Singapore Examinations and Assessment Board Act

“assessment” means any test, examination or other method of assessing the level of proficiency, aptitude, skill, knowledge or understanding of a person in any subject matter, other than any of the national examinations;

“Board” means the Singapore Examinations and Assessment Board established under section 3;

“Chairman” means the Chairman of the Board and includes a temporary Chairman of the Board;

“chief executive” means the chief executive of the Board appointed under section 16 and includes any person acting in that capacity;

“Examinations Division” means the department in the Ministry of Education known as the Examinations Division;

“member” means a member of the Board and includes a temporary member of the Board;

“national examinations” means the examinations specified in the Schedule.

The Board shall, in every financial year, prepare or cause to be prepared and shall adopt annual estimates of income and expenditure of the Board for the ensuing financial year.

Supplementary estimates may be adopted by the Board at any of its meetings.

A copy of all annual and supplementary estimates shall, upon their adoption by the Board, be sent immediately to the Minister.

The Board shall open and maintain one or more accounts with such bank or banks as the Board thinks fit.

Every such account shall be operated by such person as may, from time to time, be authorised in that behalf by the Board.

The accounts of the Board shall be audited by the Auditor-General or such other auditor as may be appointed annually by the Minister in consultation with the Auditor-General (referred to in this Act as the auditor).

A person shall not be qualified for appointment as an auditor under subsection (1) unless he is a public accountant who is registered or deemed to be registered under the Accountants Act 2004 (Act 4 of 2004).

The Board shall, as soon as practicable after the close of each financial year, prepare and submit financial statements in respect of that financial year to the auditor who shall audit and report on them.

The auditor shall in his report state —

The auditor shall, as soon as practicable after the accounts have been submitted for audit, send a report of his audit to the Board.

The auditor shall submit such periodical and special reports to the Minister and to the Board as may appear to him to be necessary or as the Minister or the Board may require.

The auditor or any person authorised by him (referred to in this section as an authorised person) shall be entitled at all reasonable times to full and free access to all accounting and other records relating, directly or indirectly, to the financial transactions of the Board.

The auditor or an authorised person may make copies of, or extracts from, any such accounting or other records.

The auditor or an authorised person may require any person to furnish him with such information in the possession of that person or to which that person has access as the auditor or the authorised person considers necessary for the purpose of his functions under this Act.

Any person who, without reasonable cause —

The Board shall, as soon as its accounts and financial statements have been audited in accordance with the provisions of this Act, send to the Minister a copy of the audited financial statements, signed by the Chairman, together with a copy of the auditor’s report.

Where the Auditor-General is not the auditor of the Board, a copy of the audited financial statements and any report made by the auditor shall be forwarded to the Auditor-General at the same time the auditor’s report and financial statements are submitted to the Board.

The Minister shall, as soon as practicable, cause a copy of the audited financial statements and of the auditor’s report referred to in subsection (1) to be presented to Parliament.

The Board shall have a common seal and such seal may from time to time be broken, changed, altered or made anew as the Board thinks fit.

All deeds and other documents requiring the seal of the Board shall be sealed with the common seal of the Board.

All instruments to which the common seal is affixed shall be signed by any 2 members generally or specially authorised by the Board for the purpose or by one member and the chief executive.

The Board may, by resolution or otherwise in writing, appoint any officer of the Board or any other agent either generally or in any particular case to execute or sign on behalf of the Board any agreement or other instrument not under seal in relation to any matter coming within the powers of the Board.

All courts, judges and persons acting judicially shall take judicial notice of the common seal of the Board affixed to any document and shall presume that it was duly affixed.

The Board shall consist of —

The Minister may appoint the chief executive to be a member.

A member shall hold office on such conditions and for such term, not exceeding 3 years, as the Minister shall specify in his appointment, and may from time to time be re-appointed.

Any member may, at any time, by notice in writing to the Minister resign from his office.

The Minister may, at any time, revoke the appointment of any member without assigning any reason.

If a member dies or resigns or has his appointment revoked, the Minister may appoint any person to fill the vacancy for the residue of the term for which the vacating member was appointed.

The Board shall pay to the Chairman and other members, out of the funds of the Board, such salaries, fees and allowances as the Minister may, from time to time, determine.

At all meetings of the Board, a simple majority of the members shall form a quorum.

The Chairman shall preside at all meetings of the Board and, in the absence of the Chairman, the members present shall elect one of their number to preside.

Meetings of the Board shall be held at such times and places as the Chairman may determine.

All questions arising at any meeting shall be decided by a majority of votes of the members present and voting.

