase 2 of Pulau Semakau, we would have a landfill site available for Singapore's use for the next 100 years. And if we succeed in moving towards zero landfill, in fact, the day may come when Pulau Semakau (Phase 2) will become unnecessary.

May I have your permission to seek a clarification from the Minister?

Clarification, yes.

Sir, I would like to ask the Minister whether he would clarify with Mr NEWater that it is not Miss Raw Water whom we have to pay a dowry to marry. That is, would he tell us what is exactly the cost of producing NEWater per cubic metre, bearing in mind that you do not pay for the cost of raw water?

Sir, Mr Low Thia Khiang asked about Mr NEWater and Miss Raw Water. [Interruptions.]

Can we stop having this "conversation" with water, please?

Can I just make it very clear that any additional cost in raw water would add to the cost of treated water because raw water is an input for the production of treated water. What we said earlier was that, if not for NEWater, we would have to pay another 30 cents per cubic metre and another 62 cents per cubic metre for raw water. All these would translate directly into the cost of treated water. So the comparison that I mentioned earlier was a direct comparison. Secondly, Mr Low Thia Khiang said that, in the case of NEWater, because we do not charge for the input water, the secondary effluence, we are able to keep the cost of NEWater low. Sir, I am not too sure what Mr Low Thia Khiang is suggesting. Is Mr Low Thia Khiang suggesting that we should cost the secondary effluence, add them to the cost of NEWater, jack up the cost of NEWater so that we could increase the price of PUB water?

Sir, would he allow me to clarify my point? My point is that for treated water, right now, you have got to pay for the cost of raw water, which is from Malaysia. There is a treatment cost. But as for NEWater, the water input is from the sewers. So you do not pay for the additional cost of raw water but you pay only for the treatment cost of the water. So you minus away that part on the input cost of the raw water.

Sir, I thank Mr Low for his clarification. Mr Low should spend some time to go and take a look at the NEWater Visitor Centre. If Mr Low were to visit the NEWater Visitor Centre, he would see that next to it, the new water plant, there is a water treatment work, what we call water reclamation plant. The sewer water that Mr Low talked about, which is free, is now being processed by the water reclamation plant. So, it does cost money to treat the sewer water to a standard of what we call the secondary effluence. This secondary effluence is then used as an input for NEWater. So, when we talk about the cost of NEWater today, Mr Low is correct that we have not included the cost of the secondary effluence, for a simple reason. Today, this secondary effluence is also being produced. We treat the sewer water into secondary effluence before we discharge them into the open seas. In other words, we are not turning something which we throw away every day to the sea into a useful product, which is NEWater. And that is the reason why we are able not to include the cost of the secondary effluence, because it is already happening today, ie, it is already being wasted today. Sir, it is a bit complicated for me to try to explain the whole water treatment process. I think if Mr Low were to visit the NEWater Visitor Centre, I will be very happy to give him a personal conducted tour to explain to him how the whole system works. And if he is still not convinced, he is most welcome to come back to Parliament to ask me more supplementary questions.

Sir, would you allow me to clarify?

No. I would suggest that you visit the Visitor Centre.

Sir, I have visited the NEWater Visitor Centre.

Yes, Mr Chiam, what is it that you want?

Sir, I have one cut, but I missed it.

I am sorry. You have passed your cut.

Can I ask one question of the Minister?

No. I am sorry, Mr Chiam. You have already passed your cut. By the way, please let me remind everyone in this House to switch your mobiles to silent mode when Parliament is sitting. Dr Teo Ho Pin.

Sir, there is a lack of legislation to regulate energy conservation in Singapore. While I can understand the Government's approach to adopt self-regulation, the poor energy efficiency of buildings and energy consumption appliances, and the high-energy wastage experienced in Singapore clearly show that our energy conservation efforts are not making any significant progress. In Japan, energy conservation laws are implemented in three key areas, namely, factories, buildings and equipment. There are many laws, policies, guidelines and energy conservation measures adopted to provide a holistic approach to energy conservation. Sir, in Singapore, our commitment to energy conservation is still not very high. We have only managed to form an Energy Efficiency Committee and not many key programmes are implemented to conserve energy. We need to develop an energy conservation culture among businesses, consumers and the authorities in Singapore. As energy prices are likely to continue to rise, we must conserve and explore alternative sources of energy. Sir, I wish to ask the Minister the following questions: (1) What are the key policies and strategies to encourage energy conservation in Singapore? (2) Will the Ministry consider legislating an energy conservation law? (3) How can we encourage developers, building consultants and contractors to build "energy conservation" buildings? (4) What are the measures or incentives taken to encourage energy conservation by building owners, businessmen and consumers?

Sir, energy efficiency is a difficult term to understand. I will quote some more other terms under energy conservation, ie, energy management, energy audit. As a consumer, Sir, I would like the National Environment Agency to look into defining the term "energy efficiency" in the various electrical appliances with quantifiable indicators, so that simple consumers like me will understand and participate in energy conservation - again, a very long word. Presently, many do not understand what "one green tick" means in the energy labelling system. I understand from MOS Dr Balaji that, presently, they are including the dollar amount of electricity consumption cost per month in the energy label for electrical appliances. How does this one tick translate into savings instead of cost (which is currently stated on the labels) at the end of the month? In a normal situation, savings would mean comparing the cost of electricity used for the appliance with that of the average industry electricity consumption cost for that type of appliance. When consumers know that they are going to save, they would be better convinced to buy a more energy-efficient appliance. We could do more to educate our consumers. The present energy labelling scheme has been initiated on two electrical products, ie, refrigerators and air-conditioners. We should extend this scheme to other electrical appliances quickly, such as water heaters, electrical cookers, electrical stoves where usage of electricity is very high, and even energy saving lamps. I will always buy lamps that state "energy saving" on its cover, but I do not know how much savings I actually save. As for building efficiency, we need more 3P partnerships. The National Energy Efficiency Committee (NEEC), under the National Environment Agency, has just started the voluntary energy audit schemes with industry that has high usage of oil and gas to better manage their energy use. The first initiative was targeted at the petroleum companies. I urge the Committee to establish the industry standards of measurable energy efficiency indicators of buildings in Singapore quickly and encourage building owners to sign up for this energy audit to ensure that our buildings are efficient. The trend now is that everyone wants glass curtain walling in offices and even in houses where the glass window is like a glass door with full ceiling height. This feature gives maximum view to the outside but also has a bigger area of heat transmission to the inside of the building. What are the measures taken by the Agency to ensure that such commercial buildings are energy efficient, including the residential flats and houses? Is the overall thermal transmission value that governs commercial buildings for glass curtain walling still valid? If it is, should not our residential development, especially condominiums, be subject to this review too? To be more applicable, are there other more direct values such as the amount of energy taken to cool a building?

Sir, with the war coming in the next few days, I think oil prices will increase. Therefore, I think it is useful for an energy conservation habit. As my colleague, Dr Teo Ho Pin, said, we should have an energy conservation culture. For the domestic sector, we should also have programmes like what Mdm Cynthia Phua said, to show how we can save on the usage of energy when we use air-conditioners or refrigerators with energy labelling information. Will ENV undertake such a programme and also put up some targets for energy saving?

Sir, war or no war, energy is a strategic resource which we do not actually produce. If we were to drive around at night, whether in the city or in our housing estates, we realise that there is room for energy conservation. I would like to ask the Minister what is the pattern of energy utilisation in Singapore and what lessons can we draw from them in terms of energy conservation. What can the Ministry do to facilitate better energy conservation and optimisation, both for the commercial and residential areas? Does the recent awareness and need for greater safety and security result in our using more energy for lighting up purposes? And how does the Environment Ministry reconcile this need for new use of energy and electricity with conservation?

Sir, on behalf of the Minister, I thank the Members for their questions and concerns about energy use. Dr Teo Ho Pin has asked what are the key policies and strategies to encourage energy conservation in Singapore. We have good reasons to have a need for such policies. We are a society that runs on energy. It fuels our industries, drives our economy and allows us our quality of life. And all energy in Singapore is derived from fossil fuels - oil or natural gas. We are totally dependent on imported supplies. We have no energy source of our own and no control over the price of oil or natural gas. And Members have pointed out that this is dependent on world events, like the coming war. 12.15 pm A comprehensive strategy to deal with energy use is therefore needed. The National Energy Efficiency Committee (NEEC) is a national multi-agency committee, with ENV as the lead agency, to formulate policies on our use of energy. NEEC has set out three objectives for Singapore. One, to be energy efficient, that is, to get the maximum output and ability to enjoy our quality of life from each unit of energy use. This will reduce the cost of our quality of life and improve our economic competitiveness. Two, to be carbon efficient, that is, to get the maximum output and quality of life from each molecule of carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere. This will result in less green house gases and we will be playing our part in reducing the effects of green house gases on global warming. Three, to be eco-efficient, at least to have the minimum effect on our eco-system from the emission of particulates and pollutants, such as sulphur dioxide and nitrate oxide, which can occur when fossil fuels are burned. I shall begin with energy efficiency. What are our strategies to enhance energy efficiency? We wish to enhance the efficiency of energy use throughout the energy cycle and in all sectors of energy use without affecting the life that we enjoy. For example, on a hot and humid day, after work, a Singaporean goes to a pub and enjoys a chilled glass of beer in the airconditioned comfort of the premises. The enjoyment of this quality of life is dependent on the consumption of energy. Our goal is not to stop the Singaporean from enjoying his beer in order to save energy. We want him to enjoy his beer but with the minimum amount of fossil fuel burned to provide him the pleasure of drinking his chilled beer. To do this, several efficiencies are needed. The brewery must use efficient machinery to brew the beer. The vehicle that brings the beer to the pub must be fuel efficient. The refrigerator in the pub must be energy efficient. The building in which the pub is located must be designed so that it can have an efficient airconditioning system. The airconditioning equipment must be efficient in the quantity of electricity it needs to provide each unit of cooling that it produces. The power plant that generates electricity that runs the airconditioner must also be efficient in the conversion of energy in fossil fuels to electrical energy. If all these are in place, the Singaporean will be drinking his beer in an energy-efficient manner. We must therefore aim for energy efficiency throughout the energy cycle and in all sectors of energy use. 50% of fossil fuels in Singapore are used for the generation of electricity, and this makes it the most important factor in the energy cycle. Mr Zainul Abidin Rasheed asked if privatisation of energy supply would help to make the industry more efficient. Sir, at the beginning of this year, the new electricity market came into effect and electricity generators are required to sell electricity through a competitive bidding process. In anticipation of this competition, the power companies have over the past several years sought greater generation efficiency to maintain their commercial viability. Most have opted to switch to natural gas and combined cycle generation technologies. For example, the latest combined cycle plants at the Seraya power plant have achieved efficiency as high as 56%, compared to about 39% for steam turbine plants. This translates to an efficiency of more than 40%. In the future, it may be possible to use cogen generators that use the thermal energy lost during electricity generation to run central cooling systems. Co-generation plants can achieve efficiency of 70% and higher. But they are constrained in terms of size and location. A co-generation facility has already been built in Jurong Island to provide both electricity and steam to consumers. Mdm Cynthia Phua and Mr Zainul Abidin Rasheed asked about the pattern of energy utilisation and energy audits in manufacturing and in the home. Manufacturing is the second most important sector accounting for 47% of total energy use. 28% is derived directly from fossil fuels and 19% from electricity produced by power plants. To improve efficiency in this sector, we need better energy management. An energy audit scheme was launched last year. So far, three refineries and a petrochemical plant have participated in the scheme and they have reported improvement in energy efficiency and reduction in energy use. We are currently working with industry associations to extend energy audit schemes to more industries. We are also working with our partners, EDB, NUS and industry, to set up a framework to train energy managers for the industry. The transport sector accounts for 20% of total energy consumption. Public transport is more efficient than passenger cars. It requires about 0.9 mega joules to move a passenger a kilometre by MRT, and about 0.9 mega joules by a bus. A passenger car requires seven to 10 times more energy than MRT, about 1.5 to 2 mega joules to move a passenger 1 kilometre. There are already many regulatory requirements that restrict car ownership, and we are not suggesting any new ones. But for those who do buy cars, the NEEC will be launching a scheme to help them make informed choices. A voluntary fuel economy labelling scheme will be implemented later this year. The main objective is to raise consumer awareness of the fuel economy of cars. By looking at the fuel economy labels, consumers would be able to make better informed decisions on energy efficiency when they wish to purchase a new car. The National Environment Agency is also working with LTA and other agencies to review green vehicle rebates to promote the use of more energy-efficient cars, such as hybrid cars. Through these measures, car dealers would be encouraged to bring in more energy-efficient vehicles. The building sector accounts for 17% of total energy use in Singapore. Minimum energy performance standards for buildings already exist in the form of design codes and regulations. While design codes and regulations are useful to establish minimum energy performance standards, the subsequent operation and maintenance of centralised airconditioning plants in buildings are equally important. One way of monitoring energy efficiency is to audit energy use. NEA will work with the town councils and building owners to pro- mote energy audits. NEEC also identifies promising technologies that promote energy efficiency and will disseminate this information to the industry. Mdm Cynthia Phua and Mr Othman Haron Eusofe also asked about energy labels for household appliances. Consumers and households account for 11% of total energy used in Singapore. Airconditioning and refrigerator account for 45% to 60% of a household's energy use. This is the reason why we have targeted these two appliances for labelling. A voluntary labelling scheme was launched last year for refrigerators and airconditioners. Ten major brands representing 33 refrigerator and 20 airconditioner models have been labelled over the last year. Our aim is to guide consumer purchasing behaviour towards sustainability in energy use. Education and awareness on energy efficient airconditioner and refrigerator models, as well as energy saving tips are included in the information kit for new HDB flat owners. We have developed the simple tick system to identify the energy efficiency of appliances. Mdm Cynthia Phua asked how it works. It is quite simple. One tick is good; two ticks are better; three ticks are the best. To find out how much you save, you look at the machine with one tick, you know how much you have to spend every month; you look at the equivalent appliance with three ticks and you know how much you spend per month, the difference is your saving. Eventually, distributors will respond to consumer's choice and bring in mainly three-tick appliances. On the second goal, how can we be more carbon efficient? By switching to natural gas. With natural gas, for each unit of energy produced, less carbon dioxide is released into the atmosphere. CO2 is one of the green house gases associated with global warming and using natural gas is therefore more environmentally friendly. Singapore will soon be getting its second natural gas supply and, together with the gas from Natunas, we expect to have a total of 475 million cubic feet per day of natural gas. And this volume is expected to increase to 675 million cubic feet per day by 2009. We can mitigate the effects of carbon emission by fixing carbon in bio-mass. Big countries have large land masses and they can do this through reforestation programmes. In Singapore, we do not have large land masses and whatever land is green. Our urban environment is planned to provide greenery and green spaces which promote carbon fixation. What can we do to be more eco-efficient and reduce the level of pollutants emitted in the atmosphere? Currently, levels of air pollutants, such as sulphur dioxide, nitrogen oxide and particulate materials in our ambient air are within US EPA standards and WHO standards. In the next five to 10 years, it is estimated that fossil fuel consumption for energy would increase by about 5% per year and so the emission of these pollutants will also increase. So we need to switch to a cleaner fuel. Natural gas is a clean fuel. The switch to natural gas by our power generation sector has led to a substantial reduction in the emission of pollutants. In the transport sector, a shift from diesel vehicles to compressed natural gas vehicles will reduce the emission of pollutants. Later this week, I will be flagging off eight Toyota CNG taxis as part of our programme to promote green vehicles. NEA is working with gas suppliers and fleet operators to build a network of refilling stations across the island to promote the switch from diesel to CNG. Are there other ways of obtaining clean energy? We have NEWater through the application of new innovative technology. Perhaps, some time in the future, we will have new energy. We are in the tropics with lots of sunshine, so naturally we are studying how solar energy can be harnessed as a source of energy in Singapore. There are several projects which are ongoing, including projects like the car park lighting in the Sembawang Town Council, landscape lighting at Adam Road Hawker Centre, PV in Changi Naval Base, and there is also a project in Marsiling Secondary School using PV equipment. Mr Zainul Abidin Rasheed asked whether the recent awareness and need for greater safety have resulted in more energy for lighting up purposes. Lighting up will consume electricity. The question is whether it is excessive. There should be a balance between sufficient lighting for safety and security purposes and energy conservation. Dr Teo Ho Pin asked whether we would consider an energy conservation law. ENV does not have any plan to introduce any restrictive energy conservation law. Instead of using legislation to force change, the approach that we are adopting is to create awareness, build up local capacity and capability in energy efficient practices and focus on programmes and measures that are effective and, yet, financially viable. As shown by experience with the power generation sector, the introduction of competition and market forces leads to energy efficiency. Our approach is to align market efficiency and energy efficiency. This way, the market drives energy efficiency and reduces cost to business and consumers. Restrictive legislation can easily become a burden on our economy. Our approach is to create an energy policy that promotes the competitiveness of our economy by reducing cost and increasing output. Energy efficiency is good for every one. It is good for our environment. It is good for business, good for consumers. And it is good for Singapore.

Sir, in support of the UN Agenda 21 on sustainable development, Singapore has developed our Green Plan 2012. The three key thrusts in the Green Plan are, namely, (a) quality living environment through innovative and effective use of technology and efficient use of resources to minimise the impact of human activities on the environment; (b) active participation of all sectors of population; and (c) doing our part for the global environment. Despite the launch of the Green Plan 2012, many Singaporeans are still not aware of it. Many are apathetic and do not know what roles they can play in the Green Plan. In addition, not many Singaporeans understand the concept of sustainable development. 12.30 pm Sir, environmental sustainability is not just about keeping the environment sustainable. It has many other implications affecting the livelihood of our people. The environmental management industry is a growing industry, and can create many jobs for Singaporeans. It can spin off many economic benefits and contributions to our GDP. Thus, I would urge the Government to place more emphasis to seize the opportunities of this sunrise industry. Sir, I wish to ask the Minister the following questions: 1) What is the progress of Singapore's efforts in supporting the UN Agenda 21 on Sustainable Development? 2) What is the public education programme to increase awareness among Singaporeans on the concept of sustainable development? 3) Are there plans to expand the scope of our environmental sustainability efforts?

Sir, it was reported in Green Plan 2012 that Singapore, together with other small countries, was left out of the second Environmental Sustainability Index (ESI) report commissioned by the World Economic Forum because of its small size and unique features. Sir, I would like to ask the Minister whether we have our own ESI to track our performance in environmental sustainability to compare against those of other countries, or do we have plans to develop some similar form of performance measures. If we have one, or are planning to have one, what are the factors taken into account for the purpose of tracking and comparing performance, and what are the targets set? If not, how then do we assess our performance in environmental sustainability? I would like to note at this juncture that the Minister had answered part of these questions in reference to the various colours of our earth and the sky. But I feel that we may want to have more tangible indicators. Next, I would like to ask the Minister how we have fared in terms of noise pollution, especially in residential areas. Does the Ministry work with other Government authorities, such as the MND, regarding the siting of residential developments in areas which may be subject to noise pollution, eg, military airbases? Is any environmental impact study done for such proposals before they are approved? The last area I would like to touch on with regard to our Green Plan is how we have fared in keeping our city clean, green and litter-free. The litter-free campaign has been around for a long time. However, despite fines, work orders and constant admonishments, littering still remains a problem. Every night, the areas around the letter boxes in most HDB void decks are strewn with mail junked by residents, even if there are bins nearby. Grounds used for functions, such as the year-end countdown, are also usually covered with litter at the end of the function. In fact, even in private condominiums, I have witnessed durian husks being dumped in the lift after the fruit has been eaten! However, being an optimist, a positive aspect of this negative behaviour is that at least it creates jobs for cleaners and helps towards reducing unemployment. But on a more serious note, we must step up our efforts to inculcate in Singaporeans a sense of ownership and responsibility for public places and the habit of throwing rubbish in the right place. May I suggest to the Minister that he should work with all grassroots organisations and other event organisers, as well as Government authorities, to make every event a litter-free day. Singaporeans should learn, like the Koreans, to take ownership of their rubbish and discard them properly.

Dr Teo Ho Pin, please take both cuts together.

Sir, 3P partnership. Many countries have recognised the need to involve all stakeholders of the environment to achieve better success in achieving a sustainable environment. But this is easier said than done. To achieve concerted efforts of the 3Ps, viz, the public, private and people sectors, requires strong will-power from the Government, the business community and our people. I am pleased to learn that the Ministry of the Environment has implemented the Innovation on Environmental Sustainability Scheme. I hope this incentive will spur both the Government agencies and private firms to exercise more corporate social responsibility towards the environment. Sir, I wish to ask the Minister the following questions: 1) What are the policies or incentives for encouraging 3P partnership on sustainable development? 2) What is the take-up rate for the Innovation on Environmental Sustainability Scheme? 3) How can we encourage corporate social responsibility among firms in Singapore on environmental sustainability? 4) What measures are taken to educate the 3Ps on the 3P partnership scheme? Sir, to achieve environmental sustainability in Singapore, we must develop a green community among our people. Singaporeans must feel passionate about the environment and take initiatives to protect our environment. Many sceptics have said that Singapore is able to maintain a clean and green environment because it is a "fine" city, where people are fined for littering. Based on my experience in managing the town council, this is not true. In fact, we have noticed that many Singaporeans are becoming more conscious about keeping their living environment clean. Some residents have even taken the initiative to sweep and clean their common corridor outside their HDB flats. We should continue to encourage such efforts among Singaporeans and let them take ownership of the environment. In North West CDC, we will be setting up a "Green Community" to support the key thrusts of our Green Plan 2012. Forty-four schools have agreed to set up green clubs and work closely with the CDC, our grassroots organisations and the business community on environmental projects. Sir, I wish to ask the Minister the following questions: 1) Are there plans to build green communities within our living environment? 2) How can the Ministry support "Green Community" groups to take on more creative and innovative projects for the environment? 3) Are there specific plans to help heartlanders to be more environmentally friendly?

Sir, earlier on we heard a very colourful speech by the Minister outlining the state of the environment in Singapore, and also his Ministry's broad objectives. It was a very inspiring image of where we are going with the Ministry of the Environment's work. At the same time, many Members have raised a whole range of questions on some specific aspects, whether it is energy or water conservation, recycling, etc. The Minister is an avid promoter of the 3P concept, ie, people, private and public sector collaboration in all ventures. That being the case, one area where I would really seek greater clarification and explanation from the Minister is the aspect of public education on the Ministry's various initiatives and endeavours. I say this because perhaps the most famous and enduring campaigns we have had in Singapore on public education messages is keeping Singapore clean and green. This is one of the core thrusts of the Ministry of the Environment. Although we can argue about how effective it is in modifying behaviour, the fact remains that, for most, if not all Singaporeans, this occupies a big part of their mind's space so that, even if they do litter, they do it guiltily. That being the case, and given the variety of new environmental challenges that Singapore faces, I would like to ask the Minister how intensive is our public education campaign going to be to get the people sector and the private sector to buy into this whole slew of objectives and environmental targets that the Ministry has outlined. What would be the indicators of success in these campaigns, because the fact remains that there may be an element of campaign fatigue among Singaporeans? So, the Ministry will have to choose its strategy carefully and keep it focused. It is quite essential that the Ministry formulate a cohesive and focused strategy in getting the private and people sectors to buy into its broad environmental roadmap. I would appreciate a clarification and explanation from the Minister on this score.

Sir, hawker centres play a significant part in the lives of many Singaporeans. Today, hawker centres continue to provide cheap and good food, which helps to lower the cost of living for many Singaporeans. The concept of hawker centres has been a great success. Many Singaporeans, rich or poor, frequent hawker centres to enjoy a wide range of food. Thus, I hope the Government can place more emphasis and support on hawker centres in Singapore. We should allocate more resources to upgrade existing hawker centres that are easily accessible to Singaporeans. I hope that the Ministry will develop a master plan for the development of hawker centres in Singapore. There are many advantages to have more hawker centres. Firstly, they provide cheap and good food to Singaporeans at convenient locations. Secondly, they provide opportunities for Singaporeans to set up businesses and, thirdly, they attract tourists to Singapore. But we must not increase the cost of business for hawkers, especially their rental and utility charges. Sir, I would like to ask the Minister the following questions: 1) What is the status of merging the hawker departments of HDB and ENV? 2) Is there a master plan to rationalise the development and upgrading of hawker centres? 3) What are the measures to keep rental of hawker centres low, so as to reduce business costs? 4) Can the Ministry consider a tenant mix policy for hawker centres to provide more choices for consumers?

Sir, the Hawker Centres Upgrading Programme is yet another pro-active initiative of the Ministry of the Environment that has been well received by the public. I would like to ask the Minister how many hawker centres have been upgraded since the announcement of the programme in 2001. What are the average take-up rates of stalls at these upgraded centres? How well received are these upgraded centres by the hawkers? How many more hawker centres will be upgraded under the programme? Sir, I note that whilst the upgraded hawker centres I have visited are clearly much better than the old centres in terms of design, ventilation, seating arrangement, etc, to ensure that the designs are not only architecturally pleasing but also user and maintenance-friendly, I suggest that a panel of advisers be formed. The proposed panel could comprise the adviser for the area, stakeholders, eg, the grassroots leaders and stallholders, as well as property management and maintenance professionals, to provide inputs on the design features of the proposed new hawker centres before plans are finalised. Moreover, whilst hawker centres are welcome by many for their cheaper food and convenience, as my parliamentary colleague has earlier suggested, it may not be particularly popular with the young, who generally prefer air-conditioned food courts. Some existing hawker centres may also not be doing well due to poor accessibility as well as a small catchment population. Hence, I propose that a comprehensive study of all existing hawker centres, which have not been upgraded, be undertaken to, among others, evaluate the viability of retaining and rebuilding these hawker centres. Hawker centres which are not viable should not be rebuilt and should perhaps even be demolished in the medium to long term. The Ministry could then consider enlarging the more popular hawker centres and relocating the affected stallholders to these enlarged centres. A comprehensive plan for upgrading hawker centres would be economically more efficient and useful than ad-hoc programmes.

(In Mandarin): Sir, during the Budget debate last year, I asked the Minister for the Environment whether his Ministry had any intention to take over the control of all hawker centres. At the moment, hawker centres come under the control of three Government agencies, namely, the Ministry of National Development, the Ministry of the Environment and the town councils. Hawker centres provide cheap and good food for our people. They are very important to the lives of our people. For the Chinese, there is fried kway teow or Hokkien mee; for the Malays, there is nasi lemak; and for the Indians, there is roti prata. Apart from all these delicacies, we can have a mix of food for our Malay, Chinese and Indian Singaporeans, all under one roof. This is certainly good for the enhancement of our racial harmony. However, I understand that HDB is not going to build any more hawker centres in its new housing estates. So, I would like to know whether there is any change in plan. Since the hawker centre is such a good thing, we should preserve it. For example, in the past, the wet markets were changed to dry markets. Now, the trend is to go back to wet markets. Hawker centres are very important to us. The HDB should consider building hawker centres again to serve the residents.

Sir, much has been said by Members on hawker centre upgrading. However, I would like to take this opportunity to compliment HDB for having a partial upgrading programme for upgrading of the markets as early as 1992 and now, the National Environment Agency for the full upgrading programme. 12.45 pm Personally, I have been involved directly in the partial upgrading of at least four hawker centres under the HDB programme when I was the former CEO of Bishan-Toa Payoh Town Council. Sir, I would just like to make some comments on the design of the upgraded hawker centres. Although the size of the stalls is bigger, efforts should be made to understand the needs of the different types of hawkers, in terms of the ergonomics of the stall design versus their workflow. This is critical especially for vegetable and fruit stallholders where they need to display many varieties within the confined space of the stalls. The Australians had done well and SPRING had brought the specialists into Singapore to help our shopkeepers. Our architects/designers involved in this upgrading programme should tap into this expert knowledge. If not, our stall designs would go back to the basics again after upgrading. In addition to helping our stallholders to upgrade their skills on the display of goods (lifelong learning), the Agency may want to assist them in organising suitable courses and encourage them to upgrade their skills and knowledge on display. So when the hawker centres are upgraded, you have not only a new physical environment, but a new skill and a new way of doing business as well. Again on designs, although the Agency has taken into account the design of the upgraded hawker and market centres by having good natural ventilation, lighting and alfresco dining areas, it must not be sacrificed for the sufficiency of seats in the upgraded hawker centres. Let me explain. There is a ratio of seats to stalls. If many of these seats are in the open, there would not be sufficient seats under the cover, especially in the hot afternoons and on rainy days. These are experienced by some of the customers in the upgraded hawker centres. My final question is: since ENV has plans to consolidate all ENV and HDB hawker centres under the Agency for better synergy of resources and better coordination, will there be a re-look into the synergy of all the hawker and market centres, where some are very close to each other? What will be the planning guidelines of new markets in the newer HDB estates if they are now under the management of the Agency?

