MOE surpasses recruitment target of 3,000 teachers

SINGAPORE: More are turning to teaching as a career. As of June, the Ministry of Education said it has already surpassed its target of recruiting 3,000 teachers for the whole of this year.

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As of June, the Education Ministry said it has already surpassed its annual target of recruiting 3,000 teachers and 680 allied educators for this year.

While the ministry has stepped up hiring, Education Minister Ng Eng Hen said on Monday that it also continues to be rigorous in its selection.

A spokesman for the ministry told Channel NewsAsia that a significant proportion of shortlisted candidates are given a teaching internship for schools to assess their aptitude and interest to teach.

In addition, every short—listed candidate is interviewed by a panel, which is led by an experienced educator, usually a principal.

Teaching is a career for those who have the passion, aptitude and commitment. 1,893 newly—qualified teachers received their diplomas this year.

Siti Nur Aishah, winner, Economic Development Board Book Prize, said: "You have to be an example. Firstly, you have to come up with interesting lessons that will make them (the students) come to school to learn, make them learn for the sake of learning and not just for grades."

Benjamin Lim, winner, the NIE Award, said: "I’m teaching in the music elective school and the kind of intellectual challenge that it imposes on me all the time is very stimulating. I am reading up constantly for my lessons and I intend to do my postgraduate studies."

Besides recruiting good teachers, the Education Minister said the ministry also needs to continually develop its existing pool of educators so they keep abreast of the latest in education practices.

Dr Ng said: "As the world around us becomes increasingly complex, competitive and inter—connected, our education system must also continue to evolve in response to these transformations.

"It is in this spirit that the Primary Education Review and Implementation (PERI) committee has recommended a number of changes to the primary education system. These changes seek to build on the strong foundations of the system by preparing our young to excel in the future."

These include moving towards single—session primary schools and recruiting only graduates.

The Education Minister reminded the teachers that Monday’s National Institute of Education’s Teachers’ Investiture ceremony was not the end of their learning process.

He encouraged them to continue with life—long learning and said the ministry will support them with various programmes in this area.

So the ministry has also offered post—graduate scholarships to 51 education officers to pursue Masters degrees and PhDs here and abroad. — CNA/vm

MOE cancels registration of Brookes Business School

SINGAPORE: Singapore’s Education Ministry (MOE) has cancelled the registration of a private school that has been investigated for offering fake degrees from a well—known Australian university.

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It is the first case this year of a school being stripped of its registration by the ministry.

MOE said this follows investigations by the secretariat of the pro—tem Council for Private Education (CPE) on Brookes Business School for contraventions of the Education Act.

The school has been accused by its students of peddling fake degrees from the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology for as little as S$12,000.

MOE told Channel NewsAsia some 400 local and overseas students are affected by the closure. Some have already paid more than S$10,000 in deposits.

Most of the students whom Channel NewsAsia spoke to refused to appear on camera, but several of them said they already had doubts over the school’s credibility.

Jonathan Ong, student at Brookes Business School, said: "I’m not surprised. Ever since I signed up with this school, there’ve been a lot of changes to their policies and the programme structures."

This is despite the fact that the school was registered with MOE and had Casetrust accreditation from the Consumers Association of Singapore (CASE).

Casetrust—endorsed schools receive certification for having good student welfare/protection practices and standards, such as clear fee policies, well—defined student redress practices and systems, a declared commitment to quality, and well—trained personnel.

According to CASE’s website, the certification does not represent endorsement or accreditation of the quality of the courses offered.

Thevanathan Pillay, assistant director, CASE, said: "For those students who have completed their course and feel they’ve been given a fake certificate, they should actually go to court and sue the business."

MOE said the secretariat of the pro—tem CPE is working with various agencies and private education industry players to put in place measures to ensure that affected students have other avenues to complete their studies.

Students may approach the Association of Private Schools and Colleges (APSC) to be placed in another private education institution. For this purpose, students should be prepared to show proof that they are currently enrolled students of Brookes Business School.

They should also bring along the following documents:
i) student contracts;
ii) payment receipts;
iii) course schedules and assignments completed;
iv) any past tests scripts and results.

The APSC helpline is 6252—3192 or 6252—6134.

MOE said prior to approaching APSC, international students holding student passes issued by the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) should first approach CASE to get advice on fee returns under the Student Protection Scheme.