At any meeting of the Board, the Chairman shall have a deliberative vote and, in the case of an equality of votes, the Chairman or, in his absence, the member presiding shall have a casting vote.

The validity of any proceedings of the Board shall not be affected by any vacancy amongst its members or by any defect in the appointment of any member.

Subject to the provisions of this Act, the Board may regulate its own proceedings.

A member who is in any way, directly or indirectly, interested in a transaction or project of the Board shall disclose the nature of his interest at a meeting of the Board.

The disclosure by a member of his interest shall be recorded in the minutes of the Board and that member shall not take part in any deliberation of the Board with respect to the transaction or project.

For the purpose of determining whether there is a quorum, a member shall be treated as being present at a meeting notwithstanding that, under subsection (2), he cannot vote or has withdrawn from the meeting.

Subject to the provisions of this Act, the functions and duties of the Board shall be —

In addition to the functions and duties imposed under subsection (1), the Board may —

Nothing in this section shall be construed as imposing on the Board, directly or indirectly, any form of duty or liability enforceable by proceedings before any court to which it would not otherwise be subject.

The Minister may give such directions, not inconsistent with the provisions of this Act, as to the performance of the functions and duties and the exercise of its powers by the Board.

The Board shall give effect to any direction given under subsection (1).

The Board may, from time to time, appoint, alter or discharge committees, consisting of one or more persons (whether members or not), and define or vary the terms of reference of those committees.

Subject to this Act and to the control of the Board, each committee appointed under this section may regulate its procedure in such manner as the committee thinks fit.

The Board may, from time to time, in respect of a specified matter or class of matters, by writing, delegate to a member, officer or committee of the Board or agent any of its functions or powers under this Act or under any other written law, except —

Every member, officer, committee or agent purporting to act pursuant to a delegation under this section shall, in the absence of proof to the contrary, be presumed to be acting in accordance with the terms of the delegation.

A delegation under this section shall be revocable at will, and no delegated person shall prevent the exercise of any power or the performance of any function or duty by the Board.

The Board shall, with the approval of the Minister, appoint a chief executive on such terms and conditions as the Board may determine.

The chief executive shall —

If the chief executive is temporarily absent from Singapore or temporarily incapacitated by reason of illness or for any other reason temporarily unable to perform his duties, another person may be appointed by the Board to act in the place of the chief executive during any such period of absence from duty.

The Board may, from time to time, appoint such other officers, employees, consultants, agents or other personnel as it thinks fit for the effective performance of its functions.

No suit or other legal proceedings shall lie personally against any member, officer or employee of the Board or other person acting under the direction of the Board for anything which is in good faith done or intended to be done in the execution or purported execution of this Act or any other written law.

Where the Board provides a service to the public whereby information is supplied to the public pursuant to any written law, neither the Board nor any of its members, officers or employees involved in the supply of such information shall be liable for any loss or damage suffered by any member of the public by reason of any error or omission of whatever nature appearing therein or however caused if made in good faith and in the ordinary course of the discharge of the duties of such member, officer or employee.

As from 1st April 2004 —

If any question arises as to whether any particular property, asset, interest, right, privilege, liability or obligation has been transferred to or vested in the Board under subsection (1), a certificate under the hand of the Minister for Finance shall be conclusive evidence that the property, asset, interest, right, privilege, liability or obligation was or was not so transferred or vested.

Any immovable property to be transferred to and vested in the Board under subsection (1) shall be held by the Board upon such tenure and subject to such terms and conditions as the President may determine.

Every proceedings in respect of the transferred properties by or against the Government which are pending on 1st April 2004 may be continued, completed and enforced by or against the Board.

Every agreement relating to any of the transferred properties to which the Government was a party immediately before 1st April 2004, whether or not of such nature that the rights and liabilities thereunder could be assigned, shall have effect as from that date as if —

In this section, “Examinations Fund” means the Fund established under regulation 90(1) of the Education (Schools) Regulations (Cap. 87, Rg 1).

As from 1st April 2004, such persons or categories of persons as the Minister may determine who, immediately before that date, were employed by the Government in the Examinations Division shall be transferred to the service of the Board on terms no less favourable than those enjoyed by them immediately prior to their transfer.

If any question arises as to whether any person or category of persons has been transferred to the service of the Board under subsection (1), a certificate under the hand of the Minister shall be conclusive evidence that the person or category of persons was or was not so transferred.

Until such time as terms and conditions of service are drawn up by the Board, the scheme and terms and conditions of service in the Government shall continue to apply to every person transferred to the service of the Board under subsection (1) as if he were still in the service of the Government.