Sir, I have the following questions: how does the Ministry of the Environment monitor that the hawkers are preparing food in a hygienic and healthy way? I know that the stalls are given various grades - A, B and C. I think this is for keeping the stalls clean. What is the difference between an A and C grade? Are there incentives for stallholders to aim to achieve an A grade? Sir, the next question is: hawker stalls are now allocated on a tender basis. Will the Ministry reserve some stalls to be allocated for hardship cases, especially for older workers who are retrenched and may have difficulty getting re-employment?

Sir, Members of this House have, over the past few days, brought up instances where discrimination against women remains, such as medical benefits for civil servants and citizenship for children of Singaporean women married to foreigners. Sir, I would like to bring a more fundamental and pressing area where women are unwittingly discriminated against and, that is, by the current state of public toilets in Singapore. Let me explain why I have made this observation. Presently, most men and women's toilets in public places are a mirror image of one another in terms of size, except for the urinal. According to the President of WTO - no, not World Trade Organisation but World Toilet Organisation - Mr Jack Sim, studies have shown that men take 30 seconds to urinate but women take about three times as long, to be precise, 92 seconds. Furthermore, women being more sociable creatures, socialise in the toilets as they powder. Men do not. They neither powder nor socialise. Yet, most male and female toilets in public areas usually have the same number of cubicles and, on top of this, men have urinals. To me, this is clearly gender discrimination, hence, the frequent long queues witnessed in women's toilets. Insufficient toilet provision leads to high traffic and heavy usage for toilets. Therefore, women's toilets usually become dirtier than men's. Some women may even have to resort to doing kung-fu stance over the WC as the seat cover is dirty beyond mere wiping with tissue papers. To redress this problem, highly scientific and rigorous studies have actually been done and have shown that the right number of cubicles required in the ladies should be based on a formula: total number of cubicles + urinals in the gents x 2. This is recommended to make things logical again, as current toilet standards were set a long time ago when most women stayed at home and, therefore, the provision in public places was insufficient. I have been told that in Hong Kong, they are already tabling this law in Parliament and Japan and UK have strong lobby groups to make such a change as well. I, therefore, in all seriousness now, strongly urge the Environment Ministry to work with the Ministry of National Development on stipulating the requirement to provide more cubicles in women's toilets as part of the holistic approach to improve the standards of cleanliness in our public toilets. This is the hardware aspect. The soft aspect will be to continue to educate Singaporeans on good toilet habits and responsibility for public properties. As the ENV's sticker slogan goes "We aim to please, could you aim too, please!"

Sir, since Dr Amy Khor has raised all the important points on public toilets, I would like to ask the Minister whether he would be going ahead with the ranking of public toilets.

Sir, we spoke on the change of name of the Singapore Zoological Gardens. However, this place gives me a different nostalgia. I simply love the nature and open-air toilets there. Thanks to the National Environment Agency, our toilets in HDB coffeshops will be upgraded under the Toilet Upgrading Programme, financed partly by the Agency. This would not be the standard equal to that of the Singapore Zoo but would be a comfortable toilet like that in a 3- or 4-star hotel. My questions are: since the introduction of this programme in July 2002, what is the take-up rate of this scheme? How much has the Government disbursed to finance this programme? Would the Government continue to subsidise this scheme? The objective of toilet upgrading is that it will help improve the image of the public toilets in Singapore. Physical upgrading is only the initial stage. The long-sustaining effort in the maintenance and cleanliness of the toilet is even more important. Are there any programmes to ensure that the toilets would be maintained and kept clean to ensure that the objective of the Toilet Upgrading Programme is achieved? Is the Agency considering taking into account the standard of the toilets as consideration for the renewal of the licence of the coffeeshops?

Sir, allow me again to share the recent recycling experience of my legislative assistant. I quote, "I collected newspapers and plastic containers, the latter being placed in bags provided. The first time, only the newspapers were collected. Those who came for the pick-up did not seem to know that they should also pick up glass, plastics and cardboard, each in separate bags. We were given a bag or two each time. The second time, they took only what were in the bags and ignored the newspapers, maybe because a Straits Times reader complained that her plastics were not picked up. There are no recycling bins in the area I lived. When I called to ask for it, I was told that they would look into it. That was December 2002. Still no bin in March 2003."

Sir, I am not recounting this tale as an indictment of the service of the public waste collector or recycling company, but as an illustration to show that the standards of our waste management industry, in particular, the employees, leave much to be desired. Since the introduction of the service standards by the National Environment Agency last October, it is reported that complaints of recyclables being left uncollected or collection carried out on the wrong dates have fallen by two-thirds. Nonetheless, much more can and must be done to improve the service standards of our waste management industry if we are to transform this industry into a regional leader, as stated by the Minister. The skills and image of workers in the waste management and recycling industry need to be upgraded and improved. Like the cleaners, they could be trained to know what to collect, how to collect and when to collect the recyclables. They could also be given uniforms so that the residents can identify them as the appointed people to take away the recyclables. This may also help to deter the so-called "unauthorised" independent karang-guni men from coming to collect the recyclables. There have been reported instances of arguments and even fights over recyclables. The formation of Waste Management and Recycling Association of Singapore (WMRAS), through the support of the Environment Ministry to raise the standards and image of the industry and allow the players in the industry to work together is clearly an excellent and far-sighted initiative. I would like to ask the Minister what further initiatives would be taken by NEA to help the waste management and recycling industry become a regional leader.

Sir, the world is facing the problem of water shortage due to population growth, environmental change, and the increase in pollution of the water sources. The UN estimates that by 2015, at least 40% of the world's population will live in countries where it is either difficult or impossible to access clean water. In one way, Singapore is unfortunate that the natural rainfall is just not enough to provide adequate water to meet the domestic and expanding industrial demands completely. The fortunate part is that our economic strength and technological know-how have enabled us to obtain water from unconventional sources in meeting our water demand. This has created the third and fourth water taps in our policy on water sources. While doing large scale production from unconventional ways, we have first-hand experience in dealing with and scientific innovation in resolving difficulties associated with the production process. The knowledge gained from the empirical operational know-how, process design and proprietary knowledge will not only be an asset in Singapore to produce water to meet our demand, it is also an important industrial asset that is likely to receive significant world demand in easing water shortage in the long term. At this moment, the best technology for this unconventional way of water production is in the hands of the Americans and the Europeans. This is a very high value-added industry. While we are looking for ideas for the future growth of our manufacturing and services sectors, to further develop our water industry and position Singapore as a new player in the world water market could be viable. In order to achieve all these, there are a lot of things that we can do, from R&D, technological innovation, to getting local company participation, develop them, provide incentives and help them to compete in the international market. The question that I would like to ask the Minister is: would the Ministry support this idea? What action will the Government take to realise this vision?

Sir, the previous Member touched on the issue of SGP 2012. Dr Teo Ho Pin asked what is the overall progress and whether we have any plans to expand the scope of SGP 2012 beyond environmental sustainability. Dr Amy Khor asked what is the relevance of this SGP 2012 in the context of Singapore. She also asked whether we have come out with our own Environmental Sustainability Index. 1.00 pm Sir, the Singapore Green Plan 2012 stands up on two counts. Firstly, we are shifting our focus beyond performance towards sustainability, and secondly, we have set quantifiable targets in SGP 2012. In fact, there are not many countries that I know of that have set such clear targets towards sustainability. For example, in the case of landfill, solid waste management, we set a target of 60% recycling. We set a target of extending the landfill site life-span to 50 years. In the case of supply of non-conventional water, we set a target of 25% by the year 2012. So, clearly, these are performance measures which are quantifiable and which will contribute towards sustainability. Sir, I want to reassure Members of the House that when we talk about sustainability, it is not a slogan for ENV, NEA or PUB. It is for real and, in fact, we have committed ourselves to achieving all these. However, Sir, I want to emphasise that just setting targets is only half a step there. What is important is for us to transmit this commitment on paper into real action on the ground. In that regard, I am happy to say that we are now going one step further by operationalising the SGP 2012. We have decided to form a SGP 2012 Coordinating Committee. This committee is chaired by the CEO of NEA. Under this coordinating committee, there will be six action programme committees, covering various areas such as waste management, clean air, public health, pink water, conserving nature, and international collaboration. All these are key areas towards sustainability. At the same time, to make sure that the Singapore Green Plan 2012 is not a public sector driven plan, we intend to make sure that the implementation will be driven by the 3P partners. So, with that in mind, some 100 members would be appointed to the various action programme committees, and more than 60% of these members will come from the private sector. To make sure that the Singapore Green Plan 2012 will be a living document and programme that will stay relevant to the changing environment, the coordinating committee and the action programme committees would take stock of its progress once every year. It will review the directions to make sure that they remain relevant once every three years. Sir, Dr Teo Ho Pin asked what we really want to achieve out of the Singapore Green Plan 2012. Sir, obviously, the first outcome we aim to achieve out of the Singapore Green Plan 2012 is to enhance the environmental sustainability of Singapore. That is our primary target. But, we have to recognise there must be a change in our mindset in the way that we go about achieving sustainability today versus the past. Because, today, if you look at our population, our people are better educated and they are more aware of the environment, with higher expectations and higher demands on the environment. But, yet at the same time, as a result of the slower growth that we are going through, on the part of the Ministry and the statutory boards, we are going to be faced with a situation of having tighter budgets. In other words, as we pursue the targets set up in Singapore Green Plan 2012, we have to recognise that we can no longer adopt the past mindset of doing more with more, but, rather try to do more with less. How can we do more with less? Sir, that reminded me of a story. Four persons came together for a meeting. These four persons are Nobody, Somebody, Anybody and Everybody. There is a job to be done. Everybody expected Somebody to do the job. Anybody could have got it done but, at the end of the day, Nobody did it. Sir, at the end, we have a situation where Everybody is upset that Nobody did what should be done by Somebody and that could be done by Anybody. Sir, in the case of the Singapore Green Plan 2012, in order to do more with less, we have to make sure that everybody does not expect somebody else to get the Singapore Green Plan 2012 done. In fact, I hope that everybody would do his part. And that is the reason why we emphasise a lot on, not just 3P partnership but, rather, 3P ownership, because ownership is commitment. And, hopefully, with that commitment, it will turn into action and into alignment of efforts. Sir, later on my colleague, Dr Balaji will address the issue of 3P partnership. Let me address the various cuts by the Members regarding hawker centres and toilet upgrading. I would like to relate these two programmes to the concept of 3P ownership. Dr Teo Ho Pin, Dr Amy Khor, and others have spoken of the benefits and relevance of hawker centres in the context of Singapore. Sir, I fully agree. Mr Ang Mong Seng made the observation that we have stopped building hawker centres. He is exactly right. In fact, we have stopped building hawker centres since 1985, about 17 years ago. In the last 10 years, 25 hawker centres were closed down because they were affected by redevelopment. In fact, some of us may wonder whether hawker centres will die a natural death at the way things are going. I want to assure the House that the answer is no. There is no intention at all, on the part of the Government, to allow the hawker centres to die a natural death. In fact, that is the reason why the Government has decided to set aside $420 million, a lot of money and resources, to upgrade the various hawker centres. Dr Amy Khor and other Members asked about the progress under the Hawker Centres Upgrading programme. Sir, so far, 16 centres with 1,580 stalls have been upgraded at the total cost of more than $40 million. Another 30 more are in progress. In fact, under the Phase I programme, altogether 29 centres would have been upgraded at a total cost of $120 million. In addition to that, another 15 centres had been identified under Phase II. So, this will bring the total number of centres to be upgraded by the year 2005 to 44 centres at a total cost of $190 million. This year, we are going to identify more centres to be upgraded under Phase III, so that over the next three years we would have upgraded more than 60 hawker centres. Some Members have various suggestions and comments on the quality of the upgrading, whether there are enough seats, whether too many seats are in the open area, and whether the design of the new hawker centres would really serve the needs and purpose of the stallholders and the members of public. Sir, I take all these feedback and suggestions in a positive light because at NEA and ENV we are doing whatever we can. We are doing our very best in working with architects to design the most suitable form of hawker centres, not just in terms of look and feel but, more importantly, the user-friendliness, usefulness, maintainability, and so on. Therefore, I welcome these feedback and comments from Members, and I assure this House that NEA, as the agency spearheading the Hawker Centres Upgrading programme, will continue to take inputs from the grassroots advisers, the stallholders and members of the public and will make sure that every new centre that is being upgraded, hopefully, will be better than the previous one. Sir, Dr Teo Ho Pin made a very important point that, as we upgrade these hawker centres, we must make sure that the rental remains affordable to the stallholders. He is exactly right. In fact, on the part of the NEA and ENV, we are very conscious of that. So, that is the reason why we focus a lot of functionality in our upgrading, rather than spending on things which are not necessary. In fact, at this moment, we have about 17,000 stallholders at the various hawker centres and markets, with 60% of them enjoying subsidised rental. So, even after the upgrading, all 60% of them will continue to enjoy subsidised rental. The remaining 40% are on market rental. By now, Members are already aware that we have introduced a 20% rebate of rental to every stallholder. For those whose rental is above the market assessed value, they can have a further 20% rebate, which means up to 40% of rental rebate. Mr Othman Haron Eusofe asked whether we can set aside some of these stalls for hardship cases. Sir, if you look at our hawker stalls today, as far as the cooked food stalls are concerned, for most hawker centres, they are fully taken up. Today, we have about 1,000 vacant stalls, but these are mainly in the wet markets, where the demand is not that strong. But, I take Mr Othman Haron's suggestion positively. In fact, I have asked the NEA to work with the HDB, the Retail Promotion Centre (RPC), as well as the various CDCs, to see whether we can do something to reconfigure some of these vacant stalls in the wet markets and turn them into a useful asset for the unemployed workers to do some small business. We are just starting this idea. In fact, we are learning from the North East CDC Retail Incubator Programme and we hope that there would be something going on in the next few months. Sir, various Members, Dr Teo Ho Pin, Ang Mong Seng, Cynthia Phua and others, touched on the need for the Master Plan to guide the future upgrading of hawker centres. Sir, again, I fully agree with the Members because, as we upgrade the hawker centres, it is very important that we upgrade the centres at the right place. There is no point in upgrading a centre if there is no market demand for that location. Likewise, there is no point in upgrading a hawker centre simply because the piece of land is not affected by redevelopment, but rather we should ask ourselves whether we should start building new hawker centres again. If so, where, when and why. What NEA is doing is to relook into this whole concept of long-term development of the hawker centres and we intend to answer all these questions. Another important question we intend to answer, as part of this overall planning, is the whole concept of whether the management of all hawker centres and cooked food centres should come under one agency. At this moment, one-third of the hawker centres and cooked food centres is under the NEA, two-thirds under the HDB. So, we are looking into whether it makes sense to have one agency to take care of all the centres, and discussions between NEA and HDB are on-going. But, in the meantime, NEA and ENV will proceed with the development of this long term master plan. Mr Othman Haron asked about the grading of the cooked food stalls. Yes, the programme started in 1997. The whole purpose is to enhance the cleanliness and the food and personal hygiene in our cooked food centres. I must say, so far, the response has been good and we do see a general upgrading of the standard. But the most important thing, at the end of the day, 5-10 years from now, is whether the upgraded centres will remain an attractive place for the public. That, I think, depends on our 3P partnership. Sir, let me move quickly to the upgrading of the public toilets. Again, I take the feedback from Dr Amy Khor in positive light. I agree with her that the ladies do take longer in using the toilets, and it is very often that at such places we see a long queue for the ladies. We will see what we can do. But, as far as toilet upgrading is concerned, I want to point out that we are not upgrading public toilets all over Singapore. This programme is basically focused on public toilets at the coffeeshops. And whether the coffeeshop owners will find it necessary to have more cubicles for the ladies versus the men, I think we will have to leave it to the coffeeshop owners to decide. But what NEA and ENV are doing is that we are sharing the cost of upgrading. The response so far has been very good. In fact, about 50 toilets have been upgraded and we have committed $250,000. 80 more are in the course of being upgraded. With another 330 indicating their interest to upgrade, we expect to see more than half of the 800 public toilets in the coffeeshops to be upgraded by the end of this year. Sir, let me move on to the second part, which is that beyond 3P ownership to achieve sustainability, there is something else we hope to achieve through the Singapore Green Plan 2012, which is the point brought up by Dr Teo Ho Pin. Dr Teo mentioned that there is tremendous economic potential in terms of the environment sector. He is exactly right. Because, at the end of the day, if we focus only on environmental sustainability, but without sustaining economic growth, environmental sustainability does not really make sense. Because at the end of the day we cannot just live on blue sky, fresh air and green land. So economic growth is something that everyone of us should play our part and to make a contribution. Sir, in this regard, ENV, as the lead agency of the Singapore Green Plan 2012, intends to step up our efforts in the area of industry development. We are working very closely with the various economic agencies and industry to speed up the development of new capabilities in our environmental industry and, at the same time, to expand the business capacity in the industry. Our intention is to make Singapore the early adopters in the exploitation of technology, in the exportation of products and services. Hopefully, this would add to our national economy. Sir, Dr Amy Khor asked what we are doing in helping the waste recycling industry to become a regional leader. Sir, many things are happening. Today, due to the shortage of time, I will not go into details, except to say that basically what we are trying to do is to help our environmental industry, the waste recycling industry included, to cross two gates. Firstly, to cross the technology gate, and secondly, to cross the market gate. The reason why we have to help them to cross the technology gate is because the environment sector is becoming more and more technology driven. At the same time, we will help them to cross the market gate, because the market today is expanding, not just in Singapore, not just in South East Asia, but in the Asia Pacific. But in order for them to cross the technology gate and the market gate, they must also be able to bridge the gap between the two gates. Because, today, if we look at the market, there is a time lag in the way the industry is able to take full advantage of advances in technology. So the way to bridge the gap between the technology and market gates is what we call the "bridge of innovation". And that is the reason why two years ago, the ENV launched the IES programme. 1.15 pm Dr Teo asked what is the response to the IES programme. I must say that the response has been most encouraging. Over the last 18 months or so, we have received 40 applications, and 10 of them have been at a cost of about $2.6 million; another 12 are now under evaluation and they cover a very wide scope of activities. And we hope that, over time, we will be able to continue to work closely with the industry or 3P partners to strengthen this bridge of innovation, so that our industry can cross the technology gate and the market gate successfully and become a regional leader. Sir, even though environmental sustainability is a primary focus of SGP 2012 and that economic growth will be one of the priorities of the ENV as the lead agency, I want to say that we are not stopping at two, because a win-win outcome for environmental sustainability and economic growth through industry development is good but insufficient. We want to go beyond that. We want to make sure that SGP 2012 will also contribute to social progress in Singapore. What do we mean by that? We believe that employment is the best way of sharing wealth and the most dignified way of sustaining broadbased social progress. In that regard, I agree fully with what Mdm Halimah mentioned two days ago in this House that we have to change our mindset. And this changing of mindset is not just for workers, but for the employers as well. I recall Mdm Halimah mentioned in this House that she hoped that more employers would pay greater attention to job enhancement and job redesign. I think that is a very important statement that I hope everyone of us would take note of. Take ENV, for example. We are both an employer and the lead agency in the SGP 2012. As an employer, we have a programme whereby we allow our workers, who are more than 62 years old, to continue working as daily rated employees (DREs). In fact, right now, more than 11% of our DREs, or over 100 of them, are workers who are more than 62 years old. What we do, basically, is to make sure that they remain healthy and productive. In that way, they can live a life more meaningfully. And yet, at the same time, we believe, as the lead agency in Singapore for SGP 2012, that there is a lot that needs to be done to redesign the jobs in the environmental sector, so that more Singaporeans will find the jobs more attractive. Sir, we cannot promise Singaporeans that the environmental sector will offer them easy jobs and good pay. But what we can promise them is that we are doing everything that we can to make sure that every job will be a good job with good pay. So, how to turn an easy job, lousy pay, to a good job with good pay is through job redesign, and that is what the ENV is doing. Today, we set up various skills standard committees in collaboration with the industry. Our intention, basically, is to redesign key jobs in the key sectors in the environmental sector, so that, hopefully, over time, as we pursue the objective in Singapore Green Plan 2012, we would not only be able to achieve sustainability, economic growth but, at the same time, social progress through employment creation. Sir, let me end by saying briefly something that I have gone through recently. I am a very keen golfer and, from time to time, I play golf with friends and we have small bets, at every hole, $1-$2. There was one day I played very well on hole No. 1. I par that hole, and my flight mates did not say anything. One of them said, "It is all right. MOT." I looked at him and said, "MOT - Ministry of Transport." I said, "No, I am from ENV. I am not from MOT." He said, "No, I am referring to something else. It does not matter." I went to hole No. 2. I played well again. This time I bogeyed and I played well again. The same guy said the same thing - MOT. And I was wondering what he was talking about. Finally, I came to hole No. 7. I was playing well in the first six holes. At every hole, he said "MOT". When I came to hole No. 7, I fumbled. I hit a triple bogey, and he laughed. He said, "I told you so - MOT." I said, "Please tell me, what is MOT?" He said, "Ah, it is a matter of time." Sir, I think if we look at nation building, it is the same thing. When we were doing well, many people out there said, "Look, it is a matter of time that the Singapore economy will run into problems." When we were enjoying full employment, there were people out there who said, "Look, the Singapore growth cannot be sustained. The full employment cannot be sustained. It is a matter of time this will happen." So, this has happened. These people out there will be smiling and saying, "I told you so - MOT." So, what do we do? At hole No. 7, when my partner said, "MOT", I had three options. The first option is, I concede, give up the rest of the game, accept that I am a lousy golfer and play triple bogey every hole. Or I can try to be a good player, play safe, do not take chances any more, go for double bogey, go for bogey, do not go for par, play safe so that I would not lose. Or I can try to play like Tiger Woods who is a great player, play to win, never mind the triple bogey, continue to go for par, go for bogey, better still for birdie, so that I can make up for that triple bogey. Sir, let me say that as far as the implementation of the Singapore Green Plan 2012 is concerned, we are playing to win. We are not taking a defensive approach towards the implementation of this plan. We are going on the offensive to make sure that the environment of Singapore will be sustainable for the long term, and we will make sure that our environmental industry will become a regional leader to contribute to economic growth. At the same time, we will make sure that this industry will provide more good jobs with good pay, so that more Singaporeans can benefit from the social angle of the implementation of the Singapore Green Plan 2012.

Sir, looking after the environment is not solely the job of any one party. As the Singapore Green Plan 2012 has aptly put it, "close partnership among the people, private and public sectors is absolutely crucial to forging a nation that is environmentally aware and responsible." Dr Teo Ho Pin asked what the Ministry can do to support green community groups. To encourage environmental partnership and ownership among the 3P sectors, the National Environment Agency (NEA) had set up a 3P partnership fund last year. The fund is available for partnership efforts between NEA and its 3P partners. NEA is committed to set aside $750,000 each year for these projects. In our effort to forge partnership with the 3P sector, we are always looking for ways to get closer to them. An example of our effort to get closer to them is the restructuring of our NEA regional offices. On 1st March this year, NEA restructured its previous six Environmental Health District Offices into five regional offices with boundaries that match the CDCs. This way, we can work closer with our public sector partners, the CDCs and the Town Councils. Another effort towards building a green community was the setting up of the environmental corner for children at the Woodlands Regional Library in November last year. While the public sector has an important role to play in building a green community, the private sector has an equally important, if not more important, role to play. We have several projects with the private sector that I want to mention. One example is the responsible care programme by the Singapore Chemical Industry Council, which spells out the Council's commitment to the public to continually improve its environmental operations. Another example is a project with Bayer. Bayer has a Young Environmental Envoy Programme. Under this programme, selected students are sent to Bayer's headquarters in Leverkusen, Germany, to learn about environmental problems. Another private sector organisation I would like to mention is the Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation. They have been working with students and youths on environmental issues for a long time under their Care for Nature Programme. Having mentioned public and private sector organisations and the important roles they play in building a green community, I would like now to move on to the last, but definitely not the least, P, ie, the people's sector. People's sector organisations, be they NGOs or grassroots organisations, are especially important in getting heartlanders to be environmentally friendly. I would like to mention two programmes we have. One is the Dengue Prevention Volunteer Group Programme, under which grassroots organisation members are trained on basic information on dengue fever and how it is transmitted and how it can be prevented. They check their neighbourhoods for our agencies. An NGO that has offered its volunteers to play an active role in environmental protection is the Waterways Watch Society. Its members undertake weekly boat patrols along the Singapore River and report any sighting of pollution to us. Another movement the NEA has started, in trying to get heartlanders to be more environmentally friendly, is the Litter Free Movement. The Litter Free Movement was launched last year when those attending outdoor events were asked not to leave their litter behind when they leave the place after the event is over. It started with a pilot project at the National Day Parade. And since then, this Movement has been taken to more than 20 outdoor events. As you can see, in looking after the environment, we have many parties involved. Usually, when we think about reaching out to environmentally active committed people, we think about young people wearing T-shirts saying "Save the World". In Singapore, we have carried the message to all sectors. Even accountants have joined the environment protection movement. Last week, I was at the function of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants. They were handing out Singapore Environmental Reporting Awards to companies. SIA won the award at the function. Today, accountants are auditing more than 300 companies on their environmental performance. All these bode well for the environment and we should continue to work together to build a sustainable environment that many further generations can live, work and play in.

Sir, there is a cut on birds and crows, and they can talk about eagle and birdies! My cut is on global and regional cooperation. So, I will go straight to MOT and save some time! Environment, Sir, knows no boundaries. As the Minister has said just now that there was still some haze affecting our PSI, but my own observation is that we had less last year. Was it because of better regional cooperation on environmental matters? And will the situation last? Now that Singapore has drawn a very impressive experience in terms of urban development and environmental management, what are our plans to share the experience with the region and the world? Singapore's strength lies in the ability to deal with the host of environmental sustainability challenges in the city development context, be it water, waste management or air quality. So the expertise we have acquired over the years would be relevant to other developing countries in their efforts to address challenges brought about by urbanisation and development. So, in addressing these environmental sustainability challenges, how does Singapore see the process of sharing with fellow developing countries its own experience, especially in the field of urban environmental management? How do we intend to do so and what would be our priority? Finally, while we share with others our experiences, who do we learn from to meet our own needs? Is it everybody, somebody, nobody or anybody?

Mr Lim, you have 15 minutes left for the whole Ministry.

Sir, Mr Zainul asked what is the progress in the area of regional haze. Since the last haze episode in 1997, the ASEAN nations have been working very closely. In fact, last year, we decided to take another step forward in a landmark regional agreement known as the ASEAN Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution. This Agreement will require six countries to ratify before it can come into force. So far, five countries have done so - Brunei, Malaysia, Singapore, Vietnam and Myanmar. And we hope that at least one more country would ratify this agreement, so that we can bring it into force before the end of this year. 1.30 pm Mr Zainul asked whether we are less affected by haze this year, is it because of this regional collaboration? I hope so, but I cannot be certain as yet. I would say that the next time when we go through another El Nino, I will be able to see what happens. If we are able to survive the next El Nino better than the one in 1997, then I would have the confidence to inform the Member that, indeed, the regional collaboration is working. But until then, I would say that we do whatever we can. Mr Zainul also asked what we can do to share our expertise and experience with the regional countries. Sir, the ASEAN Environment Ministers met again late last year to discuss follow-ups to the World Summit on Sustainable Development. We came to the conclusion that even though the ASEAN countries (10 member countries), with very different backgrounds and in very different stages of development, there are certain areas and common factors that apply to all of us. One common factor is the whole process of urbanisation. In fact, the UN's projection for 2030, which is about 30 years from now, is that in the Asia Pacific, the population in urban areas will double from 1.35 billion in the year 2000 to 2.6 billion by the year 2030. This will pose enormous burden on the city environment because there will be growing demands for water, energy and problems with sanitation drainage, solid waste management, and so on. In fact, the ASEAN Environment Ministers decided that we should jointly mount a regional initiative on what we call "Sustainable Cities". The idea is to create a platform so that every one of us - no matter whether you are from Singapore, Malaysia or Indonesia, and no matter whether you are from a small or a big country, because small and big countries have cities too - come together to promote sharing of ideas and know-how, so that we can learn and work with each other. In fact, this partnership will involve the participation beyond the ASEAN cities. In fact, our ASEAN+3 partners (Japan, China and Korea) have indicated their interest to take part in this programme as well. What NEA is doing is that we are now designated by ASEAN to play a leading role in this Working Group on Sustainable Cities. NEA had, in fact, submitted a concept proposal, and this was endorsed by the ASEAN Environment Ministers last month in Cambodia. We are now going into the process of implementation. So I would say that this would really be a very useful platform for us to share our experience with our fellow members of ASEAN and beyond. Sir, as we discuss on sustainable cities, one issue that often comes about is the issue of water. In fact, some of these ASEAN Ministers asked us this question - as we move towards NEWater and desalination water - would we end up overly dependent on energy, because all these are very energy-intensive? In fact, that was the point, if I remember, brought up by Mr Iswaran earlier. And I apologise for not replying to him earlier. Just to respond to that point - yes, desalination does take up more energy. It is true, because desalination is more energy-intensive. And precisely because of that, we have decided to diversify our sources of supply. That is the reason why we have four taps. Within these four taps, desalination by the year 2005 will only account for less than 10% of our water supply system. We are fully aware that we should not become overly dependent on energy in our water supply, and that is the reason why we are going for NEWater, which is a lot less energy-intensive. To be precise, the energy needed for NEWater is only one-fifth that of desalination. Such experience in becoming more self-sufficient in water supply without becoming overly dependent on energy is something that we can share with our fellow members as well under the sustainable cities programme.

