MOE launches vision statement to highlight values of teaching profession

SINGAPORE : Many say teaching is a calling. And with more people signing up, the Ministry of Education (MOE) has come up with a vision statement to bring out the core values of the profession.

The past decade has seen reforms giving teachers a bigger say in how and what they teach.

There are also more career options, and more opportunities for them to pursue further studies.

All these are part of a process to professionalise the teaching service.

And now, teachers have created a vision statement to express what they aspire in themselves.

The statement is made up of a few simple words — "Singapore Teachers: Lead. Care. Inspire", and teachers said it’s a good reminder of why they chose their vocation.

Nowadays, teachers are also mentors to their class, and have to deal with a whole array of paperwork.

And as students get more internet savvy, teachers have to keep up too.

"I guess they are all bogged down with the daily routine, and they get frustrated when things don’t go their way... and they don’t have the time to sit and reflect and think, which I think is very important in the teaching service... to reflect and think about what we have done, so that there can be improvement," said Ko Li Ling, head of Department at Northlight School.

Over 28,000 teachers helped craft the vision statement, over a series of sharing workshops between February and July 2009.

Attrition rates in the teaching service have stayed fairly consistent in the past five years, at an average of 3 per cent.

And with the economic downturn, coupled with a strong push by the government to expand its pool of teachers, teaching has become an attractive career option.

Just last month, Education Minister Ng Eng Hen announced that his ministry had hit its 2009 recruitment target by the mid—year mark.

It had aimed to hire 3,000 teachers by the end of the year, but had signed on 3,040 by June.

The MOE hopes the vision statement will foster a greater sense of belonging among teachers. — CNA /ls

Govt accountable in actions, has worked towards non—discrimination

SINGAPORE: Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew said on Wednesday the government has been accountable in its actions and has worked towards ensuring that no race is discriminated against in Singapore. He added that what the country has achieved so far is evidence of that.

Speaking in Parliament — which he seldom does — Mr Lee explained that he did not intend to intervene in the parliamentary debate initially.
But having read what a Nominated Member of Parliament said in Parliament on Tuesday, he decided to speak up.
He said: "I think it was dangerous to allow such highfalutin ideas to go un—demolished and mislead Singapore." Mr Lee took issue with the points the Nominated MP made, without naming the member.
The Nominated MP was Mr Viswa Sadasivan, who had called on Parliament to ensure that national policies be founded on the principles of the National Pledge such as racial and religious unity.
Mr Viswa had made several suggestions such as re—examining the current emphasis on racial categorisation and encouraging political associations to better reflect the tenets of the Pledge.
In fact, Mr Lee highlighted Singapore’s Constitution which provides for the minorities like the Malays.
He said: "We expressly stated in our Constitution, a duty on behalf of the government, not to treat everyone as equal. It’s not reality, it’s not practical. It will lead to grave and irreparable damage if we work on that principle. So, this was an aspiration.
"As Malays progressed and a number joined middle—class with university degrees and professional qualifications, we have asked Mendaki not to have special rights of free education in universities, but take what they were entitled to. Put those fees to help more disadvantaged Malays."
Mr Lee also pointed out that policies introduced have in fact taken into account the needs of the people.
He said: "Our Constitution spells out the duties of the government to treat minorities and Malays with extra care. So the basis on which the Nominated Member has placed his arguments is false and flawed. It’s completely untrue. It has got no basis whatsoever.
"And I thought to myself, ’perhaps I should bring this House back to earth’, and tell us and remind all what’s our starting point, what is our base and if we don’t recognise where we started from and these are our foundations, we’ll fail.
"We’re here today, we have this building, we have all these facilities, and all around us is evidence of our accountability. Without being accountable, we would not have been re—elected and there would have been no Singapore of today."
— CNA/ir

Dream works at Istana this Saturday 1/8/09

SINGAPORE: Visitors to the Istana open house this Saturday can look forward to taking part in an on—the—spot art contest as well as a chance to view the Canopy of Dreams installation.

The two activities are part of the Istana Art Event 2009, which is held in conjunction with the open house to celebrate National Day.

Registration for the art competition, which is open to individuals aged five and above, will be open from 8am to 9am. Entries must be submitted by 11am.

The Canopy of Dreams is an installation comprising 1,000 umbrellas featuring designs by students from various levels. It was put together by first—year architecture students from the National University of Singapore

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