The terms and conditions to be drawn up by the Board shall take into account the terms and conditions of service (including salaries and accrued rights to leave) enjoyed by the persons transferred to the service of the Board under section 33 while in the employment of the Government.

Any term or condition relating to the length of service with the Board shall recognise the length of service of the persons so transferred while in the employment of the Government to be service with the Board.

Nothing in the terms and conditions to be drawn up by the Board shall adversely affect the conditions that would have been applicable to persons transferred to the service of the Board as regards any pension, gratuity or allowance payable under the Pensions Act (Cap. 225).

Where a person has been transferred to the service of the Board under section 33, the Government shall be liable to pay to the Board such portion of any pension, gratuity or allowance payable to the person on his retirement as the same shall bear to the proportion which the aggregate amount of his pensionable emoluments during his service with the Government bears to the aggregate amount of his pensionable emoluments during his service under both the Government and the Board.

Where any person in the service of the Board, whose case does not fall within the scope of any pension or other schemes established under this section, retires or dies in the service of the Board or is discharged from such service, the Board may grant to him or to such other person wholly or partly dependent on him, as the Board thinks fit, such allowance or gratuity as the Board may determine.

Where, on 1st April 2004, any disciplinary proceedings were pending against any employee of the Government transferred to the service of the Board, the proceedings shall be carried on and completed by the Board.

Where, on 1st April 2004, any matter was in the course of being heard or investigated or had been heard or investigated by a committee acting under due authority but no order, ruling or direction had been made thereon, the committee shall complete the hearing or investigation and shall make such order, ruling or direction as it could have made under the authority vested in it before that date.

Any order, ruling or direction made by a committee under this section shall be treated as an order, a ruling or a direction of the Board and have the same force or effect as if it had been made by the Board pursuant to the authority vested in the Board under this Act.

All proceedings or causes of action pending or existing immediately before 1st April 2004 by or against the Government in respect of the Examinations Division may be continued, completed and enforced by or against the Board.

The Board shall, as soon as practicable after the end of each financial year, cause to be prepared and transmitted to the Minister a report dealing generally with the activities of the Board during the preceding financial year and containing such information relating to the proceedings and policy of the Board as the Minister may, from time to time, direct.

The Minister shall, as soon as practicable, cause a copy of every such report to be presented to Parliament.

The Board shall have the exclusive right to the use of such symbol or representation as the Board may select or devise and thereafter display or exhibit such symbol or representation in connection with its activities or affairs.

Any person who uses a symbol or representation identical with that of the Board, or which so resembles the Board’s symbol or representation as to deceive or cause confusion, or to be likely to deceive or to cause confusion, shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding $10,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 6 months or to both.

Except for the purpose of the performance of his duties or the exercise of his functions or when lawfully required to do so by any court or under the provisions of any written law, no person who is or has been —

Any person who contravenes subsection (1) shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding $2,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 24 months or to both.

Where an offence under this Act committed by a body corporate is proved to have been committed with the consent or connivance of, or to be attributable to any neglect on the part of, an officer of the body corporate, the officer as well as the body corporate shall be guilty of that offence and shall be liable to be proceeded against and punished accordingly.

Where the affairs of the body corporate are managed by its members, subsection (1) shall apply in relation to the acts and defaults of a member in connection with his functions of management as if he were a director of the body corporate.

Where an offence under this Act committed by a partnership is proved to have been committed with the consent or connivance of, or to be attributable to any neglect on the part of, a partner, the partner as well as the partnership shall be guilty of that offence and shall be liable to be proceeded against and punished accordingly.

Where an offence under this Act committed by an unincorporated association (other than a partnership) is proved to have been committed with the consent or connivance of, or to be attributable to any neglect on the part of, an officer of the association or a member of its governing body, the officer or member as well as the association shall be guilty of that offence and shall be liable to be proceeded against and punished accordingly.

In this section —

“officer” —

“partner” includes a person purporting to act as a partner.

The chief executive or any officer authorised by him may, in his discretion, compound any offence under this Act which is prescribed as a compoundable offence by collecting from a person reasonably suspected of having committed the offence a sum of money not exceeding $1,000.

On payment of such sum of money, no further proceedings shall be taken against that person in respect of the offence.

The Board may, with the approval of the Minister, make regulations as may be necessary or expedient to give effect to the provisions and purposes of this Act.

Without prejudice to the generality of subsection (1), the Board may make regulations for the following purposes:

Such regulations may provide that a contravention thereof shall be punishable with a fine not exceeding $10,000 or with imprisonment for a term not exceeding 12 months or with both and, in the case of a continuing offence, with a further fine not exceeding $1,000 for every day or part thereof during which the offence continues after conviction.