Sir, it is a nuisance to attend to bird nuisance in Singapore. First, you must identify the bird that is causing nuisance. Then, you need to know at which location is the bird causing nuisance. If it is a crow, the Environment Ministry will attend to it. If it is not a crow, then it is under the jurisdiction of the National Development Ministry. But if the nuisance happens at a HDB common property, the town council will have to attend to it. If it is along the ENV drains, ENV will solve the problem. But if the bird is creating nuisance on the trees along the road divider, LTA is responsible for the nuisance. Of course, if the bird is causing nuisance in your house, then that is your problem! Sir, we need a one-stop agency to resolve all the bird nuisance in Singapore. May I ask the Minister what is the Ministry doing to resolve this birdie problem?

Sir, birds are a part of nature and a part of our eco-system. We must learn to live with nature and see it as a thing of beauty and not a nuisance. After all, these things of nature have learned to live with us. So, we should learn to live with them. It would be a sad day when we do not have any more living creatures in our environment because we go out to eliminate them because they are a nuisance. So we should see this bird nuisance in its correct perspective. Is there a threat to public health? If there is, then I can assure the House that my Ministry will not hesitate to remove the threat. And that is just not limited to birds; the same goes for any animal, mineral or vegetable. In the case of crows, for example, my Ministry mounted a major culling programme because the crow population has grown to such overwhelming numbers which make them a threat to public health. Crows, being large birds, have a high capacity of carrying pathogens and when there are so many of them around, they pose a threat to public health. We would not say the same about mynahs or sparrows that we see around us today. They pose no threat. However, for the convenience of the public, all feedback and enquiries about nuisance caused by birds can be directed to NEA, who will act as a single agency. At the same time, the public should refrain from feeding birds as that will only attract them to return and congregate in large numbers at one location. Those who believe that feeding the birds is an act of kindness should take heart that these wild birds have the ability to find their food themselves.

Dr Teo, do you want to withdraw the amendment?

Sir, I would like to thank the Minister and the Minister of State for their sustainable answers which, I believe, will be recyclable in the future. I beg leave to withdraw the amendment. Amendment, by leave, withdrawn.

Amendment No. (2), Mr Ang Mong Seng.

Sir, I beg to move, That the sum to be allocated for Head L of the Main Estimates be reduced by $10 in respect of Code LC 1500. (In Mandarin): Sir, last year, I asked the Minister how many crows were there in Singapore and he said it was about 120,000, to the astonishment of everybody. But last Sunday, when I went to a hawker centre for my breakfast, I saw a lot of crows flying around. So, I would like to ask the Minister how effective was his crow culling campaign.

Sir, I understand that in Chinese, there are two types of crows. But with regard to flying crows, NEA has reduced the crow population in 2002 through culling by more than two-thirds. The estimated population is now about 40,000, down from 120,000. We will continue with our culling efforts. An expert from NUS has suggested that the crow population should be brought down to 10,000. We will continue to consult the experts and our culling effort to bring the crow population down to a manageable number. Many public places, eg, East Coast Park, are now relatively crow-free. Crow nuisance areas have also dropped. In Ang Mo Kio, they have dropped by about 80%, from about 1,000 areas to 200 areas. East Coast Park has dropped from about 200 areas to 10 areas. Complaints have also dropped. In 2000, there was an average of about 340 complaints per month. Now, this has dropped to about 200 complaints a month. So we are winning our battle against crows.

Sir, I thank the ENV for the good effort. I beg leave to withdraw my amendment. Amendment, by leave, withdrawn. The sum of $470,438,540 for Head L ordered to stand part of the Main Estimates. The sum of $1,427,073,500 for Head L ordered to stand part of the Development Estimates. Head K -

Head K - Ministry of Education. Amendment No. (1), Dr Wang Kai Yuen.

Sir, I beg to move, That the total sum to be allocated for Head K of the Main Estimates be reduced by $100. Sir, the ERC Report calls for greater entrepreneurial spirit in our society. The Committee realises that if Singapore were to scale greater heights in future, the future working population must be more entrepreneurial than the past generations. Mr Raymond Lim, Minister of State in charge of entrepreneurship, recognises that schools are the cradles of future entrepreneurs. He also mentioned that some schools are already actively encouraging students to operate stalls in an attempt to promote this spirit. Sir, while running stalls teaches the basics of business, I see entrepreneurship as being more than that. To me, being entrepreneurial means the ability to create opportunities when none existed. It also means the foresight to seize opportunities when these are not yet recognised by others. Besides, we require the tenacity of a bulldog to bring that opportunity to fruition. To try to turn out entrepreneurs by the busloads through our schools will be unrealistic. Nonetheless, I think it is important that we try to inculcate the habit of being entrepreneurial in our young people. Hopefully, they will become more creative and innovative when they become adults. Another desirable outcome, Sir, will be the appreciation of the difficulties of striking out on one's own. If more of our people share this appreciation, then we will be more likely to look at successful entrepreneurs not with envy but with admiration. Sir, a big step has already been taken by MOE to promote creativity through the JC curriculum reform aimed at inculcating thinking skills versus rote learning. This was debated extensively in this House in November last year. The new curriculum will be introduced in 2006. As this is the most significant change in our education policy in recent years, I suggest that we allow these changes to work their way through the system before embarking on more radical changes. On the other hand, Sir, MOE has implicitly adopted the strategy of introducing creativity in our education system by allowing the effect of the JC curriculum changes to percolate itself through the system from JCs to secondary schools to primary schools. To me, Sir, this is a passive approach and would take much longer. I would urge a more proactive approach to introduce creative thinking in our schools. I suggest that MOE carry out a review of the PSLE curriculum as well as the "O" level curriculum concurrently with the JC curriculum with a view to introducing thinking skills as early as possible. At the primary level, one way is to increase the attention pupils received by the teachers through reducing class size, a subject which I will come back to in my next cut. Sir, we should lay a strong foundation for creative learning as early as possible so that the vision of a more entrepreneurial Singapore could be realised.

We have a total of 365 minutes for this amendment. Mdm Halimah.

Sir, we have a robust education system which is responsive to changing needs and continuously strive to prepare our students both for the labour market and in their role as responsible citizens in our society. There are, of course, areas where we are concerned about when we hope that sufficient resources will continue to be allocated and attention continues to be focused. This is the impression that our education system is elitist and the concern over streaming and its impact on our children's self-esteem and self-confidence. We understand the principles involved. Different children have different abilities, and the existing system is meant to reduce wastage which was much greater in the past. Many of us have visited the ITE and are impressed with the changes there compared to the old VITB. Examples like this will help to enhance people's confidence in our school system and generate a better understanding of streaming. Sir, let me now come to the point which was mentioned by Dr Wang Kai Yuen. I support his views and I also want to say that the review that is done should be continued with regard to primary education as well. And I also note, recently, that the Ministry has conducted a review of pre-school education. To me, such a review of primary education is not only timely but also logical, as pre-school education is very much linked to primary education and one of its aims must be to prepare children for primary school. Sir, many of us have also argued in this House that there is a need to better align primary school education with the revised curriculum in the upper secondary school with its new focus on developing better thinking, communication and other process skills. If the primary school review is in the pipeline, I would like to make two specific suggestions which I hope can be taken on board when the Ministry makes its review. Firstly, I would like to request that the Ministry consider introducing a single session for primary schools. This has already been done for secondary schools and the benefits are obvious. Teachers and students are less harried, compared to a situation where students and teachers from both sessions have to hastily make way for each other. With only one session, students and teachers could also spend more time interacting with each other outside school hours and can use the classrooms and facilities for enrichment programmes or additional classes. Secondly, I would like to support Dr Wang Kai Yuen that the Ministry should consider reducing the class size for primary schools. This is a matter which has been raised many times before but which had not gained much support. But I am aware that, in the review of pre-school education, one suggestion is to reduce the student/teacher ratio. This seems to indicate that the Ministry acknowledges the importance of smaller class sizes in enhancing teaching effectiveness and delivery. I am also reminded of the benefits of a small class size. If you look at the gifted programme, the class sizes are smaller, which is a further testimony of the benefits of small class sizes. With this small class size, more students will benefit.

Your time is up, Mdm Halimah.

Sir, Singapore has an excellent reputation for being a centre of excellence for education. As Singapore strives to grow the education sector as an economic driver, we have relaxed our education policy to enable more foreign students to study in Singapore. By allowing foreign students to study in Singapore, we will be able to tap on a larger talent pool. However, liberalisation of policies can also cause unintended problems. Two of the major issues that have arisen as a result of the relaxed entry of foreign students are as follows. Firstly, we have the issue of accompanying mothers. Certain students are allowed to have mothers accompanying them when they study in Singapore. There have been reports that these mothers have deviated from the intended role to look after their children and care for them while they study in Singapore. Instead, many have taken up jobs in health clubs, massage parlours, etc. Some have also used the excuse of sending their children here for study to come to Singapore when their real intention was actually to find a job in Singapore. This may result in social problems. Secondly, we have the issue of ensuring standards in education. There have been Chinese students who have studied in private educational institutions in Singapore and when they went back to China, they claimed that, despite spending their time studying in Singapore, they have not learned to speak proper English and did not have a good programme. This can damage our reputation as a centre of educational excellence. However, I have had very positive feedback from Chinese students who have studied in public educational institutions in Singapore. Many of them speak fluent English and have won many prizes. They not only perform well academically, but are also entrepreneurial. I had the chance to see business plans written by students from Shanghai, Dalian and Qingdao. And I was very impressed by their business plans which were written in impeccable English. While we grow our educational services as an economic driver, we must ensure that standards are maintained and our reputation is preserved. We can perhaps learn from one of the public educational institutions in Singapore which has won respect and praise from students in Singapore. In China, they say that there are three universities in Singapore - NUS, NTU and Ngee Ann University. What they are actually referring to is Ngee Ann Polytechnic. The students tell me that Ngee Ann Polytechnic has established an extremely good reputation as a tertiary educational institution. NAP sets very stringent entry requirements and students have to sit for an entrance examination and those who succeed in the entrance examination have to undergo an individual interview with the panel from Ngee Ann Polytechnic, lasting about 15 to 20 minutes. As a result, only the very best get into Ngee Ann Polytechnic. Students are also known to have given up places in top universities in China for a place in Ngee Ann Polytechnic. What I would like to ask the Minister is whether the Ministry would review this attempt to expand the educational sector by putting in place, perhaps, a more stringent standard, entrance examination, or streaming test, so that we protect our reputation. What measures will the Government take to try to balance the need to grow the educational sector as an economic driver and, yet, ensure that Singapore's reputation as a centre of excellence will not be tarnished?

Sir, I would like to touch on a few topics today. First of all, is on class sizes which two Members have brought up. While the availability of teachers may be a short-term issue, can we at least try to experiment with small class sizes by applying a hybrid system? We can have average class sizes for some subjects, and then break up some for bigger classes and some for smaller classes. We can do all of this within the same curriculum time. With this approach, we will not need many more teachers because these things will average out. I advocate small class sizes for slower children so that they will have a better chance of catching up with their peers as they get closer attention. And we can have bigger class sizes than normal for faster children. It will not be much loss for them because they do not need much attention anyway. Second, I support the issue of single session primary schools. I suggest that we start with a few pilot schools and, if it is successful, we can implement a roadmap for expansion to all schools. With single session schools, we will have the opportunity to have a much more flexible curriculum and to spend extra time with students who need more attention. Sir, the third issue is on streaming. While I do not fully agree with the streaming system, especially the way it is being implemented, I will not challenge the system this year because I know that I will get the same answer. I would like to, instead, focus on what success we have had with the system. If we really mean and do what we advocate in the system of streaming children according to their learning abilities, then we should see results of the focused effort to let slower children catch up with their peers. I therefore would like to ask the Minister to share with the House the results of the system and, in particular, the following statistics. How many EM3 students are transferred to EM2 at the Primary 6 level? How many EM3 students finally get a tertiary qualification? How many EM3 students make it to the 'O' levels? How many Normal (Technical) students make it back to the Express Stream? And how many Normal (Technical) students make it to tertiary education? Fourthly, I also support the drive for entrepreneurship and the suggestions made by some of the Members. In addition to what has been suggested, I would like to suggest that we have entrepreneurship as a CCA activity in secondary schools. Can we set up entrepreneurship clubs, like we have debating clubs, gardening clubs, and so on? The NYAA is willing to spearhead this project but we need MOE to agree that this will be a recognised CCA activity.

Education in Singapore is undoubtedly one of the cornerstones from which we have built our economy and great strides have indeed been made in educating our young. The budget for Education has consistently remained the second highest Government spending. Last year, the system saw major proposed reforms for the upper secondary/JC education and the university sector. The proposed changes to be made to the upper secondary/JC education to inject greater breadth, flexibility and diversity into the curriculum has largely been welcomed by Singaporeans. The proposed expansion of the university sector to allow among others more Singaporeans to study at the local universities has also been viewed positively. A new pre-school programme, developed by MOE with expert help, which teaches students to play activities, discovery and experiment has also been launched. Amidst all these changes, there seems to be a missing link as the Ministry has been silent on any impending changes to be made to primary school education. Sir, like my parliamentary colleagues before me, I would also like to ask the Minister if the Ministry will be looking into revamping the primary school, as well as the lower secondary education, so as to make them fit into pre-school as well as the upper secondary and JC education. As I noted in the debate on the upper secondary/JC education review, the new education roadmap on greater breadth, flexibility and diversity should also be made available to those in the lower secondary and primary schools so that all will be charting a common course. Many parents continue to be anguished at the mere thought that their children will practically lose their childhood and the joy of childhood once they enter what is generally perceived as the pressure-cooker Singapore education system from Primary 1. Along the lines of the new pre-school programme, should not the primary school teaching methods be also changed to give more weight to learning through activity, discovery and experiment and less weight on rote learning? The MOE should also review the curriculum content and workload of primary school students to see if the content can be further trimmed without sacrificing quality and standard. Again, like my parliamentary colleagues before me, I would also like to ask the Ministry to look into the feasibility of introducing single session primary schools because I have noted how my children have benefited when their school turned from a two session school to a single session school. Sir, the changes made to the pre-school, JC and university curriculum to allow for more broad-based education and nurturing thinking skills are, indeed, first steps in the right direction. However, change should also be made equally upstream. Hence, I urge MOE not to delay in looking at the equally needed reforms, especially for those in primary schools.

Sir, I sat last year on the ERC Sub-committee on Enhancing Human Capital. The Workgroup on Arts, Culture, Sports and Recreation noted that, while our school system has done well in science, technology and mathematics, there is an urgent need to pay equal attention to literature, arts and sports education. Further, school teachers need to understand the purpose of literature, arts and sports education, less to help talented students to become artists or sportsmen, but more to build character and skills to understand human relationship and appreciate aesthetics, to nurture a receptive mindset for both the arts and sports and to be creative individually. Thus, our literature, arts and sports education policy should be such that every one, not only the talented few, is given the opportunity to experience. I would like to propose therefore that, notwithstanding the plans, when the Arts School and the Sports School are targeted at nurturing and developing those youngsters with the talent to make it to the apex of these disciplines, we should place literature, arts and sports as an essential part of school education in general. I expect that the Minister will say that our children do currently have arts and sports in their curriculum and give us examples of even some neighbourhood schools which have showcased band, drama, sports, or other arts programmes and enumerate the number of teachers in each school trained in physical education. But what I am talking about is the uniform delivery of a quality curriculum in these two areas across all schools, and the development and appreciation for aesthetics through the learning of the arts and the love for sports, rather than an aversion that develops as a result of being required to participate in some less than inspiring physical activity programme, developing the love for sports, to build character, team spirit and healthy competitiveness. Since I have referred in passing to the subject of the Sports School, I cannot but make the observation here as well that the announcement that the school will not accept Normal Stream students is sadly at odds with all that we have been, in recent times, saying about professing to value and to want to nurture diversity and to value youngsters with different skills and talents. This inability to get beyond, first and foremost, academic abilities above all, will cost us many youngsters with different talents to fall through the cracks in our selection processes and criteria. 2.00 pm

Sir, I wish to say something about a subject which I am quite certain the Minister may bristle at. Streaming has been the bane of many parents and students. It keeps popping up at parliamentary sittings in one guise or another. Before I come to my main point, I wish to state categorically that I support the principle behind streaming. The principle is that different students are gifted in different ways. A programme that matches a student to his or her aptitude will extract the best from him, compared to one that treats all students alike. There is a risk that an egalitarian approach could dump down instead of level up, as some schools in Europe tinged with socialist ideals have found. I do not like the stigma that attaches to streaming. But I support the notion that, on the whole, students should gain from it, however Orwellian this may be. My problem is not that there should not be any streaming at all. Instead, I think we need to have more streaming. So far, the streaming we are familiar with has a bias towards the upper 10-20 percentile of the population. Indeed, the whole issue of upper secondary/JC education that this House debated last November seems to give heavy emphasis to those who actually need less help, ie, the gifted and those in the through-train system and the elite private schools. Our scarce manpower resources make it imperative that the precious little we have be optimised so that, from the mixture, the cream will rise to become the future leaders of the country. But what about the bottom 10-20 percentile? This group is a far more needy group that would, of course, demand proportionately more resources to help than the average student group. I speak especially of the Learning Support Programme, which is an early intervention programme designed to identify and help the weaker students in Primary 1 and 2. Perhaps, the resource issue is the key reason why the LSC programme does not continue into the middle and upper primary schools. I urge the Minister to look into how special programmes can be designed to help them. In doing so, I am supporting the notion of streaming. However, I am arguing not that it has gone too far but that it has not gone far enough to make a difference to those who need the most help. The Sports School recently drew flak from parents because of the principal's insistence that applicants must be at least in EM2 to qualify. This is another instance of inadequate streaming. Streaming should not be confined to academic outcomes, but also recognise that talent has many, many forms. Few are the ones who are gifted in multiple areas. Since streaming is already so entrenched in Singapore, why not go the whole hog and permit the Sports School or similar specialised institutions to admit students talented in sports but less gifted academically, but be more flexible about such criteria?

Sir, unlike Dr Amy Khor, I think we should scrap the current streaming system and replace it with a subject-based system to maximise the potential of each student. Sir, at last year's Budget debate, I asked the Ministry to consider exploring the idea of organising schools based on subject, by replacing the current streaming system, based on a cluster of subjects, to one based on individual subjects. Students would then be grouped into different classes based on the marriage of the individual subjects. This would allow further customisation of learning, and further allow the development of individual student's potential. I note from news reports that ACS (Barker Road) has introduced the concept of theme classrooms which are subject-focused. Although this is only a pilot project of grouping classes according to the subject, I think this is a positive first step forward. Theme classrooms could perhaps one day become a leading model for our national school system. I believe that besides the benefit mentioned above, this system would also be able to significantly reduce the social stigma of streaming. I would like to ask the Minister whether he has any intention to expand this pilot project to include other schools. Another issue, Sir, which is associated with the streaming system, is the decision of the newly-established Singapore Sports School to admit only Express stream students. I cannot understand the rationalisation why selection should be based on academic performance and, in particular, only the Express stream. Does this not defeat the purpose of setting up a Sports School in the first place? I request the Minister to clarify.

Sir, on the subject of holistic education, the thought that comes to my mind is that if we were to ask the school principals and teachers today how many of them have spoken to their students about the impending war in 24 hours in Iraq, I am not so sure many school students will have some foretaste of the story developing and shaping up in the Middle East. Also, we spoke so much about the Economic Review Committee report. A lot of effort has been put in. I wonder how many principals and teachers are equipped to discuss the important subject that will affect them in the next 15 years, because the Economic Review Committee report is framed for the next 15 years. So, as we are already very strong in our education system, I think the future really lies in how do we make it stronger and better. It is no longer the science of education but rather the art of it. I share Dr Jennifer Lee's point with regard to how much more rounded we can make our students to be in not only in the sciences but also in the arts and the humanities. As the global economy is with us today, we are seeing ourselves getting involved with cross-cultural contacts and issues. I am not very sure that the way in which the students are placed, the subjects that they learn, and the inter-personal relationships that they develop with one another, prepares them for this cross-cultural environment that our young would have to face. I know that these are more likely to be activity-based rather than classroom subjects but, in preparing for the future of education, we cannot help that activities become as important as classroom teaching. So, I wonder whether the Ministry of Education can think about how we can prepare our students for the future in the cross-cultural environment and the world in which they are going to work and live in. The other thing we are seeing is that some of the supposedly successful people are getting into trouble, and that has got to do with values and ethics.

Mr Loh Meng See, you have to start winding up your speech.

Sir, I just want to stress that value education is very important, and I hope that the Ministry will strengthen this area.

Sir, the Ministry's mission statement and the desired outcomes demand that a holistic education system be adopted so as to bring out the best in our students. Sir, education is about creating opportunities for the young to acquire knowledge, both science and the arts, and knowledge about life and its skills. It must therefore follow that the Ministry must provide as best as it can a balanced education and create a vibrant and enquiring mind in the child. As he grows, he must specialise, but only at the tertiary level and not too early in life. There must be variety in the education system. Could the Ministry tell us what are the indicators used to measure the value of a good education? We seem to score well in mathematics and science subjects with our top students, but not in English or other subjects. How much of what our children learn in schools serve them later in life? Where are our inventors and risk-takers? Would the Ministry also allow private primary schools? If not, why not? This option will bring in creativity, variety and choice for our children. Our education system must adopt a holistic approach and let the child mature with a thinking mind, independent enough but not too individualistic, without care for the community. The system must be flexible and not be rigid. There cannot be creativity, if there is so much conformity in schools. The child must be happy with what he is learning, and there should not be an over-emphasis on anything that will create unbearable tensions in his learning process. The nation must not treat him as an economic digit. Education must pave the way for him to dream and be practical at the same time. There must not be set ways, and there must be an open mind about the values of education. What has the Ministry done to ensure this? Sir, being a multi-racial and multi-religious society, there must be fairness in the education system for one and all. There must not be any form of discrimination, real or perceived, based on race, religion or sex. The Constitution of Singapore enshrines these matters. One could argue that SAP schools might favour the Chinese students. Should there not be similar schools for Malays and Indians, etc? If SAP schools are good for the Chinese, why not for the others? Why is it good for the Chinese? Do SAP schools create in the students studying there to be isolated from other races? SAP schools may not foster racial integration. Is the Ministry looking into this matter and what is the follow up on this? What are the benefits and advantages, as compared to the disadvantages of having the SAP schools? In fact, would the Ministry also look into the whole issue of second language? There should be less emphasis on second language as a compulsory subject to progress from O-levels to A-levels and to universities. Many families, I understand ---

You are running out of time, Mr Chandra Mohan.

--- have migrated because of the second language rules in schools.

Sir, the topic is on the new JC and upper secondary school curriculum, and the issue is on uniformity and education, and the inculcation of creativity. Sir, I did not have the chance to speak during the debate on the White Paper on the new JC and upper secondary curriculum. I fully support the intended outcome of the new system. I believe we have always had this tension between producing responsible, obedient and disciplined citizens on one side, and on developing a thinking and reflexive workforce on the other. We should, therefore, at all levels of the education system, differentiate between education practices, such as uniforms, discipline, rituals, ECA and others, and education content, such as curriculum, project work and subjects. To avoid mass production at content-related education, it is an excellent idea to create some unstructuredness within the structure of the curriculum and the syllabus. The flexible nature of selecting subjects at the Pre-U level, which has been suggested, is an excellent way to develop the entrepreneurship drive in Singapore. What are the Minister's thoughts about moving all of this unstructuredness to the secondary school level as well as to the primary school level, as some Members have suggested? Can the Minister elaborate on how bright students from neighbourhood schools will be able to take advantage of the through-train system of skipping the O-level examinations? Will they be easily allowed to transfer into schools with the new system? The next issue is on the setting up of private schools in Singapore. Can we be flexible in allowing Singaporean children to go into international schools already in Singapore? Given the restrictions that we have placed in the new system, it is unlikely that we will see new private schools being set up. We should have the confidence that our children will still be able to imbibe local values despite going to such schools. Sir, on private universities, we already have many local institutions that offer distance learning or open learning programmes, and we should give them recognition to recognise them as full universities, not just for the benefit of Singaporeans, but also students from around the region. Finally, on the issue of twinning of SAP schools and neighbourhood schools - it is an issue that I should have brought up earlier - can I ask the Minister what is the progress on this suggestion to address the issues that Mr Chandra Mohan has just brought up?

Sir, primary education will always be tugging at the heartstrings of our parents, as we see our young adjusting themselves to the discipline and rigours expected of them in schools. For those of us whose children adjust easily, it is a big relief. For those whose children do not, it is a source of great anxiety and stress. Sir, I think one way to address this concern is to look at the ways and means to ease the adaptation of children to primary education. The attention the children receive in class is important and, to have better attention, one possibility is to reduce the class size. I have reviewed the studies on class sizes done overseas in the US and Japan, and must confess that I could not find any conclusive evidence showing that smaller class size would necessarily mean better education. It seems to me that it is more important to have better teachers than to have smaller class size, everything being equal. But, of course, we must bear in mind that, in Singapore, our class size is already larger than those of the developed countries which I have mentioned. However, I think the one-size-fits-all class size might not be the best option when it comes to Primary 1 and Primary 2 classes. We should realise that in our pre-school, childcare and kindergarten classes, including PCF kindergartens, the class sizes are already smaller than the standard size of 40. Presumably, Sir, this is in recognition of the fact that younger children need better and closer personal attention so that, when the children join Primary 1, they will endure a quantum decrease in teachers' attention. Some adjust well and some do not. Thus, for children in P1 and P2, I believe that our children will benefit significantly from greater personal attention in the class than they are today if they could have fewer pupils in a class. Rather than calling an across-the-board reduction in class size, I would urge the Minister to consider reducing the number of pupils in P1 and P2 only, so that the teachers could better maintain class discipline, while paying significant attention to the pupils and, at the same time, meet the ever-increasing demand of higher expectation. 2.15 pm Sir, I think in some of the developed countries, teacher aides are used to support the teachers in the classrooms. We do not have to go that far but, I believe a smaller class size in the early years will work wonders for our children.

Mr Iswaran is not here. Mr Gan.

Sir, some of my parliamentary colleagues have suggested that a review be done on the primary school education system. I agree and would suggest that this review should be done this year and it should cover a broad scope, including the following areas. Firstly, the curriculum. It would be timely for us to revalidate the primary school curriculum, in view of the changing education landscape in Singapore. It may also be good for us to take this opportunity to re-look at the non-academic subjects such as national education and character development. Secondly, on single session schools. The main constraint to implementing single session schools is the lack of physical capacity and the lack of teaching resources. However, the benefit of single session schools is quite convincing from the arguments from many of my parliamentary colleagues. I would therefore suggest that we could look at implementing single session schools for the upper primary school levels. I would like to urge the Ministry to consider introducing these sessions in primary five or primary six and in selected schools as a pilot project. If this proves to be successful and beneficial, we can then extend it to more schools and later, to lower primary classes as well. Thirdly, teacher training. We must ensure both the quality and quantity of teachers, especially if we are to move towards single session schools. In this respect, I am glad that the NIE provides ample opportunities for continuous education and training for our teachers to upgrade and update themselves. Perhaps, more could be done. Fourthly, teacher workload. We must also pay some attention to the workload of our teachers. There must be a balance between both teaching and non-teaching workloads. If too much non-teaching workload is imposed on the teachers, the quality of their teaching will invariably suffer. The losers in the end will be our own children. The review of the primary school system is important and I hope that the Minister will consider carrying it out.