CASE’s helpline is 6463—1811. Students may also contact pro—tem CPE via the MOE Customer Service at MOE_CPE_Contact@moe.gov.sg or 6872—2220.

— CNA/so

CASE to help students of Brookes and Stamford recover school fees

SINGAPORE: Within the past two days, 264 students have turned to the Consumers Association of Singapore (CASE) for help in seeking compensation from Brookes Business School and Stamford Global Learning Centre.

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CASE said it will help the current students of the schools to recover the remaining school fees in the next two weeks.

The Association has also advised those who have graduated and those who wants to be compensated to seek legal help.

CASE said it will have to seek the help of insurance companies to help compensate the students as the owner, who owns both schools, is missing.

The Ministry of Education had ordered Brookes and Stamford to close earlier in the week after they were found to have offered fake degrees from well—known schools such as the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology.

Brookes had an enrolment of about 400, while Stamford had around 40 students.

NSF gets five days’ detention

SINGAPORE: A full—time National Serviceman was summarily tried on Friday under the Singapore Armed Forces Act for conduct prejudicial to good discipline. He was sentenced to five days’ detention at the SAF Detention Barracks.

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Private Madana Mohan Das, a trainee driver, was charged with misconduct because he did not comply "with his superior’s lawful orders to cut his hair in conformance to SAF’s requirements and for refusal to consume food provided by the SAF", said Colonel Darius Lim, director of public affairs at the Ministry of Defence.

The sentence was backdated to Monday, when Pte Madana was put under close arrest. He has since complied with the requirements and was released from detention on Friday afternoon and returned to his unit.

Before being charged, he was given "ample opportunities" to cut his hair and to eat the food provided by the SAF, and his "repeated acts of misconduct" were "undermining discipline in the SAF", said Col Lim in reply to media queries.

"All SAF servicemen are to abide by SAF rules and regulations on military turnout and bearing, military discipline and lawfully given orders. Pte Madana was treated in the same way as any other SAF serviceman," he said.

"The SAF cannot allow deviations from its rules and regulations for any serviceman as this will weaken military discipline, which could compromise the SAF’s operational effectiveness and the safety of SAF servicemen. Disciplinary action will be taken against any serviceman who refuses to comply with the SAF’s rules and regulations."

TODAY has learnt, though, that during his Basic Military Training in December, Pte Madana’s unit accommodated his requests to keep his tuft of long hair, which he wanted to maintain because he was a Brahmin priest at a temple here. The unit also allowed his request to have home—cooked food to be delivered to him daily.

But these "accommodations were a mistake due to a lapse of judgment by his previous unit", Col Lim told TODAY, and when Pte Madana was posted to the SAF Transport Hub in March, this was explained to him.

His and his father’s appeals were rejected and the NSF was ordered to conform to SAF regulations, which he did not, added Col Lim.

TODAY understands he brought in food from the temple when he booked out on Tuesday and Thursday evenings and on weekends, since he did not consume SAF food.

Singapore Brahmin Association president G Srinivasan told TODAY that Brahmin priests ordinarily eat only food cooked from their temple, "prepared according to tradition and with prayers".

But while he was "a bit" concerned to hear about Pte Madana’s case, he said that if this food is not available, "then food from outside is permissible as long as it is vegetarian from an acceptable source, like a vegetarian restaurant, house or temple".

He also said that while it would have been good if Pte Madana could have kept his hair, known as a sikha, the NSF would have to "follow the rule of the land" if there are no provisions for this.

Asked why exceptions are made for Sikhs serving NS, Col Lim said: "Sikhs serving in the SAF are allowed to wear turbans only because this is a carry—over from the past.

"This is a long—established practice going back decades to colonial times. We cannot allow further exceptions to be made today for other servicemen. Allowing further exceptions would undermine what we have achieved so far to make sure that our rules, regulations and standards are fair to all.

"This will be detrimental to not only the security needs of the nation, but will also weaken the strong national identity that NS forges amongst its servicemen." — TODAY/ra

小学生作文

写作文之前，你必须先做准备

> 5 要点

1. 作文的起因、过程、结果、结尾

2. 分段

3. 开头

4. 怎样写---a. 对话

b.描写人物

c.运用比喻

d. 5- Ws and 1 -H

The explanations of the 5 Ws and 1 -H

>WHERE 故事发生的地点

>WHO 故事中的人物

>WHAT 故事内容

>WHY 故事发生的原因

>WHOM 故事的后果

>HOW 故事怎么发展下去

5. 结尾