In these first 35 minutes of the debate on the Education budget, four Members before me have asked for single session primary schools. I would like to add my voice to theirs. The benefits of single session schools have been enumerated in this House by other Members in previous Budget debates as well. And to quote the Minister himself, they include the greater flexibility in the use of curriculum time and resources for the schools, a wider range of enrichment programmes to cater to students of different abilities and family backgrounds in a more vibrant school culture. Besides the educational imperatives and benefits of a single session system, it will, in addition, allow schools to push their starting time a little later, from the current 7.00 am or so to, say, 8.30 am, so that our poor children and their mums, who have to get them ready for school, do not have to get up at unearthly hours, which they do currently, to be on time. Furthermore, single session schools will be a boon to parents who currently have to juggle getting their children to and from school and supervising them after they get home. This is particularly significant for families who have two, three or more children. We wish there were more of these families. Somehow, it seems there is a special variance of the equivalent of Murphy's law for schools which determines that if you have two children, they will invariably always be in different sessions, morning and afternoon, every year, throughout their primary school days. When the Minister responded last to a question on this subject in the debate of 2001, he said that MOE would consider whether to have single session primary schools when PRIME was closer to completion. PRIME was launched in 1999 and anticipated at that time to take seven years to complete. I believe that the programme must have been accelerated, as by the 2001 Budget debate, which was just two years later, the Minister reported that 46% of schools had already undergone redevelopment under PRIME. It is now another two years since 2001, so I am sure that PRIME would almost certainly be at completion or very close to now. Therefore, may I ask the Minister to please reconsider the implementation of single session primary schools as it will be of significant benefit to all parties - the schools, teachers, parents and family life.

Sir, thank you for allowing me to speak on this topic. Today, I wish to focus on another group of students, the weaker students, the Normal (Academic) students and the Normal (Technical) students in secondary school. Two out of five students today from an annual cohort of 40,000 students end up in the Normal classes. And out of this, each year, 10,000 Normal (Academic) students sit for the Normal (Academic) examinations that take place in October. From that cohort, about 80% or 7,500-8,000 of them go on to sit for the Secondary Five Express 'O' level examination. However, from this group, I am told that a much smaller proportion of them do go on to 'A' levels or to polytechnics, the main reason being that they cannot cope with the rigours of the Secondary Five 'O' level examination primarily because they have to cope with more subjects in some cases. Because they do five subjects at Normal (Academic) and now they want to do more subjects. The other reason is they have to bridge the content gap and be ready for the 'O' level examination. I am asking the Ministry if it is possible to review the curriculum for the Normal (Academic) stream students, starting from Secondary Three to Secondary Five. If 80% of our students go on to sit for the 'O' levels, perhaps, the end point should be the 'O' levels and not the Normal (Academic) examinations at Secondary Four. Therefore, the cramming of content, as well as revising and doing test questions, etc, in a space of nine months is a bit short of a miracle when they are Normal (Academic) students, because the Secondary Three and Four students do it in April when they have finished their revision and they are ready for their 'O' level examinations. I think we are putting an undue demand in a way on our Normal (Academic) students. The other group of students that I would like to refer to are the Normal (Technical) students. In my opinion, I feel that some of them, in spite of the very good LSP programme in the primary school, may have fallen through the gap and may have ended up in the Normal (Technical) stream without really good skills in reading and numeracy. Is it possible perhaps for us to focus our attention at Secondary One just to get them on board with numeracy and literacy skills so that they become independent learners with the content as time goes on? I have looked at the Normal (Technical) content for Secondary One and I still think it is a little bit too heavy on content. Lastly, may I also appeal to the Ministry to persuade its principals to refrain from discussing school 'O' level results both on speech days and annual reports as these are results done by our Secondary Four (Express) students. These are results brought in by our Secondary Five (Express) students? After all, the students have sat for the same examinations, same rigour, and this kind of stigmatisation runs counter to the mission of the school.

Sir, the word "excellence" is synonymous with Singaporean culture. It exists in spirit, if not in form, in almost all our institutions' vision and mission statement. Our schools are no exception. We strive for excellence in everything we do, to the point that a newspaper report recently noted that some schools have excelled so much in their examination results that there is little room for improvement. We may have to create a grade Excellence* on top of the A* for them to improve further. It is thus not surprising that the other side of the coin for excellence is stress. Sir, much has been said about the stress levels in our schools. We have heard the Ministry's response. It is manageable as our students are indeed excelling, and only a handful are having difficulty managing the stress. The other thing is that it is the parents who are stressing out the children with their unrealistic expectations. Coping with stress requires a certain skills set and resilience. The extreme failure to cope with stress is for one to go into depression and to some, become suicidal. Sir, psychiatrists and other helping professionals have highlighted that stress is a silent killer. In 2001, about 14,000 children were reported to have seen psychiatrists for help. About 2,000 or more are new cases. Studies have also shown that 5-25% of children have some mental health issues. If we take about 10% of them, you will have 90,000 students who may need help, but only 14,000 are receiving help so far. Are they suffering in silence? What is the Ministry's plans to ascertain the status of mental health of our children to be able to detect them early? Sir, in the school system, students are not the only ones who are stressed out. Many have heard how teachers are also stressed out. One can argue that stress exists in any profession and so why should teachers be the exception? I heard in a recent conference on mental health that noted that teachers are the most highly stressed group among the list of professionals. Several articles in the New Paper dated 2nd March also provided some case examples of how teachers are suffering from depression as a result of work-related stress. We do not know the estimated number at this point in time, but I think it is more critical for us to understand whether seeking help will adversely affect their performance appraisals. Sir, this issue of coping with stress is a complex one and, therefore, we need to ask ourselves how do we actually view help-seeking behaviour. Is help-seeking behaviour seen as a failure to cope or seen as a coping mechanism? Sir, we pride ourselves as having one of the best education systems and institutions in the world. Our students excel in international competitions. We make a mark despite our size. As we celebrate this glory, let us be mindful of the silent killer that may be cancerous in our institutions and systems. Sir, STRESS, is a six-letter word that can mean Students and Teachers, in Reaching for Excellence, may be Suffering in Silence. I urge the Ministry to conduct regular "stress mammograms and scans" to ensure that cases are detected early. Like cancer, early detection leads to the best chances of cure. Our children have a whole lifetime ahead of them. The teachers are responsible in caring and nurturing their students. Let us also begin to care for the caregivers. 2.30 pm

Sir, public education on educational reforms. With all the recent changes made to the education system and curriculum for pre-school, secondary, pre-university and university levels, parents and the public are generally not well informed and clear about them. Some of these changes were discussed in this House and some, my parliamentary colleagues and I had the privilege of visiting and seeing when the Minister kindly arranged for these visits, for instance, to ITE and NIE. But, as I said, we are the privileged lot. What is the Ministry doing in helping parents and the public understand these changes in simple and clear language, and how is the public education to be carried out?

Sir, it is commendable that MOE states on its website, and I quote, "That the education system is flexible and caters to every child's abilities, interests and aptitudes, so as to help each to develop to his fullest potential." Just as the industry moves from low value-add mass production to high value-add mass customisation, so must our education system evolve to a more student-centred approach to meet individual needs and talents. In recent years, school principals have been entrusted and empowered with the task of developing their school culture. Unfortunately, many still use the same national benchmarks of academic and other rankings as measurements of their success. As such, resources are channelled to raising academic grades, altering schedules and focusing narrowly on areas which the school does well, for example, a very narrowly-focused CCA. As Dr Jennifer Lee and others have also observed, some schools have too limited a range of CCAs and subjects and have designed limited capacity in non-core areas. I see two problems in this development. One, that schools become too narrowly-focused and hence cannot provide sufficient experience and exposure for the growing child. And, two, students who are interested in a particular field of sports or arts not offered by the school will be deprived of the opportunity to pursue their passion and this may have the long-term effect of moulding him or her into a dull Jane or John. Sir, to survive in a rapidly changing world, other than the 3Rs, we need to help our young cultivate their interest, which can translate into a passion for life, a passion for success. No matter how many As a person can score, the battle is lost if he loses his survival instinct. Sir, it is passion, not rules, that can ensure a future workforce that will deliver their work with quality and pride, equipped to deal with the world of tomorrow. I understand that resources are limited and we cannot cater to every single child. But, as we move towards mass customisation, I hope the emphasis would be on cultivating the child, rather than on the school culture alone. Perhaps the Minister can comment on the Ministry's stand on this, whether there is a monitoring system to ensure that schools are committed to provide at least a more generous basic tier of popular CCAs and academic subjects to widen the experience and mix of talents within the school. I concede that while this may not be a problem for primary schools, this is a problem for secondary schools upwards, as choice of and entry to schools are constrained by both grades and travel distance. Three, the creative industry has been identified as a growth engine. What steps would the Ministry be taking to identify, encourage and nurture the development of each child's latent talent? Last, but not least, I would like to focus on financial literacy, or rather the lack of it. Insufficient emphasis on life-skills like financial management can wreak havoc in both the individual's and the State's finances. It is clear from debates on financial literacy and credit that the majority of our population who has gone through a vigorous education system, is not equipped to handle basic and personal financial management. Sir, we have to ask our population to be more self-reliant but part of the responsibility lies with us equipping them with the necessary financial skills. Perhaps the Ministry can consider including basic life-skills, particularly financial management, as part of the curriculum options.

Can I remind Members to keep your speeches short, please? Dr Tan Boon Wan.

Sir, during recent meetings with parents, many continued to voice concerns with the heavy school bags that their primary school children have to struggle with to school. They are aware that the Ministry has been reviewing the curricula and the syllabi of the various subjects at the various levels. I would, therefore, appreciate it if the Minister could give the House a progress report of this effort at all levels and, in particular, at the primary level. Can the Ministry also look at other ways that can reduce the amount of materials that primary school children have to carry in their heavy school bags?

Sir, at the recent visit to the National Institute of Education, I saw something that has increased my confidence in our education system. A lady teacher, with decades of service and one and a half years to go before retirement, was learning about cells and DNA, right along with colleagues who would have been her daughter's age. They were learning to make simple but effective and realistic models of cells and doing hands-on experience on DNA isolation, gene identification and gene amplification. Others were learning about using computer graphics to teach students concepts about molecular chemistry and biological compounds. In short, our education system is teaching our students how to make their living in tomorrow's world, by first empowering their existing and future school teachers. This is wonderful. However, I believe we should not put all our bets on the life sciences. The life sciences are important, but should not overshadow the exposure of students to other scientific disciplines. The petroleum and plastics industry is based on the once new and once existing chemistry of carbon compounds. The computer chip industry is based on the physics of silicon and the semi-conducting element. Yesterday's frontiers of science often will become the bases of today's industry, just to be put into consumer products built by factory operators. And DNA experiments might one day be as quaint as our memories of logarithm tables and slide rules. The education system, in my view, should not teach scientific techniques as ends in themselves, but to use them to inspire students to enter areas of the future, such as nano-machines, nano-tubes, gena-rays, perfume and flavour chemistry, industrial enzymes, drug design and industrial design. We should be able to prototype and produce and test everything from furniture to ships in Singapore. We will also need the legal, financial, IT and services sectors, while not being scientists themselves, are able to understand people in these fields and service these companies. Exposure, understanding and versatile enquiring minds, familiar with the technology of tomorrow - this is what our children will need. I am confident that MOE will continue to rise to the challenge.

Order. I propose to take the break now. Thereupon Mr Speaker left the Chair of the Committee and took the Chair of the House.

Order. I suspend the Sitting and will take the Chair again at 3.00 pm. Sitting accordingly suspended at 2.36 pm until 3.00 pm.

Sitting resumed at 3.00 pm

Debate in Committee of Supply resumed.

Head K (cont.) -

Mr Inderjit Singh.

Sir, I have decided not to speak on this topic.

Not speaking. Dr Amy Khor is not here. Mr Ang Mong Seng.

(In Mandarin): Sir, in every budget debate, there are always some Members speaking on the importance of the Chinese language. Among our population, there are about 30-40% of our people who use only Chinese as their medium of communication. When the Government wants to implement or explain a new policy, and if the Chinese language is not used in the process, these people will not be able to understand this policy. Here, I would like to give two examples to illustrate the importance of the Chinese language in our society: First, the NEWater Centre. Recently, the Prime Minister officiated at the opening ceremony of the NEWater Centre. The purpose of the NEWater Centre is to explain to the people how NEWater is generated. But, unfortunately, all the explanations in the Centre are in English only. So, those who do not know English will not understand how NEWater is generated even though they have visited the Centre. I encourage my grassroots leaders to visit the NEWater Centre. My grassroots leaders went, but later told me that it was a waste of time as all the explanations in the Centre were in English, and they did not understand a thing. Secondly, the Total Defence Exhibition. The Chinese newspapers carried a report about an exhibit at the Civil Defence stall. The caption of the picture was: "Take Cover in the Open", in English only. An old couple who could not read English looked up the meaning of the words and found that "take" means "bring", "cover" means "lid". So, "bring the lid inside to open". It makes no sense at all. Actually, the meaning is that in case of emergency you must take cover in the open and not hide in a building or some shelter. If we are implementing or explaining a policy using English only, some 60% of our people will understand. But if we use Chinese as well, then maybe about 80% of our people will understand. If we want everybody to understand, then you should use all the four official languages. In this respect, I hope that the Government would look into the matter seriously. Some of the Ministries may say that they do not have people who are good in Chinese, Malay or Tamil to translate the explanatory notes of the exhibits. Maybe the Ministry of Education can engage some retired Chinese, Malay and Tamil teachers to do the translation work. I am sure they can do it well.

Sir, I wish to provide some feedback on the teaching of Chinese language in our schools. Over the years, I have observed a few things that happened. First, many bright students, especially those from English speaking homes, have shown little or no interest in the Chinese language. Some of them may have done well in examinations and scored an 'A'. But these were the results of learning the subject mechanically. In actual fact, they are not well versed in the language. There are also those who do not do well in the subject and find learning the language a chore, if not a struggle. However, they do much better in other subjects. Do we know why? Is it the home environment? A prominent Singaporean businessman recently told me his experience. His is a totally English speaking home. Two of his children struggled miserably in their Chinese language in primary school. After primary 6, the father decided to give them a different environment. One was sent to the UK and the other to the American School in Singapore. He told me that after a year in the new environment, his children are not only scoring top marks, but also showing great enthusiasm in the Chinese language. Granted, the standards may be lower, but the psyche is now totally reversed. So the question is: why can our schools not make the learning of Chinese language more enjoyable? Let me offer one important reason. Unlike English, the Chinese language has, what we call ci ( ) which is formed by one, two or more Chinese characters. Each ci has a different meaning and there may be thousands of them, because of the combination of one or more characters. Even among a set of ci that shares one same character, each will have a different meaning and nuance. Take, for example, the ci in cheng gong ( ), the related ci are cheng jiu ( ), cheng shu ( ), cheng wei ( ), cheng zhang ( ), cheng fen ( ), etc. So, although students may be taught the ci - cheng gong, they would not automatically know the meanings of all the other related ci. Unfortunately, there is no standard list of ci that students will be taught in school and be tested on. Some ci are taught and some are not. Different teachers will teach a different number of ci. But in the examinations, ci that has not been taught can appear. So, to prepare for the examinations and not to be caught offguard, students will attempt to learn all related ci by referring to a vocabulary handbook. Believe you me, the amount of time and effort they need to learn the meanings of all related ci listed in the handbook on their own or with the help of parents or tutor is just too much for them. It is a struggle. It is, in fact, impossible within a short time. So, when students are tested on ci that they have not come across, they will not have a clue on how to answer. And when they do not do well after spending so much time and effort, they become discouraged and, eventually, lose interest in the language. Sir, I hope the Minister would look into what I said and do something to improve the teaching of the Chinese language.

Sir, my speech is a bit long. Please bear with it.

I am sorry. You have your time limit.

(In Mandarin): Sir, the bilingual policy is the pillar of our education policy. However, frankly speaking, this bilingual policy in Singapore is a tilted one that gives too much prominence to the English language and relegates mother tongue to a secondary position. It is bilingualism not in its true sense. I am not saying that I object to the learning of a foreign language or English, as it helps to broaden our horizon and create new opportunities. However, there is one question that keeps bothering me. The question is: why subject the same policy on the mother tongue to the various ethnic groups when the standard of our Chinese language is so low that we even have to resort to the use of the English language to aid in the teaching of the Chinese language today? I have raised this issue of the low standard of Chinese language in the last Budget debate. I feel that, as far as the Chinese language and even the preservation and inheritance of our traditional culture are concerned, we are at a crossroad. The prospect of the Chinese language as well as our future social landscape depends on the path that we are going to take, particularly the holistic policy that the Government is adopting. From my observation, the younger generation, who was brought up under the bilingual system, has no problem in speaking Mandarin in general. But because of their lack of vocabulary, they need to mix with some English terms in their conversation in Mandarin. They may also not have a problem in listening generally, but only find themselves in an awkward position if the other party speaks too fast or uses too abstruse vocabularies. In reading, they do not have the habit of reading Chinese publications, some even detest doing so. When it comes to writing, most of them have great difficulty in expressing themselves. Following the trend that more and more families are communicating in English, our young people may lose their ability in expressing themselves in Chinese within the next generation. What kind of society will we have then? I think there is no necessity for me to portray such a landscape to our leaders, who are full of imagination and creativity. The question now is: does the Government agree that these issues that I have raised are indeed issues to them? Should we leave the issue to its natural course and allow this deteriorating trend of lowering standard to continue, leading to the extinction of the Chinese language and its culture, or should we not make an effort in reversing the trend, even when it is too late to do so? Let us wait and see. It is my belief that even if we do not emphasise the role of mother tongue in transmitting our traditional culture, its social, political and economic functions can never be ignored. Therefore, we should abandon the current principle of linguistic policy, which is based on economic efficiency consideration. Sir, we should correct the wrong attitude of regarding English as the first language and mother tongue as the second language. First of all, the Government should stop addressing English as the first language and mother tongue as the second language; instead, the mother tongue should be addressed as Chinese, Malay or Tamil as it is. This should help to establish these languages as a mainstream language and correct the mentality that they are of lower status. Mother tongue can never be reduced to a window dressing in form in our "bilingual" educational model. If we study Chinese just because we want to ride on the wave of the thriving Chinese economy, and discard the complex relationship between language and culture, it will only lead to a situation where the language is emphasised in its utility and resisted in many minds. In implementation, we have to create a conducive environment for the learning of the Chinese language. For the learning of language to be efficient, one has to use the language often. Regretfully, there is a huge deviation in our present environment. By reducing the teaching of mother tongue to just a single subject in the curriculum, it not only puts the learning of Chinese in a disadvantaged position, it also belittles the status of the mother tongue. Furthermore, pre-school education is an important link in establishing the correct attitude towards our mother tongue among our children. We should start to inculcate in our children the sense of importance of the mother tongue and strengthen the emotional link from very young. The Ministry of Education should pay attention to this while reviewing our pre-school education system. Sir, I agree that it is not easy to master two languages. However, if we recognise that the role of mother tongue is of fundamental importance to us, we should stand by this recognition and undertake decisive and bold policy measures to create a conducive environment in our school and society for the learning of the mother tongue. Only if this is done, can we expect our future generation to be truly bilingual in using the Chinese language effectively and preserve the Chinese culture.

Mr Low, your time is up. Dr Wang Kai Yuen.

Sir, recently, MOE arranged for MPs to visit NIE. There, we got to see the modern facilities and met some of the trainee teachers as well as in-service teachers. I must congratulate NIE for the excellent programme it has put together for the training of new teachers as well as the continual development of in-service teachers. I understand that NIE is already developing a reputation for excellence amongst teacher training institutions worldwide. At the NIE, I saw some very innovative tools for teaching developed by the teachers themselves. It will be good if we could consistently identify these best practices of our teachers as well as the effective tools and aids developed by the teachers. These are indeed intellectual properties of our teaching profession. Just like the way we teach mathematics that has been adopted by several other countries, we might want to disseminate these methodologies among teachers to benefit all our school children. The second point I would like to touch on is on the recognition for teachers. We all know that teachers play important roles in education. They are the pillars of our system. During the term of the last Parliament, MOE had revised teachers' salaries to bring the pay up to market, thereby addressing a major issue for the teaching profession. We have also taken steps to recognise teachers' contribution through various award schemes. I am particularly impressed by the many outstanding teachers that I have the privilege of meeting in my capacity as Chairman of the Selection Committee for the Presidential Awards for Teachers. However, I feel that the national recognition given to these awardees could be further enhanced. In this respect, perhaps we could learn from the Miss Universe pageant where the reigning Miss Universe has a whole year programme planned for her, cutting ribbons, guest of honour, talking to young ladies and so on. I would suggest that MOE work with the People's Association so that these PAT awardees could participate in various grassroots activities year round, such as the Edusave scholarship and bursary presentation to better profile these outstanding teachers. This way, the respect of our population for the sacrifice and contribution of the teachers could be a source of inspiration for aspiring teachers.

Sir, I would like to speak in support of teachers. Recently, I read with concern a newspaper report about teachers reporting sick for stress related illnesses. Over the years, we have added many responsibilities for teachers without taking away some of the old duties and, therefore, teachers have to do more and more given the limited time that they have. What can we do to make teaching more effective through more motivated teachers? If stress is, in fact, affecting the teachers, it will affect the ability to teach effectively. One suggestion I can make is to separate the two responsibilities of teaching and that of administration. If the teachers can get more support in the area of administration, then I believe they will do much better and will be more effective in their role as a teacher, and not spending too much time in administrative duties.

(In Mandarin): Sir, today, I would like to speak on a topic which we are very familiar with, that is, the cultivation of the Chinese practitioners in Singapore. A few years ago, Prime Minister Goh mentioned at the National Day Rally that we should have some Chinese elites among us. I would like to ask the Minister for Education whether his Ministry has any strategy, plan or target for the cultivation of Chinese teachers and Chinese practitioners, and whether or not it has attained the set target. As we know, in order to cultivate these Chinese practitioners, we have already introduced the SAP schools. But students in the SAP schools are normally good in the other subjects too. The number of SAP school students eventually end up as Chinese practitioners is very small. Yet, we do need a pool of people who are very good in Chinese to serve in the fields of education, culture, journalism, translation and business. The economic reform and opening up of China and its accession to WTO have now made the economic value of Chinese very much enhanced. We have not intentionally forced and encouraged our students to read Higher Chinese. But, we should allow the parents of those students who are good in Chinese but who managed only a minimum pass in English the choice to decide whether they would like their children to read Higher Chinese. Presently, students in the neighbourhood schools who qualify and wish to read Higher Chinese will have to travel to another school which offers the subject to attend classes. This is very inconvenient and students tend to fade away after some time as it costs more money, time and energy, and a lot of efforts to stick on. Perhaps, the Ministry of Education could look into the possibility of allowing more schools, particularly the neighbourhood schools, to offer Higher Chinese, if there is demand for it. As for the scholarship plan, I understand the Ministry of Education has been very successful in sending some students to Taiwan and Beijing to study Chinese. Are these students enough to cater to our need for Chinese teachers? Some enterprises in the private sector, such as the Singapore Press Holdings, are also offering scholarships to students to study Chinese in China. Can some form of incentive be given to more private enterprises to offer more scholarships or bursaries for students of the Chinese language? The learning of Chinese does not necessarily mean that you will end up being a Chinese teacher. It can also be extended to cover the arts, music and other forms of visual arts, so that the learning of Chinese is not confined to the language alone, but could include Chinese culture, history, arts and philosophy, etc. I understand that the LaSalle School has been very successful in its branch in China. We have to balance the ratio between the foreign Chinese teachers and the local Chinese teachers. Sometimes, when we are shorthanded, we may have to engage teachers from outside Singapore. They may not be familiar with the situation in Singapore. Are they competent in the sacred duty of imparting the correct values to our younger generation of Singaporeans? I am not against the idea of employing foreign Chinese teachers, but there should be a balance between the foreign teachers and the local teachers.

Order. Your time is up.

Sir, MPs were recently invited to visit the NIE. I was impressed by the teaching facilities and resources available. There was even a jukebox used as CD loan dispenser. I was told that that was the only one in Singapore. Together with this state of the art infrastucture and resource for training teachers, teacher salary scale has also been increased to attract new recruits. Nonetheless, anecdotal evidence still suggests that many teachers are leaving the profession, citing heavy workload and long hours as major push factors. Of course, in the last one or two years, there has been an increase in the number of applicants who join the teaching profession. This is likely to be due in part to the economic downturn. I would like to ask the Minister what percentage of teachers have left the profession in the last few years. What are the main reasons for their resignation? How does the workload of our teachers, including time spent after school on CCA, etc, compare to international standards? With the many changes made to the education system over the years and, in particular, the recent revamp of the upper secondary and JC education, how would present and future teachers be prepared to facilitate and promote independent and creative learning since many would have been schooled in the era where emphasis was on knowledge acquisition? Teachers themselves must be motivated and passionate learners in order to instill in our young a passion for learning, and not be mere recipients of knowledge. I would like to suggest that perhaps Singaporean teachers who have won awards for being progressive in their teaching and well-known foreign educators and our local entrepreneurs could be invited to share their expertise and help our teachers adopt new assessment and teaching methods. Teachers could also be sent on overseas attachment to well-known schools in countries, such as the US and Sweden, to experience first hand how students are taught in these schools.

Sir, the structure of our education system depends a great deal on the quality, dedication and commitment of our teachers. They are the life-blood of the system and will make a critical difference to the quality of education that schools provide to our children. Not many of us can remember our school buildings or our school classrooms. But almost all of us can remember the teachers whom we hate and those whom we like. The teachers who have inspired us, given us a nudge, a pat on the back, or simply held our hands during our bleakest moments when we were growing up, have made a difference. So, as teachers are our most important resource, I would like to find out what initiatives are in place to upgrade our teachers and to take care of their welfare. Specifically, Sir, I would like to ask the Ministry of Education the following questions. Firstly, I would like to know how we are preparing our teachers for all these changes that are sweeping through our education system, beginning with the revamp of the upper secondary and JC curriculum. Are they given sufficient time to acquire the new skills and knowledge to effect the changes? What continuing education programmes are there for our teachers? Are there mechanisms where they can seek help if they have difficulties in coping or where they can get professional counselling? Are there periodic reviews to ensure that they are able to cope with their workload? Sir, the second point I would like to touch on is about teachers' nodule. In case, you are wondering what this means, these are not modules. They are not teaching modules. But teachers' nodule actually affects teachers and it is a form of illness which affects the vocal chord because it is over strained or over used. I notice that this problem of teachers' nodule is affecting more and more teachers. I have no statistics, or figures, on this except for those teachers that I came across, and this has given me the impression that the problem is increasing. A recent case which I had come across was a young teacher who is my resident and who, soon after starting her teaching career, has suffered from the teachers' nodule problem and has to leave the service. What puzzles me is why do we still have this problem in these days and age where there are so many devices available to project the human voice without teachers having to shout across the class. So the question is whether there are microphones provided for teachers in the class. What steps have been taken to educate teachers on the importance of not straining their voice and maintaining their health? What assistance is provided to those who develop the teacher nodule problem?

Sir, in a recent visit to NIE, I noted that, amongst the information and materials shared by MOE, was the ASK model, which stands for Attitude, Skills and Knowledge. My personal experience with this model dates all the way back to 1990 when I was involved in the Service Bureau of Changi International Airport Services and the training of service providers. I can lay claim that the service excellence in Changi Airport is attributed to this powerful model where service providers are trained on the need to internalise the three important components in order to do an excellent service job. There is no doubt that such a model has helped Changi Airport to clinch its number one position as the best airport by business travellers in the last 13 years, or so. Such a powerful model should similarly be embraced by schools, and students should be taught to internalise the model. This model is powerful because it provides a holistic education of the individual. Yet, we do not seem to know much about this model that is currently adopted by the school. Talking to school educationists subsequently, I was told that the model is just a framework and there is not really a dedicated effort to use it as a foundation where the three components of attitude, skills and knowledge are given equal emphasis. Sir, I would like to raise two issues with regard to the holistic education of our students. MOE has done a very good job in imbuing our students with knowledge of subject talks. But two such areas where they could do better are in equipping students with skills and inculcating values by nurturing their attitude and behaviour. Sir, it is generally known that knowledge can be taught, skills can be acquired, but attitude has to be nurtured. Whilst we cannot equip learners with attitude, we can, however, create the awareness in learners of the importance of values which translate into one's attitude and behaviour. Sir, MOE has the right formula to model our future leadership. SM's recent address at NTU has led to a barrage of views about the Singapore youths. Labels, such as apathy towards politics and examination and CCA leave no time for current affairs began springing up. The fact that SM was faced with a relatively silent majority had raised concern about this generation of youngsters, whom we know will, one day, have to make a choice and assume the leadership to govern Singapore. Did they keep silent because they were not interested, or were they overwhelmed and awed by a great statesman? Their behaviour could be a result of both. From what I understand, a programme, such as the teaching of values in the attitude component of the ASK model, is taught through infusing this element in the teaching subjects. My question is: is it enough and effective? If it is value that makes us amend, then why is value not taught as a core curriculum subject to emphasise its importance, if not for anything else? We know that, in nurturing a student, a tripartite relationship of parents, schools and children (PSC) is crucial as both parents and schools would act as reinforcing agents in nurturing the children. I am inclined to propose that the schools ---

Time is running out, Mdm Ho.

--- may want to share the essence and philosophy of such a model with parents so as to emphasise to parents that knowledge alone is not enough. In the home, attitude and skills have got to be emphasised as well. In view of the need to nurture a holistic individual, would MOE consider incorporating the ASK model, and therefore the programmes premised on the ASK model, such as inculcation of values and speaking skills, as a compulsory enrichment programme if the model cannot be subsumed under the curriculum of the school syllabus?

Sir, our education system has attained a very high standard. But still many are of the view that our education system is still too structured. It becomes, what is called, a paper chase learning, where what is important is achieving high grades. There is nothing wrong with that. But I think more than that needs to be done. And students are depending on rote learning and model answers to questions. Sir, the economic environment is rapidly changing and the employability of our future workers depends on the adaptability of the individual job seekers. This demands agility, creativity, innovation and an open mindset to continuous learning and multi-tasking. How well is our education system preparing our students for such an environment? Here, it is also crucial that our training strategy for the workers be modified to meet this increasing demand. We could improvise the curriculum of our vocational institutions that could help to bring out the creativity and potential of the workers who attend such training. Sir, I would appreciate it if the Minister could enlighten on the following. Is the Ministry relooking at the school curriculum at all levels to encourage students to be more creative, rather than conforming to model answers? Are schools given the flexibility to introduce creative learning at a pace that suits their students' intellect?

Sir, first of all, I would like to thank Members who have spoken so far for their comments and suggestions which span remarkably wide areas. I am also happy to see a good number of principals and teachers in the House to hear directly from the Members the views that have been expressed. Sir, over the past week, there has been extensive debate in the House on the recommendations of the Economic Review Committee which Dr Wang referred to. Education has been cited as one of the factors central to the remaking of Singapore. My Ministry agrees with this. Indeed, in the recent few years, we have been making major changes to reposition our education system to do just that - help our young meet the challenges of a more competitive and uncertain future. A future which is not just based on creating value through high skills and high productivity and reaping the rewards through high wages, but one that creates value through high creativity and high innovation, and reaps the rewards for risk taking through profits and profit sharing. We have started from a strong base. Today, our education system is well recognised for the high levels of achievement of our students and the quality of education that they receive. Our students do well by most international comparisons. We have made much progress over the years, but we also do recognise that further improvements can be made to provide even more opportunities for our students to maximise their potential and make the most of their abilities - students with flexible and inquiring minds, who have the ability to develop and articulate their ideas, who can thrive on uncertainty and risk. 3.30 pm The Ministry of Education's budget for the coming financial year is smaller than the FY 2002 approved budget by 3.7%. However, the Minister for Finance has continued to recognise the critical importance of investments in education by allocating the second largest budget to the Ministry of Education, amounting to $6.5 billion, or 22% of the total Government Budget, equivalent to 4% of the GDP. We in the Ministry of Education will continue to move the education system forward and provide the best education possible for our students, by optimising the use of these resources placed in our charge. Among the initiatives introduced in the last two years, which we will continue to pursue, are the new framework for kindergarten education, more flexibility in the Normal Stream in our Secondary schools - some Members have spoken about that already - and the changes to Junior College and Upper Secondary Education debated extensively and strongly supported by this House in November last year. In the post-secondary sector, we are pushing ahead with the fifth Polytechnic, Republic Polytechnic, building our first regional ITE campus, and have carried out a review that provides a roadmap for developing the university sector in the coming years. Madam, it is now time to turn our attention to the primary schools. Dr Wang, Mr Inderjit Singh, Dr Khor, Dr Jennifer Lee, Mdm Halimah Yacob and Mr Gan Kim Yong spoke on the need to improve primary education. During the debate on Junior College and Upper Secondary education in this House last November, I indicated that, after putting in place these changes, we would look at primary education. Primary education in Singapore today provides a strong foundation in literacy and numeracy. The main focus in the academic curriculum, especially in the lower primary, is on English, Mother Tongue and Mathematics. There is a good reason for this. These are key enablers. English and Mathematics are the foundation for future learning in the humanities and sciences, while Mother Tongue provides us with a link to our roots, culture and values. By international standards, our students do very well in English, even though English is not the home language for the majority of our students. And for Mathematics, our students are among the best in the world. While practically every other country in Asia is now struggling to develop a language education policy to meet the challenges of globalisation, our bilingual education model of English and Mother Tongue confers on our students the key advantage of global literacy while anchoring them in their local roots. Wrapped around this core of subjects, our primary schools do provide a holistic and well-balanced programme, which includes sports, arts, values, citizenship education and life skills, that develops our students morally, intellectually, physically, socially and aesthetically, to achieve the desired outcomes of primary education. Our primary education sector offers different programmes to suit the abilities and aptitudes of our students. At the lower primary level, we have the Learning Support Programme (LSP) to help those pupils who are weak in English to strengthen their foundation in English. At upper primary, there is the Gifted Education Programme; students can take also the mother tongue at higher level in the EM1 stream; and students who find the standard subject curriculum too demanding, can take a basic curriculum which is better suited for them in EM3. Dr Wang has asked about introducing creativity throughout our education system. A number of other Members, including Mr Nithiah Nandan, have also spoken about that. In the last five years, we have indeed introduced creativity, as well as information technology and national education, and reduced curriculum content, in order to provide more time and opportunities to develop thinking and problem solving skills. We will continue to review and make improvements to our primary school curriculum, as necessary. But I do not propose to change the structure of the programme, as it is basically sound. However, we have carefully studied the resources that we can make available in the medium term, and have decided that we can put more resources into selected areas, which will have a significant impact on improving the delivery of the primary school programme. In the coming years, we will strengthen the foundation we provide for our students in the primary schools through two initiatives: firstly, putting more teacher resources into the lower primary, ie, Primary 1 and Primary 2; and, secondly, enabling Primary 3 to Primary 6 pupils to study in a single-session environment. The most critical resource in the education system is our teachers - more specifically, the quantity as well as the quality of our teachers. Allow me to share with Members of this House the challenge that we have been facing. In the last few years, primary school student numbers were peaking, and the teaching force was experiencing a large outflow, as many of our older teachers began to reach retirement age. May I call the attention of Members to Chart 1 (Cols. 1641-1642), which I requested the Clerk of Parliament to distribute? Chart 1 shows that from 1995, when the large 1988 dragon birth-year cohort entered Primary Chart 1: Primary School Intake and Enrolment (1994-2006) 1, primary school enrolments have been rising. They reached a peak and stabilised in the last few years at a level roughly 20% higher than prior to 1995. That meant that we needed 20% more teachers as well over this period to maintain our teacher/student ratio in the schools. At the same time, we were facing a big challenge, because we were looking at a much larger outflow of experienced teachers, as they reached retirement age. If Members could look at Charts 2 (Cols. 1643-4) and 3 (Cols. 1645-6), in Chart 2, the dotted blue line shows the profile of our teaching force in the primary schools in 1996, with a very large group of teachers aged 45-55. In fact, they accounted for something like half our teachers. In 1996, one third, or some 3,600, of our primary school teachers were aged 50 and above and due to retire within 10 years. Chart 2: Age Profile of Trained Education Officers in Primary Schools in 1996 & 2002 Chart 3: Retirement Numbers and Stock of Trained Education Officers in Primary Schools Today, however, primary school student numbers have passed their peak, and retirements of primary school teachers have crested. We have also introduced EduPac (Education Service Professional Development and Career Plan), which has made teaching a more attractive career, by offering clearly articulated career paths and more competitive salaries which reward loyalty and performance. We are therefore reasonably confident that we will have enough good teachers, which we will deploy to enable schools to reduce class sizes at Primary 1 and Primary 2, from 40 to 30 students per class. This will be implemented starting with the Primary 1 cohort in 2005. Smaller Primary 1 and Primary 2 class sizes will require considerable resources. We will require 700 more teachers than we would otherwise need. There are sound reasons to focus precious teacher resources to reduce class sizes at Primary 1 and Primary 2. Given the finite teacher resources available, if we spread them across all levels from Primary 1 to Primary 6, we would be able to reduce class sizes to about 37 per class, which is unlikely to make a significant difference to the delivery of the programme in our primary schools. On the other hand, focusing on Primary 1 and Primary 2 would allow us to use these resources where they will have the most effect and make a significant difference. Firstly, Primary 1 and Primary 2 classes are of mixed ability, and teachers therefore have to cater to a wide range of pupil needs in each class. Secondly, Primary 1 and Primary 2 are the foundational years of formal schooling, where more individualised attention can help ground pupils strongly in literacy and numeracy for access to more complex topics in later years. Furthermore, it will help to ease the transition from pre-school, where class size is usually less than 30. We deliberated on this measure very carefully, and arrived at a decision only after long and serious consideration. We have to be sure that we can sustain this increased requirement of 700 more teachers in our teaching force in the coming years while maintaining the quality of our teachers. Class size is neither as straightforward nor simple an issue as it has often been made out to be. Every year, during the Committee of Supply debate on Education, Members invariably call upon MOE to reduce class size. Mr Chiam See Tong particularly, has been a long-standing proponent of this, and I am a little disappointed that he is not in the House to hear my speech. Shrinking class sizes has an intuitive appeal, and it is an easy argument to make. I do appreciate the well-motivated intentions behind these suggestions, and I commend Members, who have raised this matter over a number of years, for their perseverance. But making sure that these calls translate into better educational outcomes is another matter altogether. As Dr Wang Kai Yuen has pointed out, the reality is much more complex. Empirical evidence on the benefits of cutting class sizes is still mixed and inconclusive. This is not surprising, because the factors which influence the quality of education are not limited to class size but also include factors like home support, pupil motivation and, more importantly, the quality of school curriculum and programmes, and perhaps, most important of all, the quality of teachers. Smaller classes may in fact be counter-productive, if the teachers teaching them are poorly qualified and the lessons delivered are unsound, as a result of expanding teacher numbers indiscriminately. The key is to strike that right balance between teacher quality and the increase in teacher quantity that smaller class sizes entail, which will provide the best educational outcome. It is also not difficult to reduce class size in an individual school and still maintain teacher quality within that school. So, if we try a pilot programme, I am sure it will work. There is no problem with that, because we basically cherry pick good teachers from other schools. But the real issue is, when we reduce class sizes on a national scale, then it is not obvious we can find all the good teachers we need. In our case, for Primary 1 and Primary 2, already we need 700 more. Madam, our target is to recruit our teachers from the top-third of each cohort, so there is a limit to how far we can reduce class size without compromising on quality. Within the top third, only a proportion has the right aptitude and interest and, within that smaller group, there are only so many we can realistically attract to teach. Charts 1 to 3 illustrate vividly why it would not have been wise to make such a move until now. There was no assurance that we could maintain teacher numbers, let alone increase them on a sustained basis while maintaining quality. Even now, we need to proceed prudently. It is not assured that we will be able to maintain teacher quality and teacher numbers, including these 700 teachers that are required to implement this initiative, especially in better economic times which we all hope for, when attracting and retaining good teachers will be more of a challenge than it is today. Based on our expectations of our ability to recruit and retain teachers in the coming years and the pipeline of teachers coming through the National Institute of Education, we should have sufficient teachers to deploy to schools to reduce class sizes in Primary 1 to 30 students, starting from 2005, and enough to do so for both Primary 1 and Primary 2, starting from 2006. From now till 2005, the Ministry will also need to work with the schools to adjust intakes, and make sure that other resources, such as sufficient classrooms, are also available. The Ministry of Education will also implement partial single sessions in our primary schools. This will be for Primary 3 to Primary 6. Today, our primary schools are designed to operate as double sessions, with three levels in the morning and three levels in the afternoon - 3 plus 3. We intend to implement partial single session by having our primary schools operate four levels in the morning, and two levels in the afternoon - 4 plus 2. 3.45 pm Just as the ability to cut class size is contingent on the availability of good teachers, the means to introduce single session is dependent on the availability of physical resources, as pointed out by Dr Jennifer Lee. Our ability to introduce partial single session arises from the investments we have made in PRIME (Programme for Rebuilding and Improving Existing Schools) over the last few years. To date, the Government has spent about $1 billion on PRIME. Since it started in 1999, 72 primary schools have been upgraded to latest specifications. 35 are currently being upgraded, and the remaining schools will be upgraded in future phases of PRIME. Over this period, we also had another 23 newly-built primary schools. I refer Members to Chart 4 (Cols. 1647-8) that has been distributed. Chart 4: Number of Primary Schools by Building Specifications It shows the extent of physical improvement taking place. Today, over half of our primary schools have been built or upgraded to the latest specifications. You will notice that in 1998, there are only four bars because the bar for the latest specifications is zero. In 2003, it is 95. Under PRIME, schools have been fitted with new facilities, including computer laboratories, media resource libraries, IT learning resource rooms, and pastoral care rooms. We have also increased the stock of classrooms in our school system. Each upgraded school has more classrooms, which they can use to conduct extra activities outside curriculum time, and we have done this in anticipation of making a move towards implementing single session in our primary school system. As we continue to redevelop the remaining schools in the coming years under PRIME, we will have the physical resources and facilities to accommodate single session for P3 to P6 in our primary schools. Single session opens up possibilities for better teaching and learning by making more space and time available. Because of wider availability of facilities under single session, schools can organise a greater range of CCAs and enrichment activities, especially those that cut across different levels in the school, on school days. This provides the school with much greater flexibility to develop meaningful programmes that will help enhance a child's development in the affective, social, and physical spheres. However, single session does not benefit all students to the same extent. The benefits are clear at secondary level, where all our schools are now single session. Secondary students are typically engaged in a broad range of curricular and co-curricular activities after normal school hours. Upper primary students, who require a higher level of hand-holding than secondary school students, are involved in after-school activities as well, but to a lesser degree and are unlikely to be engaged in after-school activities every day of the week. Lower primary pupils in Primary One and Two may not be ready for longer school hours. In fact, they tire more easily, and are likely to require more home care and supervision or, if not the home, in before-or-after-school care centres. To optimise resources, it is best to implement single session for those levels that will benefit more. Hence, we will introduce single session for P3 to P6. This means, for instance, a school can run its P3 to P6 classes in the morning, with access to facilities in the afternoon for after-school activities on selected days, while P1 and P2 classes operate in the afternoon. This 4 plus 2 system makes good use of the enhanced physical facilities that are being provided under PRIME to improve the learning environment of pupils according to their needs and readiness. Single session for P3 to P6 will be rolled out progressively. It will take us 10 years to complete. The reason is this. With single session for P3 to P6 and smaller class sizes of 30 pupils in P1 and P2, schools will have a smaller capacity. I call the attention of Members to the addendum that I have asked the Clerk to distribute for details of how a school might be organised. Schools that currently operate close to capacity will therefore have to adjust their P1 intakes and gradually, the P1 intakes will work their way through to P6 over a period of 6-10 years to bring their total enrolment to single session levels. In this way, we will not displace current pupils from their present primary schools. Providing 700 more teachers to enable P1 and P2 class sizes to be reduced to 30, and single session for P3 to P6 will strengthen the foundation that our primary school pupils currently receive. It will give principals and teachers more resources, more time, and more flexibility to design the most appropriate strategies and programmes to provide our primary school students a more stimulating learning experience in our schools, to bring out their creativity and develop their communication and problem solving skills. This will help them blossom and grow, and prepare them better for the more diverse and challenging secondary and post-secondary programmes that are being introduced which will in turn prepare them for a more challenging and exciting future. In November last year, this House gave its strong endorsement to the structural changes proposed for the Upper Secondary and JC education by the Junior College/Upper Secondary Education Review Committee. The next step is implementation. Over the next few years, greater diversity, in terms of programmes, mix of schools, and curricula, will be introduced. This will provide more opportunities for the very talented in different fields to pursue their passions and groom more outstanding Singaporeans in research, the professions, sports and other areas of life. Integrated programmes offering a seamless upper secondary and JC education will provide more room for our top students to engage in broader learning experiences and excel in their areas of interest. Specialised schools will cater to children with exceptional talents in fields like Mathematics and Science, Sports and possibly the Arts, and help them realise their full potential. Enlarging the space for diversity will allow our best schools to achieve levels of educational excellence not possible in a one-size-fits-all environment. The proposed improvements to JC/upper secondary education will be complemented by corresponding changes in the university sector. We will provide more opportunities and options to our students at the tertiary level. University cohort participation rates will grow from 21% to 25%. More places will have been made available for polytechnic graduates. To enhance the quality of university education, even as it expands, NUS will become a multi-campus university, and NTU a full-fledged comprehensive university. I look forward to hearing Members' views and suggestions on this. We are also pressing ahead with important initiatives to make our polytechnics and Institutes of Technical Education, which are already probably best-of-class in the world, even better. I would also like to thank Members of this House who have shown their keen interest in developments in this important sector of our education system when 34 Members took up my invitation and visited the Institute of Technical Education in August and September last year. I am indeed heartened by the positive feedback and encouragement that these Members have given to the lecturers and students of the ITE. Taken together, the initiatives to improve the primary sector and the changes to introduce greater diversity and opportunities in the secondary and upper secondary sector and those in the post-secondary sector, will bring out more from every child. They will expand educational opportunities for all our students, do more to cater to their different aptitudes and abilities, and better prepare them for tomorrow's challenges. Sir, allow me now to deal with two issues that Members have brought up. A few Members, Dr Amy Khor, Mr Low Thia Khiang, Mdm Halimah Yacob and Mr Inderjit Singh, have spoken about streaming. I am glad to hear that most Members support streaming and, in fact, several have advocated more streaming. We have been able to achieve high levels of participation and achievement because our education system provides, through streaming, opportunities for advancement to all students according to their aptitudes and abilities. Our streaming system does allow a better match between curriculum and the pace and method of learning with the aptitudes and abilities of our children, and provide pathways and opportunities according to different needs and interests. Members have suggested different ways of implementing streaming or, as some prefer to call it "clustering". Two years ago, we introduced a programme where students in the Normal (Academic) stream can take their 'O' levels in two subjects at Secondary Four provided they have the aptitude for it. Schools do arrange their classrooms stigmatically, several schools do it and the schools are free to try this out if they wish to. In fact, after today's session, I am going to St. Joseph's Convent where they have decided to organise their rooms stigmatically. Whether that will provide a better education and better educational outcomes is still unclear, but schools are allowed to try and they are encouraged to try if they wish to. Mr Inderjit Singh asked for a number of statistics on the results of streaming. The indicators he asked for are based on a narrow definition of success. It pre-supposes that you are a success only if you go through EM1 or 2, enter the Express course, and make it to university. Such a line of thinking, in fact, reinforces the bad effects of streaming. Success should be more broadly defined. Indeed, our education system strives to help our students find success in their own way, where their talents and strengths lie. There are other equally valid routes to success and I am sure that Mr Singh will celebrate them too. Polytechnic and ITE education represent pathways to success in their own right, and this has been affirmed by employment and pay statistics. A good indicator of the success of streaming is how well it has served our less academically inclined students. In 1994, we introduced the Normal (Technical) course in secondary schools for pupils who do better in a practical rather than academic setting. The VITB was also restructured to become a post-secondary institution, the ITE. These students now have a chance to shoot for post-secondary education. In 1994, only 10% of a cohort went to ITE. By 2002, this had doubled to 20% of the P1 cohort. They achieve high employment rates and good pay, even in difficult economic times. Some have started their own businesses. Perhaps they will compete with Mr Inderjit Singh one day. More than 1,000 go on to polytechnic each year. I believe that the 34 Members of this House who visited the ITE last year found it an eye opening experience, and can attest to what I have just said.

4.00 pm Several Members brought up the subject of mother tongue, in particular, Chinese language. Mr Low, particularly, brought up some important issues about English and mother tongue in our society. Sometimes, the Ministry is told that standards are too low for mother tongue and sometimes the Ministry is told that standards are too high for mother tongue. This reflects the very complex language environment in our society, and hence carried through into our schools. This struggle, which each parent faces, if you are a parent who speaks mother tongue you have difficulties for your child in English. If you are an English-speaking home, you often have problems for your child in mother tongue. Sometimes, we have problems with both. And those of us who are more fortunate have problems with neither. But, in a sense, this is part of a struggle of defining ourselves as Singaporeans. We are neither an Eastern society, not Chinese, not Malay, not Indian, where we can just remain in our own cocoon and develop the culture, language to the full, without regard to others. We cannot do that. We are a multi-racial society. At the same time, we want to be connected with the West, America, Europe and the rest of the world. And, hence, we have English. To some extent, this struggle is a struggle to define what we are as Singaporeans. This is a struggle that will go on, and continue for a long time to come. But the Government is committed to its bilingual policy, and for the reasons that I expressed earlier. English is the common language for us and for us to reach out to the world, mother tongue is for us to be rooted in our values and our culture. Of course, with globalisation, regionalisation, the imperatives for learning the language for business and political reasons have also become stronger. Mr Low is right, and I certainly welcome that. Because it makes it easier for us to continue with our bilingual policy and for students to be motivated to learn their mother tongue. So in our schools we try to cater to this diversity of students and requirements. We have mother tongue, higher mother tongue, and language elective programmes - Chinese Language, Malay Language - and we also have Syllabus B for those who require a little more help. So each student can take mother tongue to as high a level as he can. Mr Ang suggested that we tap on retired Chinese or other mother tongue language teachers to do translation work. I think that is an excellent idea. I agree that retired Chinese Language teachers, mother tongue teachers, are an excellent resource to tap. Perhaps, Mr Ang might want to take his suggestion one step further and work with the Singapore Chinese Teachers Union to help them provide such a service to organisations that wish to engage their expertise. Madam, I will now ask Mr Tharman Shanmugaratnam to elaborate on the implementation work being undertaken on the JC and upper secondary education landscape and several of the other issues that Members have raised, and Mr Hawazi will respond on holistic education, CCA, values and so forth, a little later in the debate.

Madam, let me first provide an update on the implementation of the changes to our JC and upper secondary school system, which Members had approved last year after debate, and which several Members have spoken on. First, the shift to a broader and more flexible JC curriculum. MOE has set up a steering committee chaired by the Director-General of Education to oversee the implementation of this exercise. It is a major education undertaking, requiring careful design, planning and roll-out. There is no foreign system that we can borrow or import, no easy fix. This is because the new JC curriculum seeks to provide not just greater flexibility and choice - more subjects, different levels of subjects - but also wants to retain the trademark rigour and high standards of the Singapore system. Dr Amy Khor and Mdm Halimah have asked about preparing teachers for the changes. This is key to the successful implementation of the educational reforms. Specific training will be provided to teachers who are involved in the new curriculum, either in the teaching of new subjects, like Knowledge and Inquiry, or the new levels of subjects that we are going to introduce. We will spare no efforts on this. Our teachers are not, however, starting from scratch. While MOE will continue to train and update existing teachers and new teachers on the new curricula, I would like to emphasise that our teachers are already trained with a core of knowledge and skills that enables them to respond to changes in subject design and to adopt new modes of teaching. Many Members who have joined in the visits that we have organised for MPs recently to the NIE would have seen for themselves and got a good sense of the quality of education and training the NIE now provides. I am glad that Dr Wang Kai Yuen, Mr Gan Kim Yong and Dr Warren Lee have referred to this. Mr Inderjit Singh has asked if we should extend the flexibility or unstructuredness of the new JC curriculum to the secondary level. This is an important issue that was studied carefully in last year's review by the JC and Upper Secondary Education Review Committee. The key issue at the JC level was over-specialisation. This problem does not exist at the secondary level. The lower secondary curriculum is already broad-based. At the upper secondary level, all express students must take at least one science, one humanities subject, mathematics, and two languages. In practice, among science students who take 8 `O'-level subjects, 62% of them take at least two humanities subjects and two languages, besides mathematics and science subjects. It is therefore not necessary to make significant changes to the secondary curriculum. However, I think the spirit of Mr Inderjit Singh's question is right. We are indeed seeking to introduce more flexibility and choice in the secondary school system. That is why we are creating new and different pathways for our students by introducing the integrated programmes, allowing the establishment of specialised independent schools in sports, arts and science, and allowing for a few privately funded secondary schools. These schools will be free to structure a curriculum that suits their objectives. We have also opened the door to mainstream schools that wish to adopt an alternative, internationally recognised curriculum. Further, we have introduced flexibility in the Normal (Academic) stream, as Minister Teo has just mentioned. And all schools have the autonomy to develop niches of excellence in their chosen areas. So the array of choices in the school system has widened considerably. It is better that we focus on implementing these changes well and allow them to work through the system and be digested by parents and students before considering if we should introduce any further fluidity in the school system. Next, the integrated programmes. At last year's debate on the JC and upper secondary review, Members will recall that MOE has said that we expect to have up to 6-8 integrated programmes eventually, catering to the top 10% of each cohort. We do not expect to get there immediately. Schools that are ready and confident of delivering an integrated programme of quality, that adds value to the system, will go first. The four families of schools which have already received approval to offer integrated programmes, plan to start enrolling students for these programmes next year, 2004. They are currently developing their programmes and will be releasing more information in July or August, in time for this year's Primary 6 students and their parents to make informed decisions about whether to apply for the programmes. MOE has also recently received two additional proposals from schools which are keen to offer integrated programmes, and is evaluating them. Next, specialist independent schools. We are making progress on the proposed specialist schools. The Sports School which is overseen by MCDS will open its doors in 2004. Several Members have asked about the admission policies of the Sports School and I will leave it to the Minister for Community Development and Sports to address the questions, because MCDS is the parent Ministry. NUS has set up a steering committee, chaired by its Provost, to implement the Mathematics and Science School that will provide a 6-year education from Secondary 1 to JC 2. On the question of a specialist arts school, MITA Minister, David Lim, will be updating Members later in the COS debate. Private schools. MOE is also working out the detailed criteria for approving up to 2-3 reputable privately funded schools that could add value to our education system. We expect to invite proposals around the middle of this year. In the meantime, a few parties have expressed interest in setting up such schools. Mr Chandra Mohan had asked if we should not extend the concept of private schools to the primary level. This is something we studied carefully last year as part of the JC and upper secondary review, and we decided against recommending in favour of primary schools being opened to the private sector. Our schools are the most important route in Singapore for cultivating a common sense of identity amongst the young. We have just introduced compulsory education, implemented this year for the first time, for the very reason of ensuring that all our young go through an essentially common shape of experience in their primary school years, and form similar instincts regardless of social background. We agree fully with Prof. Ngiam Tee Liang on the importance of educating the public on the recent changes to the educational landscape. They may have appeared complex at first glance, but they can be simplified and explained quite clearly to the public. Information on the proposed changes has already been communicated via the media, which has been doing a good job, I think, on the subject, as well as MOE's Internet website. The IP schools themselves have announced various features of their respective programmes and started discussions with parents of their students. MOE intends to produce information kits to reach out to more parents on the changes to the education system. We have also briefed our schools on the changes so that they can advise parents who approach them on the choices available to their children. Several Members have rightly raised the subject of teachers, since they are critical to everything we do in education. Dr Wang and Dr Amy Khor asked about sharing of best practices amongst teachers. Professional sharing is a key aspect of teacher development and has gained a fair bit of sway in recent years. The Teachers Network was set up precisely for this purpose. Each year, it organises workshops for some 4,000 teachers to learn and share innovative strategies and practices. We also have an annual teachers conference which showcases action research, experimentation and successful teaching practices. When we launched the second phase of our IT Master Plan last year, more than 7,000 teachers took part in activities over a few days, which showcased the best practices in the use of IT in education. At the zone and cluster levels, there are now numerous platforms for discussion and sharing best practices, including the centres of excellence that had been set up. To give just one example at the zonal level, Science Exploria in East Spring Primary School. More than 500 teachers have attended learning sessions at Science Exploria since it started 14 months ago. The Centre intends to publish the lessons that have been developed by the teachers so that they can be shared more widely with teachers of other schools. Dr Wang also suggested that we enhance the profile of our outstanding teachers, eg, those who win the Presidential awards each year. I think this is a good idea. Our teachers are not show-biz stars, they are very modest people, but I think a greater profile, through the course of the year, will enhance awareness of the real value of the teaching profession. Mdm Halimah and Dr Maliki have asked how MOE was helping teachers cope with stress. It is not a trivial matter. MOE conducts many courses to enable teachers to handle stress. Some are specific to stress management, while others are on general well-being that help equip teachers with skills to handle stressful situations. Through the Teachers Network, MOE also provides counselling for teachers who experience stress, although it has to be said that not all stress encountered by teachers is work-related. Mdm Halimah also asked about teachers' nodules. It is an issue, and we have been addressing it. MOE in fact provides 10 courses on voice care each year, each 20 hours long. MOE is also collaborating this year with Tan Tock Seng Hospital to organise a voice symposium for teachers. Some teachers do indeed use microphones. If I keep going on about everything we are doing to help teachers keep their voices, I think I will talk myself hoarse. Mrs Yu-Foo Yee Shoon raised the issue of training for Chinese language teachers. Our Chinese language teachers have a wide complement of training and development opportunities open to them. First, there are currently 25 in-service training courses each year and 13 workshops for Chinese language teachers. Second, Chinese language teachers can apply for MOE-sponsored Diploma courses and post-graduate studies in relevant courses in local and overseas universities. Third, we provide overseas training opportunities for our Chinese language teachers to learn best practices which can be adapted to suit our own requirements. MOE also brings in outstanding teachers from the PRC to provide demonstration lessons and sessions to our teachers. Fourth, MOE has also been sending outstanding students on undergraduate teaching scholarships aimed at breeding future Chinese language teachers. 22 local scholarships and 20 foreign scholarships were awarded over the last five years. Fifth, MOE is supportive of our Chinese language teachers as they pursue other tertiary opportunities that are available to enhance their knowledge of the subject. Examples of available courses include the undergraduate programme with Wuhan University, which was initiated by the Singapore Chinese Teachers Union (SCTU), and the Beijing Normal University Bachelor of Arts in Chinese Language and Literature programme which is offered at the Singapore Institute of Management. Many Chinese teachers are taking advantage of these new opportunities to upgrade themselves. 4.15 pm Mr Nithiah Nandan, Miss Penny Low, Mr Inderjit Singh, Dr Wang and Mr Chandra Mohan asked what we are doing to promote creativity and an entrepreneurial spirit. MOE completed a review of the school curriculum at all levels not long ago, in year 2001. Content has been reduced to free up more time for learning activities that foster critical and creative thinking. There is greater emphasis across the subject curriculum on process and thinking skills. We are also aligning our assessment modes with these learning objectives. Last year, MOE assumed greater control over the Singapore-Cambridge GCE 'A' level Examination. We changed the syllabus and examination format for the `A' levels to reward students who are able to apply the principles they have learnt and to think on their feet. In 2006, MOE will likewise be taking greater control over the `O' levels. This will help ensure that the secondary school curriculum meets our educational goals. It allows us to place greater emphasis on thinking and process skills, while retaining Singapore's high standards. MOE agrees fully with Dr Wang and the other MPs on the need to develop an entrepreneurial spirit amongst our young. There are basically two sets of skills and instincts that matter here, and that are reflected in our approach to developing this spirit among our students. The first comprises practical business-related skills. Our schools have been actively promoting this through co-curricular activities (CCAs), such as entrepreneurial clubs and business clubs of one form or another. There are many examples of schools whose students have started business ventures such as co-operatives or part-time businesses in schools. Last week, South West CDC and NTU organised a camp for 120 students from the JCs and ITE in the CDC and the Singapore Polytechnic. The students interacted with prominent local entrepreneurs and CEOs, visited several SMEs, and developed their own ideas on how to enhance the marketing efforts of the companies. I spent the afternoon with them with Mdm Yu-Foo and must say I was impressed by the freshness of their ideas and the gusto with which they went about presenting them. They were serious about what they were doing - so serious that they worked till 4 o'clock in the morning. I asked them how many would seriously contemplate setting up a business at some point in the future or doing so with a few friends. About one-third raised their hands. That is not bad. I think it is much higher than it would have been 2-3 years ago. So the flame is lit, and it is glowing. Even our primary school students are being infected, in their own fashion. There are many examples. Students in Rulang Primary School have grown a spice garden and have successfully sold their produce to school staff and parents. I am assured that they donated all proceeds to the SPCA. But developing an entrepreneurial spirit goes beyond teaching students the skills and technical knowledge involved in starting or running a business. The second and a key part of MOE's approach is to focus on key traits that underlie entrepreneurship: resourcefulness, persistence in the face of difficulty and the habit of innovation. These are traits that are useful for all our students, not just those who might eventually go on to run a business. We want our students to be willing to work out new perspectives, have the boldness and self-conviction to try another way, take a different road and, occasionally, break the mould. Efforts to develop these traits will be manifest in various facets of our school programmes, starting even in our primary schools. MOE has already made major changes in this direction, but agrees that more can be done. We are currently undertaking a comprehensive study to see how we can better nurture the spirit of enterprise and innovation in our students. We should not aim for quick results and we will not, as Dr Wang says, produce bus-loads of entrepreneurs. But we can and will produce generations of Singaporeans who are able to face the future with confidence, try more diverse paths, persist against the odds and thrive. Mr Singh has suggested introducing entrepreneurship as a CCA. Cooperative societies, which are recognised CCAs, have been formed in some schools to develop business acumen in pupils. Other schools have started Young Enterprise Clubs as core CCAs to develop and nurture future entrepreneurs. The NYAA is free to assist schools in setting up entrepreneur clubs, which are also recognised CCAs. MOE will continue, of course, to give schools the autonomy to decide on the setting up of such clubs as part of their overall school programme. Dr Tan Boon Wan raised the perennial problem of heavy school bags. I would like to assure him that MOE and the schools have been working at this. We have made textbooks thinner by dividing them up into separate volumes for each module. Schools have lockers for children to keep their belongings. Teachers look out for young pupils who seem to have heavy bags, and sometimes even check their bags. Schools will continue to work at this problem but parents must also supervise their children in packing their bags. Miss Penny Low commented that we should nurture students' passions for particular subject areas. We quite agree. There is a whole host of programmes, in our schools and within school clusters, to cater to students with special talents and interests, in the arts, music and the sciences. At the JC level, the new curriculum will provide more space for this. In other words, within the formal curriculum, we want to provide more space for this. Students with a special interest and ability in a subject will be able to take it further as an H3 subject - if Members recall the terminology. They can do it by either taking research under the mentorship of university professors or researchers or in some other forms which we are working out. There are several examples of students who are already doing this, outside the formal curriculum. For example, Tan Chun Ghee, who graduated from RJC last year. While in JC1, he spent six weeks at the Centre for Excellence in Education at MIT in the US, under an attachment programme arranged by the MOE. Chun Ghee's project, while he was at MIT, won him three awards at the Intel Science and Engineering Fair in Kentucky, US, that year. Dr Warren Lee raised the matter of the teaching of life sciences. We agree with his observations. MOE is taking the life sciences seriously, not because we are bedazzled by recent discoveries, but because this is a revolution in knowledge, one that will transform many disciplines, and will change how we live. It is a new language of science that all students will find useful even if they do not plan to pursue the life sciences as a career. Topics and approaches that enhance the learning of the life sciences have therefore been incorporated into the primary, secondary and pre-university syllabuses, not only in the science subjects, but also in other subjects. We are not putting all our eggs in the life sciences basket. We agree with Dr Lee that other areas of knowledge remain quite essential. While the number of students opting for "A" level Biology has increased to 20% last year compared to 13% in the year 2000, it is not disproportionate compared to, say, the candidature for Physics, which is 66%. And with the review of the JC curriculum, science students will also be required to take at least one humanities subject. So we are broadening our students, broadening the curriculum, as we inject the life sciences into the curriculum, not narrowing them. Ms Braema had asked about what MOE was doing to help our Secondary 4N (Academic) students make the transition to Secondary 5 where they take the 'O' levels. The Normal (Academic) syllabuses are generally subsets of the `O' level syllabuses. They are designed such that Normal (Academic) students who are capable of going on to offer the `O' levels are able to progress smoothly to the `O' levels in three years from Secondary 3. A review of the curriculum was conducted in 1999 which helped to reduce the assessment gap between the 'N' levels and the 'O' levels in various subjects. For example, the History paper now focuses more on questions requiring thinking skills and the application of concepts instead of content knowledge. Inevitably, even among the Normal (Academic) students, there will be differences in the abilities of the students in our schools. The teachers recognise this, and adjust their teaching methods and pace to suit the needs of different groups of students. Teachers may decide how much to teach based on the ability of the students. This difference in the scope of coverage means that the weaker students will be prepared sufficiently well to pass the 'O' levels, while the more able students will probably perform better. Our Secondary 5 students are, by and large, coping quite well with the `O' levels. About 66% of the students progress on to our post-secondary educational institutions. Of that 66%, 45% do well enough to qualify for either the polytechnics or 'A' levels. Dr Maliki also asked about stress and the incidence of psychiatric illness or psychological problems among our students. According to statistics from the Child Guidance Clinic, the total number of new cases seen in 2002 was about 2,000. Of these, about 4% concerned mental health problems or psychiatric illnesses. The incidence of cases referred to the Child Guidance Clinic has increased, but it remains low, certainly lower than that of most of the advanced societies. All societies have children who face stress-related problems of one form or another. What matters is that we have the mechanisms in place to help the children. Members have previously been informed of the counselling and referral system that we have in place in all schools, supported by trained Teacher Counsellors, School Counsellors, and specialist support from MOE's educational psychologists and guidance specialists. I should point out too that an increase in referrals need not always be seen as a negative development. It also means that more students are being counselled and helped where they might not have been helped before. It would also reflect greater awareness of potential problems amongst parents and teachers, and more resources becoming available for counselling in schools.

Yes, Mr Singh. Make it quick, please.

Madam, I want to make a clarification on the issue of definition of "success". In fact, I think the Minister may have misled Members to think about my narrow definition of "success". I may have a wider definition than him, in fact. The issue that I was trying to pursue was not so much of how we define success by way of how our students progress from one stream to another, but one of leakage of having a system of early streaming. That was the reason why I asked many questions. It is not because I have a narrow definition of "success". I, in fact, have a lot of respect for ITE graduates. I have come across many of them. Many of them are also successful.

Mr Singh, can you come to your clarification?

My clarification is that I do not want Members to feel that I have a narrow definition. I have a much wider definition than what the Minister thinks.

I agree with the Senior Minister of State that increased numbers of detection do not mean that it is necessarily bad. It means that it is good. But could he comment on what I mentioned earlier that psychiatrists are saying that a lot more of our students may need early detection but are not receiving early detection? I wonder what mechanisms are there to identify them early enough to be able to give them the kind of help that they need at an early stage.

Briefly, the mechanisms are there in the schools. Our teachers go through some basic training on how to identify these problems. And the teacher counsellors and specialist counsellors are quite well trained to handle this. I am not sure that we are finding every student who has a problem, probably not. But we are doing a reasonable job.

Dr John Chen, one last clarification.

Madam, the Minister has not answered my question. I do not know whether he agrees with my observation and whether he will do something to make learning the Chinese language more fun and enjoyable.

Madam, first, my apologies for calling you "Sir", an appellation that you do not deserve! But I will be glad to take Dr John Chen's suggestion and I will ask my language specialists to have a look at it, and see how many different combinations they can make and see how they can make language learning more interesting. I am happy to receive suggestions from any Member of this House who thinks he can make language learning more enjoyable.

Dr Wang, can you go on to your next cut?

Madam, MOE recently released a paper on university sector review. I have several concerns about its recommendations. Firstly, the Government is targeting to enrol 25% of the cohort into university when the implementation is in full swing. This is a numerical target. Once the facilities and manpower have been built up to take in this number, the institutions will enrol that target number of students. However, in terms of calibre, we might not be enrolling the top 25%. We know that significant numbers of our JC students go overseas for their education. Thus, we could be enrolling students down to the top 30% of a cohort. If that is the case, would there be a concern that standards in our universities could be maintained? And how does this tie in with our aspiration to build a world-class university in Singapore? Furthermore, the current graduate unemployment rate has illustrated that our economy might not absorb the number of graduates already as it is. If we expand the enrolment further, would we be creating an even bigger problem in the future? In the year 2000, former Minister of State, Mr Peter Chen, championed the concept of a fourth university. One of the objectives of the fourth university was to cater to the aspiration of the large pool of polytechnic graduates in the workforce looking for an opportunity to upgrade. As we know, 60% of the 'O' level students in our cohort proceed to polytechnic. And, at the moment, only the top 10% of polytechnic graduates get to enrol into the local universities. Yet, of those who have gained admission into foreign universities, they have performed very well. Now that the fourth university is no longer on the table, do we cater to this niche in the new vision of university education landscape in the future? 4.30 pm Furthermore, would the Minister explain the trade-off between the cluster university concept versus starting the fourth university as originally proposed? The market had actually responded to the vacuum with SIM publicly declaring its interest to evolve into the fourth university. Does this proclamation by SIM have the Ministry's support?

Madam, let me say, at the outset, that I support the University Sector Review Committee's recommendation to increase the number of places at our local universities and to allow a small number of private universities to be set up in Singapore, thus providing more diversity and choice. Madam, I wish to raise two issues relating to the University Sector Review Committee's Report. The target cohort participation rate by 2010 is 25%, up from the current 21%. Each year, thousands of private candidates take the 'A' courses from a wide range of programmes offered by many different schools, some of doubtful quality. Some of our polytechnic graduates seek a second chance to pursue a degree. Others completed their 'A' levels but could not gain admission into either NUS or NTU. Those who can afford to go overseas do. There is clearly a demand for university education from a wide pool of potential candidates. In comparison, the CPR of some western countries is as much as 40% to 50%. I am not advocating that target. But I understand and accept the Ministry's concern about not diluting standards from too high a number of students. However, I differ from my parliamentary colleague, Dr Wang Kai Yuen's view. I feel that there is certainly room to raise the CPR to 30%, or so, in future without diluting standards because of the increasingly high quality of students. Another issue concerns the question of staffing at the universities. I understand that quality teaching and research staff in some disciplines are sorely lacking, and recruitment is often done overseas. Foreign talents often fill many of the posts. While some of these foreign talents eventually make their home here and thereby contribute to Singapore's manpower development, many more choose to leave at the end of their contract. Are there mechanisms in place to ensure that the skills and expertise of these talents are somehow transferred to the local staff? What is the ratio of local to foreign staff at NUS and NTU currently? What is the turnover rate for local and foreign university lecturers in each of these two universities in the last two years?

Sir, as Singapore faces the 21st century with its many new challenges and rapid global developments, we envision a nation of responsible citizens and creative thinkers who are determined to learn throughout their lives. The emphasis is on continuous upgrading and the thinking should be "Am I a knowledge worker? And if I have succeeded in becoming a knowledge worker today, I may need to acquire new skills tomorrow so that I am not obsolete in my dynamic environment." Indeed, Madam, the university sector review is timely. And I fully support the major initiatives and plans. Our institutes of higher learning are intricately linked to our chief engines of growth. However, are concrete steps being made to open up university places to the thousands of diploma holders and working adults who dream of a tertiary education and experience? Are there still university courses that are not open to the diploma graduates? If so, why is this so? Madam, with the plan to turn NTU to a full-fledged university offering a comprehensive range of courses, what are the Ministry's plans or check and balance to ensure that NTU continues to gain more momentum and become more reputable, instead of falling back to its past reputation? May I suggest that it may be worthwhile for NTU to consider a new name to reflect its renewed identity, mission and vision. Lastly, Madam, may I also propose that our universities exercise flexibility in allowing the students to take breaks and sabbatical leave to explore and try new experiences, maybe start up a business or travel the world in between their course period.

Madam, the current content and pedagogy of university education at NUS show a bias towards research and development largely by design given the emphasis of the current administration on staff publications. This might be appropriate for the Science, Arts and Technology disciplines, but perhaps less so for other more professional disciplines. Consequently, it appears that applied research and practice orientated curriculum currently do not feature highly in the overall institutional ethos. Employers often tell me that, compared to graduates from the polytechnics, NUS and NTU graduates, although more mature when they leave the universities, have a poorer grasp of the practical aspects of their disciplines. It is of course possible to argue philosophically that the purpose of an university education is not to make artisans or technicians. That is the polytechnic's job. But I suspect that, if a poll of employers were taken, many would say that they wish the university graduates put combined thinking skills and a better mastery of the technical skills required of the job. Some graduates have little bent for R&D, preferring instead to, so to speak, soil their hands in our quest to move up the value chain. Have we neglected these other aspirations for industry oriented degree programmes, especially for the professional disciplines? Madam, the recent debate about the respective marriage of the three universities and whether or not Marina is really different, as the advertisement says, marks a growing awareness that university education is more than just the impartation of knowledge and skills. No doubt this debate will spur all the three universities to closely examine their pedagogical methods to ensure that graduates of whichever university they come from have the requisite technical, professional as well as the life skills needed to thrive in the New Economy. I would like to ask the Minister how the universities will ensure that there is a balance between the quest to be a world-class research university and producing graduates that meet the needs of the industry.

Madam, currently, only about 17% of our workforce are graduates. With the intention to increase the cohort to 25%, we are now one step closer to a system of mass education where more students, regardless of background, have a chance to do a tertiary course. But this ignores the fact that increased participation does not always lead to higher standards. In fact, according to a report in Australia on the changes in academic work, the opposite is the case. We also need to be conscious of the fact that the drop-out rate does not increase after the student intake is enlarged in our universities. Madam, no one denies the importance of a tertiary education. Graduates not only have a greater chance of gaining employment and earning more, but also have the privilege of fulfilling their intellectual curiosities and academic ambitions. However, there is multi evidence in many countries that, as the tertiary institutions enlarge their intake of students, many of these colleges just fail the standard tests. Instead of developing academic excellence and high quality education, many of these tertiary courses promote a mediocre level of abilities. Madam, if our rhetoric about a knowledge nation and our intent to be an education hub is to be taken seriously, how would the Ministry ensure that our universities are indeed the world's best and their standards would not be compromised by a bigger cohort? I also note with concern that this year's budget allocation to the Ministry of Education has decreased by about 10%. Can the Minister assure this House that the standard of our tertiary education will not be compromised? And can the Minister also assure this House that the tuition fees will not be increased to cover the budget cut?

Madam, I have two points to raise on the matter of university education. The first pertains to the recently announced decision to go in favour of a multi-campus model through the National University of Singapore, as opposed to the introduction and establishment of a fourth university. I appreciate the model of a multi-campus university and I think there are some excellent examples around the world. For example, the University of California where this has been quite successful in offering a high standard of education to a broad spectrum of students. Having said that, it is a little lamentable that we appear to have lost an opportunity to establish a new institution of higher learning with its own character, culture, mission, perhaps, even pedagogic methods and subjects focus. And the question is whether within the model of a multi-campus institution, such diversity can be achieved. This is particularly the case because when we discussed the fourth university idea some time back, one of the motivations was to try and broaden the offering at the tertiary level to all students. So I would appreciate a clarification as to why the Ministry has chosen this path and how NUS and the other institutions we have at the higher learning level in Singapore will offer the variety that we are talking about and we see diversity at the tertiary level for our students. Secondly, it is a matter of most specific operational detail. Recently, the National University of Singapore has announced various trends to redefine the terms of employment for the lecturers at the university. And there has been a range of consultation sessions that have occurred. I have received feedback from numerous sources on this matter. And my sense of it is that there is an element of uncertainty and disquiet amongst the faculty staff. I think the key issues that they have expressed are that, first, they are not really clear of the rationale behind this move. Is there a cost cutting exercise, or are there other more fundamental objectives in play? And, secondly, whether this is actually a decision that has been taken and has been communicated to them at this point, or is this a feedback exercise which would then be factored into the final decision. I would appreciate it if a clarification from the Minister as to the intent and the rationale behind this exercise, and to also let us know when a decision, if it has not been taken already, will be taken and implemented. I think this would go a long way in at least dispelling the uncertainty in the minds of many of the university staff. I think that, in turn, it will have a positive effect on the learning environment in the university.

Madam, the Report of the University Sector enunciates the principles of robustness, diversity and health competition. These are principles I fully endorse. The Report concludes from these three principles that there is no need for a fourth university, an idea first broached by another committee headed by the former Senior Minister of State Peter Chen in early 2002. So with due respect, one Minister of State says to start a fourth university, while another says, no, - all within a matter of nine months. The structure of the university sector in its latest incarnation is that of a multi-autonomous campus, NUS, and an enlarged NTU, rather than a fourth university. I understand that this is in order to derive economies of scale from operations, branding, other start-up costs and minimise staff poaching. Madam, we saw very high profile defections of former TCS stars, actors and actresses shortly before SPH MediaWorks was set up two to three years ago. The two stations - MediaCorp and MediaWorks - now compete head to head in the TV ratings, forcing huge improvements to the quality of programming and promoting the film industry. The chief beneficiary from this competition has, without a question, been the consumer. In economic terms, society's welfare has improved, even if producers find their monopoly cut down. 4.45 pm So, poaching, in itself, is not necessarily a bad thing. Existing senior NUS staff can quite easily be seconded permanently to start the fourth university, as was the case with the migration of some teaching staff from the NUS Business School and other faculties to SMU. I fear that the enhanced competition element is missing from this latest proposal. Madam, I must also confess I have trouble deciphering what these terms "autonomous" and a "multi-campus university" really mean. Will the respective Presidents of the three campuses have the independence to make decisions on admissions, examination standards, expenditure, etc? Presumably, the NUS multi-campus system takes its inspiration from the California State University system. But the various University of California campuses are generally so geographically apart and distinct that they operate almost as totally separate entities, whereas the NUS system seems more like branch campuses of the mother campus. In this sense, the competitive landscape has not changed much from the present, because the new campuses at Buona Vista and Outram are offering somewhat differentiated courses from what the three existing universities are offering. Also, NUS (Buona Vista) seems to be positioned as the premier research university above its lesser brethren in the NUS system, as well as NTU and SMU. Is this streaming at work at the tertiary level? If so, then we should also accept that not all public universities are created equal, and we are merely reflecting the spectrum of human ability by having both top-tier and lower-tier universities. There seems to be an incongruence here. At the polytechnic level, there are no misgivings about the third, fourth or even a fifth polytechnic. But we reject the need for a fourth university. Is it because we are enforcing quality, by deliberately reducing the supply of university places? What about SIM? It was touted to be the seat of the fourth university at one time. Perhaps the Minister could review the idea of the fourth university as an institution for industry and practice.

Madam, the lack of professional recognition of the NUS Building degree, and the adoption of the modular system in NUS have made the Bachelor of Science (Building) course redundant. NUS must not confuse the public by stating in its prospectus that the Bachelor of Science (Building) course has "National and International Accreditation". The qualification is not recognised as a professional degree in Singapore. For example, the Building and Construction Authority (BCA) has refused to include the qualification under its approved contractor registration system. The Ministry of Manpower does not recognise the degree to be a qualified site safety officer. There is no Act in Singapore to govern the professional conduct of building graduates. Thus, we should not conduct the Building degree course and waste our limited resources. Instead, I would propose that we convert the Bachelor of Science (Building) course into an engineering course in facilities management. Madam, as buildings become more complex, we need professionals who are trained in facilities management to manage our building development and management. In the US, facilities management is a growing industry and has indeed added much value in the development of buildings and facilities. May I ask the Ministry whether it will consider converting the Bachelor of Science (Building) course into a Bachelor of Engineering (Facilities Management) course?

Madam, I spoke quoting my personal experience last year concerning the admission criteria for the NUS MBA programme, not for my own interest but for that of the public in general. While the Government encourages training, retraining and lifelong learning and going for higher qualification to become more skilled and professional, I am surprised that the NUS' admission criteria for higher degree courses restrict the number of Singaporeans who are allowed to participate in each course. When I, as a graduate of the university and a former students' union President and now an NCMP, was rejected for admission to the NUS MBA programme, I was told that it was because there were too many qualified student applicants from the region with higher GMAT scores. If the university seems to favour foreign students over our local citizens, where does it place our local citizen population with regard to self-improvement and upgrading of their professional qualification in the name of lifelong learning? Do they need to go overseas to get such preferential treatment and admission? I hope the Minister can clarify on this issue.

Dr Ong Seh Hong, you can take your two cuts together.

Madam, we have a good standard of medical healthcare in Singapore. This is in no small part due to the hard work of our healthcare professionals, who have a reputation for excellence in the region. However, in order to continue to be the regional hub for medical excellence, and in our push for the life sciences, we must have a long-term plan to develop the human capital needed for this sector. While training to be doctors, medical students are exposed to new developments in clinical education and medical research. I am sure everyone here would agree that future medical doctors armed with knowledge of the latest developments in their field of study would be of great benefit to their patients. Madam, I note that the report on the university sector recommended the setting up of Graduate Medical Programme (GMP) leading to the MD degree, and the School of Health Sciences (SHS) at the Outram campus, while the Medical School training MBBS doctors would remain at NUS Kent Ridge. May I ask the Minister what is the rationale of separating the Medical School from GMP and SHS? How would the Ministry ensure that institutions that primarily train doctors, nurses and therapists for clinical care, and institutions that focus primarily on research, are working together in close synergy? By working together closely, there would be cross-fertilisation of ideas. Clinicians are exposed to the latest development in research, while the researchers are exposed to the clinical challenges and problems faced by their counterparts. They could then work closely together to apply research findings on the patients or conduct clinical trials or research together. Some clinicians may also be enticed to become researchers, and vice versa. Madam, I would like to know the Ministry's long-term plan to meet the manpower requirements for our medical and life sciences sector. I would also like to know if the Ministry would consider the proposal to put the Medical School, the Graduate Medical Programme and the School of Health Sciences together for them to enjoy the benefits of synergies and close collaborations. Madam, I would like to take my next cut in Mandarin. (In Mandarin): Madam, the universities and polytechnics are institutes of higher learning that nurture the elite of our country and they are the pillars for the future economic growth of Singapore. The emergence of China is an undeniable reality, and it will soon become the driving force for the growth of the global economy. Therefore, we should equip our young people so that they can jump on the bandwagon. A friend of mine who is doing his MBA in the London Business School sent me an email from London, expressing his worries. He said that we are beginning to lose our advantages in China. The Chinese people look down on our less-than-satisfactory standard of Chinese, and they are catching up on English. We lack knowledge of the culture and the national situation of China, even the Americans are doing better than we do in this aspect. Therefore, I would urge the three universities in Singapore to strengthen their teaching and research in China's social, business and cultural environment, and launch a series of courses and subjects to attain the following objects: 1) To enhance the university students' proficiency in written and spoken Chinese so that, in future, when there are exchanges with our counterparts in China, they would be able to write, read and communicate effectively; 2) To enhance exchanges with the Chinese universities and their business community, and to help our students understand China's social, cultural and business environment and the thinking of the Chinese people; and 3) To help our students to have a better understanding of the foreign students from China here, so that they would not discriminate against them. In future, if our students have the opportunity to go to China, they would be able to adapt themselves to the environment in China better. There are many Chinese students in Singapore. We should take advantage of their presence here to interact and learn from them, so that they can become a bridge for our understanding of China.

The graduate employment outlook for this year is bleak. A recent NUS survey showed that only 70% of last year's graduates were employed, compared with 80% for the same period last year. NTU graduates did better. 78% of NTU's graduates last year were employed, compared with 82% for the 2001 cohort. Also, NTU graduates managed to secure better starting salaries, a 7.3% difference, compared to NUS graduates. The worst hit are the computer engineering graduates. Their starting pay was less by 15%, compared to last year. Employment for computer graduates was also badly affected. Madam, the situation is not promising for our graduates, particularly the NUS graduates with general degrees. With the MOM's assessment that the job market will continue to remain soft until the end of this year, we will have a lot of frustrated and unhappy graduates who have no jobs. I hope that the Minister could enlighten this House whether this poor graduate employment situation is just a temporary problem, or whether there are more fundamental issues concerning the effectiveness of our universities' manpower planning that needs to be addressed. Granted that in most cases, the universities have to plan at least three to four years ahead, nevertheless, we should not take this as a reason for not ensuring that there is a better match between supply and demand for graduate manpower in all disciplines. Madam, I would also like to know whether the universities work closely with agencies, such as the EDB, TDB, IE Singapore, MOM and key industrial players in its manpower planning and in determining intakes into the universities. I would also like to seek a clarification as to whether NUS is producing too many general degree holders without much reference to the needs of the labour market as their graduates appear to be worse hit compared to NTU graduates who hold more professional degrees. Madam, in view of the limited opportunities for securing salaried employment, some of these graduates may want to look at other means of earning an income, such as starting their own businesses or being self-employed. But having no capital, expertise or much knowledge of the market or business that they may be interested in, they may need some help and guidance. In this regard, I would like to suggest that the universities, together with the Ministry of Education, and perhaps industry players, look into how to assist graduates who want to start their own businesses. They could be channelled to the appropriate agencies linked up to the relevant bodies with access to the necessary information, so that they could be self-employed or start their own small businesses, and this should certainly help to ease up the employment situation among our graduates.

(In Mandarin): Madam, Nanyang University was established in 1955 in response to the needs of the Chinese speaking community and the awakening for higher Chinese education. It was a Chinese university founded entirely on funding by the Chinese people all over Southeast Asia. Then, the Singapore Hokkien Huay Kuan donated the land for the university site, and every brick and mortar of the campus was contributed by people from all walks of life, including trishaw riders, coolies, dance hostesses, barbers, merchants, etc, many of them giving up their life savings. I am sure all these people who have contributed to the founding of Nanyang University will have a special feeling for the university because it was actually the accumulation of all the blood and sweat of the people and their aspiration. The establishment of Nanyang University shall have an indelible place in the history of education in Singapore. The contribution of Nanyang University to Singapore is not only confined to the academic aspect, but it also brings about the so-called "Nantah spirit". In its 21 years of existence, Nanyang University has produced countless talents who have contributed significantly to the fields of economic construction, education and politics. In the field of academia, it has also enjoyed great reputation all over the world. In 1980, the Government restructured Nanyang University and the then University of Singapore. The Nantah campus was converted to the Nanyang Technological Institute (NTI), which was subsequently upgraded to Nanyang Technological University (NTU). At present, to cater to the needs of the time, NTU now offers courses in life sciences, business studies, education, mass communications, and not just purely technical courses. It will soon start an Arts Faculty, to make it a comprehensive university. Since it is no longer a university that conducts purely technological studies, I would like to ask the Minister whether he would consider taking out the word "Technological" from the name of the University, and let this comprehensive university be known as "Nanyang University". Of course, the old Nanyang and the new Nanyang are different but since this new Nanyang University is standing on the site of the old Nanyang University, let it inherit the Nantah blood and spirit, so that the Nantah spirit of "constantly striving to be stronger, vigorously contending to improve, and self-reliance" continues to be manifested. At the same time, it will continue to groom and nurture the Chinese elites. Apart from preserving the good Chinese culture and traditions, the spirit could also be used to respect our multi-racial, multi-religious and multi-cultural beliefs and to promote greater social cohesion.

Madam, allow me to make some general comments regarding higher education before replying to some specific points raised by Members. We have, currently, a strong and diverse post-secondary sector comprising ITE, Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts, LaSalle-SIA College of the Arts, polytechnics and universities. I thank Dr Michael Lim for sharing with us the wonderful feedback he has got on Ngee Ann Polytechnic. Indeed, we do get very good feedback regarding our polytechnics. Our institutions of higher learning offer an array of academic and technical options to students. Despite this economic downturn, the fears which have been highlighted by Mdm Halimah, our institutes of higher learning continue to be relevant and responsive to our long-term economic and social goals for the future. Mdm Halimah asked whether MOE consults other agencies and, indeed, we do. We do it in the context of the National Manpower Council, and a number of agencies, including MTI, MOE, EDB, and other agencies sit together. Our manpower projections indicate that in 2010, the types of jobs required will require 65% of our workforce to have post-secondary qualifications. The corresponding figure at present is only 39%. We must continue to educate our population. We should not be myopic and wrongly conclude from this current slowdown that education will count less in the future. I understand Mdm Halimah's concern which was also expressed by Dr Wang Kai Yuen about the employability of tertiary graduates. But an educational cache will outlast this recession and pay dividends later. Therefore, to meet these challenges, the post-secondary sector will need to sustain its quality, achieve greater diversity and expand educational opportunities. My Ministry will press on and improve on all sectors related to the post-secondary education. Last year, many Members took up the Minister's invitation to visit ITE and many of you had expressed the admiration following that visit. You have seen for yourselves the quality of the training and infrastructure. But ITE will not be resting on its laurels. For its next phase of development, ITE will regroup its current 10 campuses into three regional campuses over the next 15 years. The larger campuses will be able to offer a full range of courses and provide cross-disciplinary training. The Government will invest a total of $800 million, excluding land cost, to develop three regional campuses. As the Minister has said, our fifth polytechnic, the Republic Polytechnic, will open its doors this year. Besides increasing capacity, this institution will offer more choices to those who wish to pursue a polytechnic education. Since 1999, the Government has provided funding to Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts and LaSalle-SIA College of the Arts to develop their strengths in the western and contemporary visual arts and traditional eastern arts respectively. Both institutions are currently being redeveloped and are expected to move into their new campuses in 2004 and 2006 respectively. The two arts institutions - the recommendations for NTU to have a school of design, media and arts - will train the creative and artistic manpower to fuel and fill the growth of the creative industry, as recommended by the ERC. Similarly, the university sector will continue in its efforts to improve. Let me now address the comments and queries raised by several Members on my Committee's proposal to restructure our university sector. Members will have a sense of the contrasting views expressed by Dr Amy Khor on one side, and Dr Ong Seh Hong and Dr Wang Kai Yuen on the other side, that there is a delicate balance, and indeed, a tension, that exists between quality, expansion and quantity. Dr Amy Khor has asked whether the targeted university cohort participation of 25% is the correct number. Our dictum and premium on this, which perhaps is apt for her coming from the property sector, continue to be quality, quality, quality. We begin with this premise that any expansion to the university sector must not dilute present standards in Singapore. Indeed, wherever possible, quality should be enhanced. The proximate indicators, such as entry scores at 'A' level or polytechnic students' results and their 'O' level grades indicate that we can still maintain standards as we expand to 25%. But let us make no mistake, as was assumed by Dr Wang Kai Yuen, we would not be reluctant to decrease cohort participation rate if standards fall. MOE will continue to monitor the attri- tion rate that Dr Ong spoke about, grades and other outcome indicators, even as we expand the cohort participation rate. Dr Wang Kai Yuen and Dr Ong Seh Ong are, therefore, rightly concerned with the standards of our graduates, and how competitive they will be, even as we expand our university intake to 25%, and what that does to the overall quality of our university sector. Members may recall the Committee, and they have alluded to it, chaired by Senior Minister of State, Mr Peter Chen, to review upgrading opportunities at the degree level. It was an important and useful study which highlighted that there exists a sufficiently large pool of good quality students to sustain a high-quality university education at the 25% cohort participation rate (CPR). Sir, my University Sector Review Committee concurs with this recommendation. From 1995-2000, there was a steady rise in the 'A' level performance of our JC students. At the same time, our polytechnic students, as highlighted by Mr Zainudin Nordin, also improved in academic quality. The number of 'O' level students, who are eligible for admission into the Junior Colleges but opted to go to the polytechnics, increased from about 3,600 to 3,900. Mr Chen's Committee then recommended that proportionately, more polytechnic good students could be admitted to our universities. In terms of basic academic quality, the group of 3,900 students who could enter JC but chose polytechnic education would be similar to our typical JC cohort. Mr Zainudin Nordin has asked how far our proposed expansion addresses these aspirations of polytechnic graduates. Dr Wang Kai Yuen has also similarly expressed this view. Arising from Mr Chen's Committee proposal, we anticipate that the proportion of polytechnic graduates admitted into our universities will increase three-fold after the restructuring of the university sector. As for working adults, our universities will continue to offer degree upgrading opportunities through continuing education as well as full-time study. Some Members have expressed concerns about our proposed restructuring of this present Committee, as recommended by the present Committee. Dr Amy Khor asked about the pros and cons of setting up a fourth university, as contrasted to our present proposal. These questions were also asked by Dr Wang Kai Yuen and Mr Iswaran. The fourth university was a mode suggested by Mr Chen's Committee to accommodate that expansion. Perhaps, the two different Committees were bred under different circumstances and, therefore, presented different options. In particular, my Committee conducted its review in lean times, and we were also concerned as to how stakeholders would accept the fourth university. This new entity would be without the benefit of an established name or track record. Even when the students, by all indicators, will be of equivalent standard to those entering existing universities, my Committee feared that it will take a long time to achieve equal acceptance compared to existing universities among students, parents, the academic community and, more importantly, the employers. We must not also forget that unlike and indeed perhaps similar to broadcast channels, the new university not only competes with our public universities but also with foreign universities that have already established their presence here or in their parent campuses. Substantial resources will be required to overcome prejudices inherently against fledgling institutions. We felt that those resources will yield greater results if we leverage on the excellent reputation of existing universities. It was not, as Dr Amy Khor implied, for cost-cutting reasons that we propose this structure. We therefore propose that NTU expand into a comprehensive university with greater complement of disciplines to take in more students. This will extend NTU's capabilities and provide a broader and more comprehensive undergraduate education to its students. NUS will expand into a multi-campus university, with two additional national institutions specialising in Life Sciences, and a second in Science and Technology. Members, including Mr Iswaran and Dr Wang Kai Yuen, have expressed concerns whether this multi-campus concept would lead to diversity. They have asked about the governance structures and what it means to be autonomous. Sir, these institutions will allow for greater diversity, because of the way we will position both the expertise, the complement of students and the type of faculty we will admit. We will create governance structures so that they will have a certain degree of autonomy to be able to meet this objective. But I agree with Members that implementation details are important to allow us to reach that objective. We presented these views to both the academia and the industries, and to certain focus groups of students. These proposals were warmly endorsed by the Presidents and the academics of NUS and NTU. Many polytechnic students also welcome this proposal as they too have concerns regarding the image and acceptance of the fourth university concept. Mr Zainudin Nordin has asked whether NTU will gain momentum from the proposed changes or slide back. I must say that since the proposals were released, NTU has responded to these proposals with a relish and enthusiasm of a dolphin thrown into a bigger lake. How far it succeeds, of course, will ultimately depend on how NTU can exploit the new possibilities as it broadens its educational provisions. Mr Zainudin Nordin has also proposed that NTU find a new name to reflect its identity, and this view was also shared by Mr Ang Mong Seng. I thank Mr Ang for the description of the Nantah spirit and the historical evolution. I could feel the resonance when he retold the story. Indeed, the Nantah spirit lives in many people and in many forms as we see it today. I also thank him that he agrees that NTU today, because of its transformation, has changed dramatically, and is very different from the previous Nantah, and it has served it well. However, the issue of naming is really linked to what kind of university the NTU aspires to be. This is something that should be decided by NTU, the NTU community, the students, the Alumni, and the faculty as a whole. 5.15 pm Dr Ong has asked why we are separating the existing medical school from the new provisions of Medical and Allied Health Science Education at NUS (Outram). There are several reasons. First, the current medical school is quite large by international standards, and any scope of future expansion will be limited. Second, the proposed graduate medical programme will have a curriculum distinct from the present undergraduate medical course. A distinctive GMP teaching methodology will inject greater diversity into our local medical training and, in the longer term, the local medical profession. This, we felt, was best achieved by the setting up of an institution separate and independent of the MBBS programme currently offered by NUS (Kent Ridge). Third, as he rightly alluded to, the involvement and close proximity of the Singapore General Hospital to NUS (Outram) will allow the programme to leverage on SGH's considerable clinical expertise for teaching, as well as for the School of Health Sciences. This would foster and spur more translational and patient-oriented research that is essential for both healthcare needs and the nation's biomedical science initiatives. This will complement and synergise with the parallel development of the Biopolis. I also want to point out that they will be offering diversity and there will be the element of competition with one another. The GMP and the existing NUS undergraduate programmes could still complement and enhance each other even if they are housed in separate places. There must be inter-campus connectivity for students and faculties within the multi-campus university structure. Members have raised queries regarding university admission system and other aspects relating to design and staffing. Mr Zainudin has recommended that staff be allowed to take breaks and other appointments which will gear them better to teach. Mr Iswaran has commented on what the proposals for the new tenure and compensation schemes would be. Dr Amy Khor has commented on the ratio of local and foreign staff. Madam, NUS has formed a task force to examine the issues relating to possible enhancements to the university's policies on tenure and compensation. One of the primary issues the task force is looking at is how best to provide for more options for faculty, as Mr Zainudin has suggested, to exercise greater flexibility and freedom to faculty members to pursue various activities during the off-season months, after they have fulfilled their teaching and research responsibilities. The task force is due to submit its report to NUS management only by July 2003. At this point, I understand the issues are being floated for exploration and discussion. In terms of local and foreign staff, in both universities, NUS and NTU combined, there are about 1,600 Singapore citizens and PR staff and about 1,000 foreign staff members. We are quite neutral in terms of both the weightage and spread. I think what is important is to have a mixture so that the students can benefit from the diversity of faculty. As to whether NTU and NUS have adequate applied research and practical aspects and nexus with the industry, the Ministry broadly is now moving towards establishing systems for output and outcome indicators, as well as not only measuring input levels. In other words, we want to move the universities to measure by themselves and to engage the stakeholders, whether they are graduates, industry or employers, for themselves to get a sense of how they are doing, vis-a-vis the stakeholders, and thereby respond adequately to the signals. Madam, I thank Dr Ong for moving the cut to add to our budget. I would endorse his cut and relay that sentiment to the Ministry and the Minister for Finance. I am heartened that a number of Members have voiced support for the findings of my Committee. If the Government accepts the recommendations, it would be the start of another exciting phase of development for our universities. If we succeed, and I believe we shall, our universities will truly be Singapore's strategic assets, fulfilling the objective of human capital development through education, ideas and wealth creation through research and international branding to entrench our repute as a keynote in the global education landscape. I will address other issues on university education. Dr Ong has asked how our universities are preparing our graduates to ride on China's economic growth. We agree that this is an important development that we must address. A number of initiatives are already underway at the tertiary level to strengthen the awareness of young Singaporeans about China and China-related issues. These include an exchange programme for outstanding university students between PRC and Singapore, which would commence this year. Each year, 50 outstanding university students from each country would be selected to participate in that programme. During their two weeks in China, our students would have the opportunities to interact with Chinese leaders, officials, academics and students from top Chinese universities. NUS is also developing a China initiative to enhance our students' appreciation and understanding of China. This initiative includes dual degree programmes with top institutions like Beijing University and Xinhua University, student exchanges with leading Chinese universities, a satellite campus in China and extensive research collaborations. NTU is also moving in that same direction. It has recently entered into partnership with the Shanghai Qiao Dong University to offer MBA programmes. To complete the picture, the polytechnics are also getting into the game. On their part, they will conduct basic and business Mandarin classes, as well as modules on Chinese history, culture and development in Mandarin. They also offer overseas industrial training programmes in various Chinese universities and companies and staff exchange programmes. And, if you heard Dr Michael Lim, these efforts have already been paying dividends. ITE gets into the act as well. It conducts overseas attachments for its students and staff and will be introducing an elective Business Mandarin from this year. Dr Ong also spoke on the role of our universities in training our Chinese professionals. Our universities would continue to take on this role. In NUS, the Department of Chinese Studies offers more than 50 undergraduate courses in five major areas of study, namely, Chinese Linguistics, Chinese Literature, Chinese History, Chinese Philosophy and Translation. This department also offers PhDs and Masters programmes in Chinese studies. NTU - Mr Ang Mong Seng has touched on that - has a Centre for Chinese Language and Culture, which conducts general courses in Chinese language and culture, plans the implementation of minor degree and post-graduate degree programmes in Chinese, and conducts research. In addition, since July 2001, NIE has been offering the Bachelor of Arts Education for Chinese Language and Literature specialisation. The course is established specifically to train the teaching of Chinese Language at the primary school level. The proposed School of Humanities and Social Sciences for NTU will complement this initiative. I thank Mr Chia for his altruistic call because he said that from his personal experience, he felt that NUS favours or admits non-Singaporeans to the MBA courses. He has brought up this point so that others like him, in his words, "former union President and NCMP will not suffer" - a similar fate, I presume. Madam, entry to the NUS MBA programme is highly competitive. It is rated as one of the top MBA programmes in Asia. The general requirements for admission are a good undergraduate degree with a strong academic record, relevant working experience and, as he has rightly pointed out, a good General Management Admission Test (GMAT). All entrants, I presume, have to meet these standards. Last year, when he applied, it was not quite a lot of foreigners. It was about 28 non-Singaporeans, to be exact, that were admitted to this course, and that formed about 30% of the intake. In other words, the majority of 70% were Singaporeans. This figure of 30% is quite normal for MBA programmes and, indeed, many hundreds of Singaporeans who themselves are foreign students attending MBA courses in UK and USA yearly will tell you that business schools have higher rates of foreign participation to achieve a strong international flavour and to allow networking. It is this very diversity of talented people that makes MBA programmes attractive and successful. But I am puzzled by one aspect, because I do not understand why Mr Chia is upset with the foreign students who got into the MBA course. I can understand him, and empathise, if he is upset that his undergraduate degree did not meet admission requirements. I can also understand if he is upset that being a former union President and NCMP did not count enough as relevant working experience, even though it clearly shows his leadership qualities. He did not tell us if he met the GMAT standards. But, even if he did not, I can understand why he would be upset, as this may not be a singular measure of MBA material. But, Madam, why should he be upset with foreigners? Members will remember that Mr Chia had also spoken against Contact Singapore trying to recruit foreign talents to Singapore to improve our competitiveness. Madam, Mr Chia's xenophobia, like all phobias, is irrational, misplaced and unjustified. Applicants for this MBA course are selected by merit. So, even if the class had no foreigners, in other words, they were all Singaporeans, the admission standards would still have to be fulfilled. I hope that he is not implying that an NCMP should be given preference over others. Indeed, Mr Chia did not get into the course not because of foreigners, but because of Singaporeans with better qualifications. But Mr Chia should not be upset with these Singaporeans who got into the MBA class and displaced him. To be fair to them, they could not have prior knowledge that he, a former union President and NCMP, was also applying that particular year. If they did, I am sure they would have deferred. But as the Ministry that encourages lifelong learning, I would encourage Mr Chia not to lose heart. There are many other MBA courses in Singapore that he can apply. I note Dr Teo Ho Pin's suggestion to convert NUS' Bachelor of Science (Building) to a Bachelor of Engineering (Facilities Management) course. We will relay the suggestion to the appropriate faculty. Finally, I wish to address Mr Inderjit's earlier suggestion to encourage local distance learning providers to become full universities. We agree. My Committee did agree that private universities in Singapore be allowed to complement the 25% CPR provided by our three publicly-funded universities. So if SIM feels that they would like to expand their cohort, they are free to do so. We agree with him and Dr Amy Khor's point that the private universities' presence can enhance the diversity and competition within this sector. However, to maintain our reputation as a premium educational hub, any private university wishing to establish itself in Singapore must be one of high quality and high international standing.

Madam, point of clarification. First of all, I am expressing a concern about admission and not that I am upset. So I would very much appreciate the Minister for not putting words into my mouth and saying that I am upset. The other point is I am not xenophobic about foreigners coming to study in Singapore, but rather when I called up and asked about the criteria for admission, I was told over the phone that it was because there were many foreigners who applied and there was no space for us - it is not so much that I applied - and so Singaporeans do not get to go in for that matter.

Madam, I am quite heartened to hear that Mr Chia is not upset. That makes my job in the Ministry that encourages lifelong learning easier. As to the comment that he was told that many foreigners applied, that is a generic point. But, really the point is that he did not get into it because other Singaporeans with adequate qualifications did.

Madam, what shapes society? I believe it is ultimately the underlying value system that determines the shape and future of our society. Hence, I ask, what then is the value system embraced by our future leaders today? Answer: the onslaught of popular culture, more than any single force in the form of music, movies, television, reality shows, etc, predominates as an influential agent that moulds the character, values and beliefs of the audience, particularly the young and impressionable minds. With technology and keen competition, production becomes an extension of the creator's pontifications of truths and values that stretches beyond the imaginable but, through skilful juxtaposition, portrays them in realistic light to impress and make believe. Over a period of time, impressionable minds do believe. Shows like "Temptation Island" and "Bachelor", songs like, "Cleaning Up My Closet" by Eminent or "Biscuits, Chocolate, Starfish" all have the effect of transcending matters of importance to a point of desacralising almost everything. Other shows teach selfishness and to each his own. In short, over time, the influence of popular culture may corrode society's sense of morality and values, if it has not already done so. 5.30 pm In this modern age of cable channels and the Internet, we cannot stop the onslaught of the media and popular culture. We can, however, imbue in our young a strong foundation of value system through our education system, so that they will be able to make sound value judgments. Values like care and share, values of morality and filial piety, values like frugality and hard work, values like respect for the elderly and authority - they are all pillars of our society. Obviously, this responsibility falls on all shoulders of society, but schools do have a big role to play, as our children spend a big part of their time in school. I am heartened to know that schools do have school mottoes that expound certain values, but I am mindful that the emphasis on academic excellence does not overwhelm these important pillars of society. Madam, our young today will be the driving force of tomorrow. Given the more than 100 cases of teenage abortions per month, young drug offenders and spotlight on juvenile delinquency, I am afraid that unless we quickly immunise, not insulate, our young, we will have a society of questionable values and behaviour. May I ask the Minister: (1) What is the state of our moral and value education in Singapore? (2) How much emphasis is given to moral and value education in terms of hours in the time table and method of teaching? (3) What is the Ministry's stand on using moral education hours for revisions and catch-ups of examinable or academic subjects when the need arises? (4) Has MOE any plans to step up on values and moral education? Madam, I am anxious about the shape of our future to come. In the light of the pending war, let me quote Dr Viktor Frankl, a renowned psychologist, who survived Auschwitz: 'I am convinced that the gas chambers of Auschwitz, Treblinka and Maidanek were ultimately prepared not in some ministry or other in Berlin, but rather at the desks and in the lecture halls of nihilistic scientists and philosophers.' In other words, if Dr Viktor Frankl was right, then it might be worthwhile to remind ourselves that the impetus for the Holocaust did not come from a military strategy as much as it did from the educated elite, unblushing in their philosophies, on mankind.

(In Mandarin): Madam, I would like to speak on character development. Under our educational system, every effort has been made through our co-curricular activities (CCAs) to develop the character of our students. But what worries me is that co-curricular activities are not compulsory. How does the MOE ensure that a character development programme is implemented in the schools? We should attach equal weightage to academic and character development. Equal emphasis should be given to these two aspects of education. Why is character development so important? At this time of economic downturn, and with the world in such a state of instability and uncertainty, we should develop the character of our students so that they would have enough courage and perseverance to face adversity. This kind of courage and perseverance cannot be learned from the textbooks. It has to be cultivated through various team activities, physical education and some of the CCAs. We need to enhance the students' self-discipline, constantly striving to improve themselves and to be self-reliant. They should learn to sacrifice their personal interests for larger objectives, to put nation before self, to build up team spirit and to nurture the love for labour. In our homes today, we have domestic maids to take care of all the household chores, and we have imported hundreds of thousands of foreign workers. Many Singaporeans feel that we should not be doing all the manual work. This type of attitude is wrong. We must cultivate the right attitude for labour in our students. We must also cultivate our students to be curious, to be inquisitive and to be eager to learn. All these attributes can be cultivated through mass participation in various team activities. I think there should be a joint effort among the Government, society, schools and the families. In our South West CDC, our Youth and Sports Committee and the Family and Children Committee have been working very closely with the schools and voluntary welfare organisations in our area. We want to share our limited resources. We should also consider using mother tongue to teach moral education. When I was in secondary school, I read the Zhengqi Ge (Song of Righteousness) written by the great patriotic poet, Wen Tianxiang. It left a very profound impression in my mind. At that time, I asked my father if I had to face a situation like what Wen Tianxiang was facing, should I die or should I surrender? My father said that I should choose to die. These touching stories of great people in history are deeply rooted in our minds, even decades later. If our young people could be exposed to all these classics, it would help them to make sound judgement and well-guided decisions in critical times.

Madam, as we strive for academic excellence, we must not lose sight of the need to mould the character of our children, especially during their formative years. I would like to ask the Minister to elaborate on the Ministry's effort in building and strengthening the character of our students. What are the Ministry's programmes? How are the progress and achievement of these programmes monitored and measured? And how are our teachers prepared and trained to deliver the subject? Madam, three aspects of character development are of great importance - the right value system, the leadership quality and the strive for excellence. First, on right value system. We must impart the right value system to the next generation. We must teach them to know right from wrong, to be responsible, to be accountable and, equally important, to be caring. These are basic qualities of humanity. Without them, our children will grow up to be a liability rather than an asset to our nation. Second, leadership quality. Some day, we will hand over to our children the future of our nation and ourselves. It is therefore crucial that we must develop the leadership quality in our children. We must inculcate in them the adventure and pioneering spirit, so that we can produce great leaders in politics, in business, the academia and in the community. Third, strive for excellence. We must develop in our children the desire to learn, the desire to improve and the desire to excel. They must not be easily contented with themselves. They must adopt lifelong learning as part of their lifestyle. Madam, I would like to ask the Minister to elaborate how these subjects are taught in the schools. I would also like to urge the Ministry to explore ways to encourage greater participation of community organisations and voluntary welfare organisations in the programme, as it will inject greater professionalism and realism. We should also develop programmes that would involve parents, as character building is not a job for the school alone. Parents must also feel a sense of ownership of the challenge. We must place greater emphasis on character building as part of the curriculum. It is a need to have subject, not a good to have subject.

Madam, the Ministry's mission statement states, amongst other things: 'to bring out the best in our young by developing them into useful and responsible individuals and citizens.'

And the Desired Outcomes include, inter alia, 'that our young will be morally upright, culturally rooted, constituents of a gracious society'. Character development among students is the responsibility of (a) the student himself; (b) the parents and family members of the student; (c) his peer groups; and (d) the teachers of the student. Could the Minister tell us what are the programmes, if any, being conducted for character development of students, qualities such as honesty, integrity, kindness, graciousness, loyalty and generosity? Do we have programmes to groom our children to be gentlemen and ladies, eg, on social graces like table manners, how to conduct decent conversation between students and adults, boys and girls, for higher secondary and junior college or polytechnic students, and also issues on romance and sexual matters? Should our students be encouraged to sing, dance, try out public speaking and participate in drama and debates? How about encouragement in the learning of languages to create the Singapore character of our students, like learning Malay, Mandarin and dialects, Indian languages, including Tamil and other dialects? How about languages of ASEAN countries like Thai, Vietnamese, Tagalog, etc, to get to know ASEAN languages and cultures, so that we have a variety of options? Are there programmes in place for character development dealing with ethical and moral values on criminal laws, so that they would know what our standards of behaviour should be in life, and of right and wrong on financial matters, including value of money, respect for acquisition of wealth honestly and through hard work? Do we have classes for character development which will improve their responsibility and duties at home to carry out household work and responsibilities, cooking and cleaning of homes, gardening, etc, duties, respect and care for the elderly, their parents and grandparents especially, duty to care for the less privileged and sick, and duty to protect and care for animals? If all the above programmes are available or, in some way, enhanced, our children would be good citizens with good character, and that will be good for Singapore in the long term.

Madam, the National Education Programme (NEP) is also an important part of our curriculum. Through the NEP, we endeavour to inculcate a sense of belonging, a sense of ownership and a sense of responsibility towards the nation. Through the NEP, we cultivate a desire for peace and harmony in a multi-racial and multi-religious society. The NEP is a key instrument through which we create a national identity among the young Singaporeans. For these reasons, I would like to ask the Minister to elaborate on the NEP programme. How is the subject delivered in the schools? Has our method of delivery been effective? It is good to have a comprehensive NEP programme. But if the delivery process is ineffective, the efforts would be in vain. How are the teachers trained to deliver the subject? The NIE would have included this in the teachers' training. But is the training appropriate and adequate? How do we measure the effectiveness and achievements of the NEP? The success of the programme must be measured against the desired outcomes. Are there benchmarks and how well have we achieved our objective? I would also be grateful if the Minister would let us know whether there are plans to revise the NEP to take into account recent events and issues, such as terrorism and international relations. While NEP is not part of the core subjects, we must not take the subject lightly. The effectiveness of the NEP will determine whether we will succeed in developing a strong and cohesive people. 5.45 pm

Madam, in the dialogue sessions conducted by the Feedback Unit on social cohesion, the issue of racial interaction among our children is a recurrent theme. Participants are concerned with how to inculcate tolerance and understanding of each other's cultures and habits in our young. In fact, some of them do not like the word "tolerance". Tolerance connotes something that it cannot be helped with. They prefer the word "acceptance". Acceptance is a two-way street. It is not just for the majority to understand the culture and the values of the minority, but also for the minority to appreciate the need to give and take. Living in a multi-racial society, we must learn to accept the culture and habits of our neighbours which could be very different from our own. To achieve this, most of us will agree that interaction among our young is the best approach. Ideally, all our children should have the opportunity to intermingle with children of the other races while growing up - play together, eat together from young. In that way, there is little opportunity for extremist views to take root. Madam, currently, the racial composition in many of our schools does not reflect the racial composition of our population. Thus, there is a need to find ways to force a greater interaction among our pupils and students. I believe one of the best approaches is through sports, such as soccer and hockey. I would suggest that MOE explore organising regular sports meets, perhaps with the Community Development Councils, so that children have greater opportunity to interact.

Madam, I am concerned, like Dr Gan and Dr Wang, with how students relate to each other in schools. I am aware that the Ministry has got its National Education Programme, civic and moral education programme, social studies, etc, in place to ensure that there is some kind of discussion on this topic. The Ministry has also proactively set up the Committee on Strengthening Racial Harmony and with that, we have initiatives like Racial Harmony Day and International Friendship Day; and research, exhibitions, performances of a high standard. They are all good measures that have been put in place. However, today, I would like to raise this question of whether these measures are adequate enough, the same concern expressed by Mr Gan. How does the Ministry ensure that these are not just cosmetic endeavours and that we are not scrapping the surface, but going deeper into the psyche of the students to ensure that there is some kind of realistic acceptance of each other's cultural differences? Like Mr Gan, I would also like to ask the Ministry how are teachers sensitised to these ethnic differences that we have, and what are the coping strategies that they can employ in dealing with parents or children who display such behaviours. Instilling values takes a long time, and I think principals play the primary role in this aspect. However, I do wonder whether the Ministry's policy of rotating principals every five years runs counter to giving it enough time to instill a good value system, especially in this area. Perhaps, this is something to think about, again, over here. I would also ask whether it is time to introduce within the National Education Programme a component on multiculturism, bearing in mind that one in four students here is a foreigner and moving overseas will also be part of the entrepreneurship drive. I think it is important for Singaporeans to know that there are other cultural differences beyond our shores. Lest you think that I am exaggerating on this aspect of discontent - to use a milder term perhaps - let me cite the work of two academics which was posted on the IPS website ---

Ms Braema, you would have to wrap up.

I am winding up. The academics, both NIE lecturers, have done work on secondary and primary school social inter-relationship. I appeal to the Ministry that if they do not already have this document, to look at the document. I end off by just citing this example. A Malay student says that the form teacher in teaching him Mathematics does the explanation in Chinese. This is anecdotal. But if we have come to this stage, I think it is beyond skin deep and we have to look deeper into it.

Sir, the Ministry's Desired Outcomes include, amongst other things that our young would be respectful of family, community and country; and be citizens who believe in our principles of multi-racialism and meritocracy. Does the Ministry have programmes to bring about an ideal environment for social cohesion, including racial and religious integration? To appreciate the different ways of major races, namely, Malay, Chinese, Indian, Eurasian, and also other races in Singapore and to respect their different cultures, social and religious habits and practices, could the Ministry consider greater social cohesion in primary, secondary, post-secondary and tertiary institutions by having the following programmes: (1) from Primary 1 to Primary 6, perhaps, have simple and basic classes on origins of different races, their respective countries, interaction between these countries with Singapore, etc; (2) visit each other's homes to learn and appreciate each other's ways of living and growing. Even better, let them stay with each other during weekends or during school holidays. Secondary schools, junior colleges and polytechnics should conduct multi-racial and multi-religious classes and have spiritual and religious-based courses. This will improve the knowledge and basics of the holy books, like the Bible, the Koran, Bhaagavad Gita and Ramayana, and teachings of Buddha, Taoism and many other religious teachings. They should visit religious and spiritual institutions to educate themselves and, perhaps, also the New Year celebrations of as many races as possible should be encouraged amongst the different races and religions, eg, Hari Raya Puasa, Hari Raya Haji, Chinese New Year, Deepavali, Christmas, etc.

Madam, earlier I spoke about stress, and I would now like to talk about sex. I know for sure sex is a three letter word. In 2001, the Ministry introduced a new sex education curriculum with the objective of providing accurate knowledge as well as interpersonal relationship skills and positive attitudes towards sexuality. One of the issues of sex education is whether the increased knowledge will actually increase the curiosity and sexual urges of teenagers such that they begin to get involved in sexual activities. The plain question: are more of our teenagers having sex? Recently, we saw figures from MOH on teenage abortions and from MCDS on teenage births. There were about 1,500 teenage abortions and 850 teen births a year. Thus, you have about 2,300-odd cases of teenagers getting pregnant. It, however, does not show the extent to which our teenagers are sexually active. But these figures show a slight increasing trend. This may be small by international standards, but I am sure this is one area that Singapore does not want to be number one in. Madam, if not checked, these young people may not realise that they are jeopardising their future. Teenage pregnancies and births not only affect them medically, but it also affects them socially and psychologically. I have seen many cases of teenagers being parents at the age of 16. They are still dependent on their parents who are living and now they have dependants of their own. Madam, there is another issue that I am concerned about. While the current sexuality education curriculum covers the nuts and bolts of responsible sexual behaviour and its related interpersonal relationships, I wonder to what extent it addresses the legal implications of sexual activity amongst teenagers. A social worker of mine had just recently related to me a case of a 15-year old boy who was charged with more than 10 counts of carnal connection. This means he was having sex with girls whose age was between 14 and 16 years. He was not even aware that he was breaking the law. Some do not even know that having sex with a girl under 14 is considered as statutory rape. So, often times, the effects are tremendous for the youngsters as they not only have to deal with pregnancies and abortions, the boys will have to deal with the law. I would like to urge the Ministry to include the legal aspects of sexual relationship in the sexuality education curriculum for students in our schools. I would also like to ask the Minister if there have been any studies looking at the profile of these students. I know it is hard to detect them because you cannot identify them, but what we can do is to study those who have gotten pregnant and gone for abortion or have given birth. This will also be a good entry point to study the profile of the boys who are sexually active. If such a study has not been done, I would urge the Ministry to conduct a study for us to really tailor a more targeted preventive education programme for students who fit such a profile. Another related issue is how is sexual education actually taught in our schools today. I am very curious because I have got young children. I want to know how they are taught. Yes, I know there are VCD, CD-ROM and a Teacher's Resource in this regard. But I wonder how does the Ministry ensure its effectiveness. What is the desired outcome? Is it more responsible sexual behaviour or preventing sexual activity amongst teenagers? What kind of training do the teachers need to go through to be prepared to teach such a curriculum? What proportion of the curriculum time is given to sexual education? What has been the feedback received from students and parents with regard to this programme at this time? I urge the Minister to pay particular attention to sexual education as our teenagers are actually exposed to a lot more wider resources on the matter.

Madam, in my MPS cases, I have often come across parents and students with regard to disciplinary measures imposed on them by schools. Whilst I am very heartened by the positive response of some schools in the treatment of disciplinary cases, I have also come across several others where the treatment of disciplinary cases can be further improved. Madam, the notification by principals of schools that students are suspended or expelled because of their recalcitrant behaviour may not be the solution to many of these problem cases. Very often, these cases come from dysfunctional family where there is a lack of parental control, ie, parents are lowly educated and family is poor and cannot make ends meet. Some of these problem case students also have history of medical problems. I have no doubt that the schools would have gone through an array of measures to counsel and discipline and, as a last resort, have taken the approach of suspension or expulsion. There is a case of a student who has just been suspended and he was informed that he can only return to school in May this year to sit for his examinations. What is the purpose of suspension in this instance? Without any proper guidance and follow-up, I doubt a dysfunctional family would be able to transform the child from now till May for him to go back to school to take his examinations. Also, what would be the outcome of the examination results if he is going to miss his lessons during this period of suspension? I have written to the school to appeal to the principal to reinstate the student after having counselled the student and the mother myself. The student has agreed to improve on his behaviour and indicated a strong desire to go back to school. Besides on the desire of the school to want the student to go back to school, I have pointed out to the principal that the student's lethargy during the PE lesson could be due to the fact that his right hand is slightly handicapped and he may need follow-up on medical treatment. My appeal was to no avail. Very often, these cases may not be so bad as to warrant a referral to the Social Service Unit of MCDS. Nonetheless, they need to be professionally managed with time and dedication given. We know that it will be a drain on the school resources and the case may have a negative influence on other students. Despite this point, we should still follow up with a dedicated service. I would like to propose the setting up of a dedicated follow-up service for principals to refer their difficult cases for attention. This would ensure that students can continue to go back to schools whilst at the same time benefiting from the care of the follow-up service. I also urge that measures like suspension and expulsion should not be used so readily. Is there a guideline for schools on when they can resort to measures like expulsion and suspension? Are these guidelines made known to parents and students? Since a certain standard of expectation is required, it is only correct that these standards are made clear and known to the students and parents. In other words, is there a due disciplinary process that leads to the final decision of suspension or expulsion?

(In Mandarin): According to media reports, during the one-hour Question and Answer session, following the Senior Minister's address to the students of the three universities held at NTU, more than half of those who posed questions to the Senior Minister were foreign students. The questions asked by the foreign students were mainly concerning world or social affairs. On the other hand, our local students were only interested in asking questions that involved their personal interests. In another report, it was stated that the result of a survey revealed that some 10% of the students in Singapore do not know who our Prime Minister was. As the future masters of the nation, these young people are seriously lacking in sensitivity and the sense of crisis towards matters and the environment around them. This is a great cause for concern to us. Many young people are simply disinterested in knowing the history of our nation building, indifferent to politics, and are not concerned at all with the major world and national affairs. This is perhaps due to the comfortable and stable social environment that they are living in all this while. As it is said, "If everything is calm and peaceful, the people will not be concerned with the affairs of the nation." Because of our situation in the past where survival was at the top of our mind, we had placed too much emphasis on skills training and economic development. We have perhaps neglected the inculcation of a sense of national consciousness and values in our people. If we want our young people to venture into other countries while remaining emotionally attached to our country, we should also inculcate in them the political and national consciousness, values and loyalty to the nation. We should enhance our education in these aspects so that they can identify with the nation and be patriotic towards it. 6.00 pm

Madam, we all know the importance of an all-rounded education and the importance of physical education in the overall development of a child. Neuroscience research has shown that sports enhance cognition, increase self-esteem and confidence, and improve social skills. The mental skill in sports participation teaches a person how to reach his personal best, regardless of skills in competition level, and that translates into real life. Dr Mohamad Maliki has mentioned the 6-letter word "stress". Sports also help to reduce stress. One develops fitness and mental toughness through sports, and learns about leadership, teamwork, perseverance and dedication. As we are promoting and developing an entrepreneurial society, I think it is not too far-fetched to say that these are attributes and qualities of an entrepreneur that we would like to inculcate in our students. Madam, I understand that there are three periods of PE from Primary 1 to Primary 3, and two periods from Primary 4 upwards. Although each period consists of 30 minutes, after taking away time for changing into PE gear and moving from classroom to field, probably the actual PE time left would be less. We have also often heard of complaints from students and parents about PE being given the lowest priority in schools. Very often, PE is either given up for remedial classes or for a host of other reasons. One example was given in a report today, in the 1st and 2nd March 2003 weekend edition, where it was reported that PE was cancelled as a form of punishment. Madam, I would like to know how do we compare to other developed nations in terms of PE. Do we allocate sufficient time and attention to PE in schools? I believe that we should reaffirm the importance and priority of PE in schools. Children should learn to play a wide variety of sports in PE, and perhaps fall in love with one or two. I am in sports! And they will enjoy and play for lifelong enjoyment. PE should be taken seriously by schools. But, at the same time, it should be fun for the students. On a related issue, I would like to ask if we have enough qualified PE teachers to meet the demands of schools, and what the intake of PE students is like at NIE. NIE has outstanding facilities and faculty. I would also like to know whether it has excess capacity, so that others interested in a sports career could also learn at NIE.

Madam, by any measure, the Ministry of Education's Trim and Fit Programme (TAF) has been a success. It has resulted in both a reduction of obesity among school children from 14% in 1992 to below 10% today. It has also increased the level of fitness of pre-enlistees in the schools. I have also myself seen how MINDEF's very effective programme to slim down fat pre-enlistees before they begin their BMT proper has also resulted in much weight loss. Nevertheless, as a paediatrician who sees children referred for obesity, I keep hearing from children who say that they do not have an outlet for exercise, and that they have not been selected for the school's training programme. These children are often obese because they do not exercise very much. They do not get to compete because, being fat, they cannot run as fast as their friends, and so may not even get chosen to be on the team for games, and during recess time - always pasang during catching! To drown their sorrows, many of these children eat more! Others tell of PE lessons converted into additional lessons - as has also been brought up by other Members - because of the pressure to fulfill the academic curriculum. What about the parents? Research tells us that 40-80% of obese children will have at least one obese parent. It would be nice for the parents to exercise with the child. But my long clinical experience tells me otherwise. Unfortunately, fat families tend to stay fat together! This is not a happy situation, if we are trying to achieve healthy lifestyles for all and a sporting Singapore. I hope that the Minister will persuade schools to teach children how to play sports and games that they have never tried. Try to allow for more beginners to take up sports and join the Beginners' League, and not only to focus on the star performers who can bring honour to the school. Perhaps, Parent-Teacher Associations can also help schools by running Beginners' Leagues, like the Little League in America, and maybe do so by weight categories - small, bigger, fattest! Or have beginner, intermediate and advanced levels for a variety of games. NIE can perhaps help by actually training and upgrading parent volunteers to run leagues properly. I think schools need to support the Sporting Singapore vision by not only betting on the sure winners, but also to water and fertilise the hidden and budding talents of all our children, thin or fat, short or tall. Late bloomers can sometimes really do our garden proud. Another short point is that some of these children would have medical problems as a result of their weight problem. I hope that these children will be appropriately channelled to the relevant medical channels for investigation and treatment. Our own research in KK Hospital suggests that at least a third, if not more, would have significant medical treatable problems. For some of them, the TAF club programme has not been able to help, for some reason or other. I hope that the Minister will support a more targeted approach to these children, in view of the serious health risks they pose to themselves and potential future burden to the nation.

Madam, at the 44th AGM of the Singapore Schools Sports Council, the Minister for Education made special mention of Park View Primary School in Pasir Ris which has a Catch Them Young Sports Programme for pupils from Primary 1 upwards. Those with good potential in sports are identified and given special training to groom them into sports talents. At each primary level, the sports talents are grouped into two special classes and given specialised sports training and coaching. They are also given enrichment and remedial support. The school provides all other students with PE, Trim and Fit Programme, and inter-class activities that keep them active and challenged throughout the year. I would like to congratulate the school for its innovative way of providing effective sports education for all its pupils and for her sports talents to develop. Madam, at the Singapore Schools Sports Council conference in 1999, I also urged MOE and schools to introduce gifted sports programme, so that students with sports talent can be nurtured and achieve success. In Singapore, we are giving our children with different talents opportunities to develop to their fullest potential, not just in academic pursuits but also in other areas, eg, arts, music and sports. Gifted sports classes, like the one introduced by Park View Primary School, would give a chance to those with sporting talent to be nurtured and to flourish, and to achieve success in life according to his or her own ability and inclination. This concept of gifted classes can be introduced at the primary and secondary levels, in Normal and Express streams, and I hope Park View Primary School will be a shining example for other schools to follow. I also urge the Ministry to encourage more schools to consider similar innovative programmes.

Madam, I would like to thank Members who have given us a lot of suggestions on how to improve the various programmes run by our schools. I may not be able to respond to all the suggestions, but I will try. Madam, MOE agrees with Members on the importance of holistic development of our students. MOE's approach is to give due importance to the total education of our students, encompassing both academic and non-academic aspects, so that our students grow up to be good persons and useful citizens. Mr Gan Kim Yong, Mrs Yu-Foo Yee Shoon and Ms Penny Low asked about schools' character development and National Education programmes and wondered how we assess their successes and whether schools collaborate with the community on these programmes. Dr Ong Seh Hong also asked what schools do to teach current affairs, and Mr Loh Meng See proposed that MOE should strengthen our values education. Our curriculum instils in our students sound values, builds their character and equips them with knowledge of National Education and current affairs. For example, students learn about key historical facts and local current affairs through their Social Studies and General Paper lessons. They are also taught to make decisions based on moral principles in their civics and moral education lessons. Through Learning Journeys to places like PSA, JTC and Parliament House, which include observing parliamentary sessions from the gallery, they learn the critical issues and challenges facing Singapore and what makes Singapore tick. But we believe that it is not enough to just teach students these values in classroom lessons or take part in Learning Journeys. We must also provide opportunities for students to practise these values to learn what it means to have integrity, loyalty and understand why discipline and perseverance are important for success, and allow them to experience the joy of giving to the community. That is why MOE introduced the Co-curricular Activities (CCA) Programme Framework in 2001, comprising CCA and the Character Development Programme (CDP), of which the Community Involvement Programme (CIP) is one component. The Character Development Programme comprises a range of enrichment activities organised into the three domains of enterprise, citizenship, and personal and social development. There are specific activities under each domain. For example, schools organise creativity, innovation and problem-solving workshops for students to nurture enterprise. One of the values we nurture in our students is service to the community. This is achieved through the Community Involvement Programme (CIP). For example, students from Nanyang Girls High have adopted Block 151, Mei Ling Street in Queenstown, to serve the elderly who attend activities organised by the Lion Befrienders. Students are scheduled to visit and interact with the elderly in two-hourly sessions and learn the art of flower-making from the senior citizens. These flowers are later sold by the students to raise funds for the centre. How do we assess the effectiveness of the CDP and National Education? Values, such as perseverance and loyalty, are intangible and difficult to measure quantitatively. Nevertheless, we have developed proxy measures to review our National Education programmes, activities and CDP, and assess if they are effective. One of these is the CIP survey. Based on the 2002 survey, 91% of all our schools had at least 90% of their students completing six hours of CIP participation. This is an indirect measure of our students' readiness to contribute to the community in a small way. In the new JC curriculum to be introduced in 2006, JC students would need to meet minimum requirements in CCA and CDP participation. Mr Gan Kim Yong and Mrs Yu-Foo Yee Shoon also asked whether our teachers are trained to deliver National Education and character development programmes, while Ms Braema Mathiaparanam asked if teachers are trained to deal with racial discriminatory attitudes. The answer is, yes, through formal and informal settings. NIE's National Education training and character development programmes prepare teachers for practice in the profession. To create awareness of National Education among trainee teachers, NIE infuses National Education issues into the respective course modules. It also holds a three-day National Education seminar annually, which is attended by all trainee teachers. Furthermore, a compulsory Singapore Studies module will be introduced for teachers in the NIE degree programme in July 2003. 6.15 pm Training in character development is delivered through formal lessons in core and elective modules, where the values of care, integrity and being good role models are emphasised. Through these various training schemes, our young teachers are exposed to different modes of conducting lessons in character development and National Education. Incumbent teachers too are not neglected. They receive in-service training through workshops, seminars, sharing sessions and talks to equip them with the attitude, skills and knowledge to conduct character development and National Education lessons and activities. In addition, our teachers are sensitized to racial issues in schools, through talks by the principals, National Education seminars and sharing sessions. In school context, they are called "contact times". At regular school staff meetings, education officers also have the opportunity to discuss how to manage difficulties that might arise in their work environment, including discriminatory attitude should it occur. Madam, on racial integration, Dr Wang Kai Yuen and Mr Chandra Mohan asked how we could better promote racial integration in schools by inculcating tolerance and understanding of each other's culture and habits. Our national schools play an important role in teaching our students the importance of racial harmony and social cohesion. They have continued to organise multi-cultural celebrations of ethnic festivals, set up National Education or Heritage Corners, and work with parents and the Community Development Councils to broaden inter-racial mixing through the home-stay and home visit programmes. Through the curriculum, classroom activities and CCAs, our students have the opportunities to learn, understand and appreciate the cultures and traditions of their friends. I would say that the foundation for racial integration and harmony is laid very early in our schools. The Committee on Strengthening Racial Harmony in Schools introduced a framework for broadening and deepening racial harmony in schools last year. Earlier this year, a racial harmony website was launched to share best practices in promoting racial harmony in schools as well as to engage students to discuss and understand racial harmony issues better. The Committee also recommended the introduction of a set of racial harmony indicators to be included in the school excellence model (SEM), a self-appraisal tool for all schools. The racial harmony indicators are designed to assist schools in the management and evaluation of their own racial harmony programmes within the framework of the SEM. Mr Loh Meng See spoke about the importance of giving our students earlier exposure to cross-cultural environment. Madam, our racial harmony activities provide that exposure to our students. On top of that, our schools also organise International Friendship Day annually and some even work with foreign schools based here in Singapore in exchange programmes, so that our students and their students can mingle confidently, including during their home-stay. However, having said all these, I would like to stress that the child's experiences in school form only a part of his education. The family, the community and the society play no less a critical role in shaping the values of our young. Madam, on the Special Assistance Plan (SAP) schools, Mr Chandra Mohan and Mr Inderjit Singh asked how these schools promote racial harmony, considering their exclusive nature. I wish to assure Members that our SAP schools are aware of their responsibility for educating students who are steeped in our national values in a multi-cultural and multi-racial Singapore. They promote racial harmony and social cohesion as actively as other schools through the CIP, CDP, inter-school, cluster-based and community-based activities. Mindful that their school environment has limitations, they work with other schools to create opportunities for their students to interact with students of other races from other schools. One example is River Valley High where students celebrated the International Friendship and Racial Harmony Day with students from other schools in their cluster. Another example is Chung Cheng High School (Main), which has an exchange programme with Springfield Secondary, a school in Tampines, that provides opportunities for Chung Cheng students to interact with students of other races. The SAP schools were set up to preserve the best of the values and traditions found in the former Chinese schools. These traditions and values have created a richer environment and played a significant part in Singapore's development. Our SAP schools understand that they are an integral part of Singapore and accept the multi-racial nature of our society. Mr Chandra Mohan also suggested the setting up of SAP schools for Malays and Indians. We must bear in mind that the circumstances of each community are different and, therefore, may require different approaches to preserve their traditions. MOE set up two committees, involving representatives from the Indian and Malay communities, to review the teaching and learning of the Tamil and Malay languages in 1998 and 1999 respectively. The recommendations of the review to strengthen the teaching of Malay and Tamil languages were announced in year 2000. These included, among other things, the introduction of an Enrichment Programme in Malay Language for Secondary Schools, (in short, EMAS), Language Elective Programme (Malay Language) in Tampines JC and the upgrading of the Umar Pulavar Tamil Language Centre to a national Tamil Language Centre. It is heartening to note that the majority of the MLEP and EMAS students, both at the Tampines JC and Bukit Panjang Government High, have performed well in the 'A' and 'O' level examinations in Higher Malay Language examinations. Let me now deal with the specific issues raised by Members. First, sexuality education. Dr Maliki referred to sex education, but we do not teach sex education per se. What we do is to introduce sexuality education. Dr Maliki asked about the effectiveness of our sexuality education, and how the programme is being received. The aim of sexuality education is to equip students with the knowledge and skills to make responsible decisions on sexuality matters, based on values in line with the national value of the family as the basic unit of society. Sexuality education is implemented in schools through a cross-curricular approach in subjects such as Health Education, Science, and Civics and Moral Education. It is also carried out as a co-curricular programme based on the Growing Years series. For Dr Maliki's information, six to eight hours of sexuality education is taught every year. It is conducted outside curriculum hours as an enrichment programme. Teachers are also trained by medical practitioners, the police (in the case of legal matters, the legal aspect of sexuality issues), social workers as well as by psychologists. Pupils have responded well to the programme, showing a significant increase in their knowledge and understanding of sexuality matters. It is, however, too early to assess the impact of the programme on pupil's sexual values and attitudes, bearing in mind that the influences on them are so varied and very strong from many different sources. Dr Maliki also asked why teenage pregnancy has increased. The causes for teenage pregnancy are multi-faceted. They include a lack of family support and cohesiveness, history of sexual abuse and low esteem. Schools alone cannot address all these issues and causes. What we can do, through sexuality education for students, is to inculcate the right values, raise their awareness of the options and the consequences, and equip them with the skills to make informed decisions. The family and the community must also play their part to support the school. On school discipline, Mdm Ho Geok Choo said that principals should temper discipline with a heart. Indeed, we agree with Mdm Ho. Our schools have a multi-tier discipline system, complemented by a pastoral care and guidance programme. When a pupil shows signs of misconduct, he will be counselled first by teachers and, if necessary, by a professional MOE counsellor. Schools also work closely with parents to help the child. For recalcitrant pupils, schools will turn to external agencies like the MCDS, the Juvenile Court, Family Service Centres and self-help groups to help such pupils. Disciplinary actions, like expulsion and suspension, are only meted out as a last resort. Even then, schools will re-admit these pupils if they change their undesirable behaviour and commit to improve their conduct. Similarly here, schools cannot work alone. It requires the cooperation of parents and the community, and will continue to work with them to help these children. Madam, on physical education, Mr Ng Ser Miang said that physical education (PE) should be serious, yet fun, and teach sports and games. He wondered if we had sufficient time for PE compared to other countries. Our PE programmes do teach students to play different sports and games, and it is fun-filled and yet achieving its objectives of developing students' motor and games skills. Students also learn to keep fit and appreciate teamwork, fair play and sportsmanship through PE. Madam, we compare well with other developed countries, like the USA, in the time allocated for PE. For example, for Primary One to Primary Four, we have between 90-120 minutes of PE per week, compared to 100 minutes for the USA. I wish to assure Mr Ng and Dr Warren Lee that MOE does not encourage the use of PE periods for remedial lessons. All remedial lessons are supposed to take place outside curriculum hours. Mr Ng also asked if we have a sufficient number of PE teachers and whether NIE opens its PE programme to fee-paying students who are interested in a career in the sports industry. We have sufficient qualified PE teachers to meet our demands and we are able to recruit sufficient number of PE trainees every year. As NIE's PE training programme prepares our teachers to teach PE in our schools, it is not suitable for someone who is looking for training in preparation for a career in the sports industry. On the Trim and Fit Programme, I am very pleased to note that none other than Dr Warren Lee has brought up the issue of the importance of trim and fit. I say this because he is a paediatrician. I would like to thank Dr Warren Lee for calling the Trim and Fit Programme (or TAF) a success and wish to assure Mr Ng Ser Miang that all TAF activities are conducted outside curriculum hours. Dr Lee also asked our schools to encourage mass participation in sports, including obese students to play sports and games. We agree fully with Dr Lee. In line with our national policy of Sports for All, there are many avenues for our students, including obese pupils, to participate in sports today. They range from PE lessons, recreational CCAs, to games and competitions at various levels - the school level, cluster level, and at class level too. Since 1999, schools have been encouraged to adopt the house system for their CCAs to further promote mass participation in sports. Some schools have even made special efforts to entice overweight students to exercise by introducing roller-blading, boxercise, games and ethnic dances, to make exercising fun. Others conduct their TAF activities in the form of a CCA, such as the Health and Fitness Club or the Fun and Fitness Club. Some schools also conduct seminars, talks and sharing sessions on wellness to educate and encourage parents to support and promote a healthy lifestyle for them and their children. I am very glad to report to Members that parents, through the parents support groups, do help our teachers to conduct these activities for the obese pupils. In order to overcome the manpower and physical resources limitations, some schools are tapping on the Singapore Sports Council's Learn to Play Sports Basic Programme to increase sports opportunities for students. This year, a total of 75 primary and secondary schools joined the programme. As suggested by Dr Lee, some schools do tap on their parent-teacher associations for support. For example, St. Michael's Primary School has the beginners' soccer programme known as Twinkle Toes, which is open to all interested pupils and run by two PTA members of the school.

Order. Mr Hawazi, I would have to trim your reply here. It is 6.30 pm. Thereupon, Madam Deputy Speaker left the Chair of the Committee and took the Chair of the House.

Mdm Deputy Speaker, I beg to report that the Committee of Supply has made further progress on the Estimates of Expenditure for the financial year 2003/2004, and ask leave to sit again tomorrow.

So be it.

Resolved, "That Parliament do now adjourn." - [RAdm Teo Chee Hean].

Adjourned accordingly at Half past Six o'clock pm. Chart 1: Primary School Intake and Enrolment (1994-2006) Chart 2: Age Profile of Trained Education Officers in Primary Schools in 1996 & 2002 Chart 3: Retirement Numbers and Stock of Trained Education Officers in Primary Schools Chart 4: Number of Primary Schools by Building Specifications