Clearer Communications for Alleged Sexual Misconduct Incidents at Autonomous Universities

9 Mr Lim Biow Chuan asked the Minister for Education whether Autonomous Universities can provide clear communications with their students whenever there are allegations of misconduct involving teaching staff and students so that students can be better protected.

The Minister of State for Education (Ms Sun Xueling) (for the Minister for Education): The question raised by Mr Lim Biow Chuan follows the recent media coverage of the case involving a former teaching staff at the National University of Singapore or NUS who was dismissed for being in an intimate relationship with an undergraduate, which is a clear contravention of NUS' Code of Conduct for staff. Given the undergraduate's allegations of sexual misconduct against the individual, a Police report was made and the investigation is underway.

Where allegations of serious misconduct are made, the Institutes of Higher Learning, or IHLs, will immediately require the accused individual to stay away from campus temporarily, if they assess that the alleged offender may pose a danger to any member of their community. If the case involves a student or staff from the same institution, the IHLs may also impose a No-Contact Order to ensure that the alleged offender is prohibited from contacting or being in the vicinity of the party making the allegations.

A Police report is typically made for allegations of serious misconduct, and where the alleged offender is proven and charged in Court, this will be a matter of public record.

Separately, the IHLs also conduct their own internal investigations to determine if the alleged offender has breached their Code of Conduct. Those who do so are subject to disciplinary sanctions, including possible suspension or expulsion of students, or dismissal of staff.

In the course of addressing allegations, MOE expects institutions to be open and timely in their communications, while taking into consideration the facts of the case, the need to ensure the safety of their communities and safeguard the well-being and privacy of victims and other members of the community who are directly impacted, and the need to ensure that Police investigations are not impacted.

MOE will continue to work closely with the IHLs to ensure that the well-being and safety of students and staff on campus are protected.

Mr Speaker: Mr Lim Biow Chuan.

Mr Lim Biow Chuan (Mountbatten): Sir, one aspect of the unhappiness by members of the public is that the disclosure was not timely. So, may I ask the Minister of State, what is the time frame when we say that MOE expects the institution to be open and timely in their communications with the students. As an undergraduate, if you are approaching a lecturer, you would want to know whether the lecturer is under investigation and whether the lecturer is likely to be a predator. Given the unequal relationship between a student and a lecturer, I think it is justifiable that a student would ask for timely disclosure, so that they would be able to know and assess how to deal with the lecturer.

In that sense, may I ask MOE how would the Ministry want to keep the student community safe in circumstances like that? Can I also ask MOE whether they can provide this House with an update on the number of similar incidents in the past years?

Ms Sun Xueling: I thank the Member for his supplementary questions. We agree that communication is very important and we will ask the IHLs to do more on this front, while bearing in mind the context and specificities of each case.

In the present case regarding this specific lecturer, I have shared that NUS required the accused individual to stay away from campus and that a No-Contact Order was swiftly made out. These were carried out and disclosed by NUS in its media conference.

Let me be very clear. We do not condone instances of sexual misconduct as well as sexual offences that happen on campus. MOE will work closely with the IHLs to protect our students.

On the second question that the Member raised, on the number of incidents, the AUs handled a total of 56 disciplinary cases involving sexual misconduct committed by students from 2015 to 2017. This translates to an incidence rate of around 0.21 sexual misconduct cases involving student perpetrators per 1,000 students. In 2018, the AUs handled 17 such cases. The corresponding incidence rate is 0.16. In 2019, the number of such cases fell to 14 with a corresponding incidence rate of 0.13.

If we look at the IHLs as a total and if we look at sexual misconduct cases committed by both students and staff, the IHLs handled a total of 172 disciplinary cases involving sexual misconduct committed by students and staff from 2015 to 2019. This translates to an incidence rate of 0.12 sexual misconduct cases involving staff and student perpetrators per 1,000 staff and students.

I also want to add that our IHLs are key public institutions and they are expected to uphold high academic standards and professionalism. They also owe a duty of care to their students. That is why we have zero tolerance when it comes to sexual misconduct instances that happen on campus.

There can be open discussions; we have very bright teaching faculty, we have students who are also discovering themselves, exploring their passions. But all that said, these discussions must have academic rigour and be constructive. Staff are expected to uphold professional codes of conduct in their interactions with students. When there is a breach of the IHLs' codes of conduct, the punishments are swift. Students can be suspended, they can be dismissed from school and the same goes for staff. And we see that in this case, the teaching staff was dismissed very quickly and NUS has shared that it will endeavour to do better when it comes to communications.

Ms Carrie Tan (Nee Soon): Speaker, I thank the Minister of State. I would like to ask two supplementary questions with regard to this, whether MOE has any plan to engage relevant experts in handling of sexual assault cases to provide training and sensitisation to personnel in IHLs as well as Secondary schools and tertiary institutions, given that in this digital age, our children are getting exposed to sexual material and content very easily and at a much earlier age through digital media?

Secondly, will MOE consider putting in place a requirement, if it does not currently have this requirement, for educational institutions to create or set up a small team or committee of properly trained personnel to handle such cases, going forward?

Ms Sun Xueling: I thank the Member for her questions. There is some overlap in the two questions. So, if I may just take the two of them together.

Firstly, I think it bears noting that from April last year, a Victim Care Unit was set up at NUS; and they have something similar in the other AUs as well. The Victim Care Units, or VCUs, are staffed by professionally trained care officers and their objective is to provide the first line of care and support to victims of sexual misconduct. So, I hope that helps to allay the concerns that the Member has.

The Member has asked about what happens in Secondary schools at the younger ages and at tertiary education, I think we all recognise that different age groups have a different understanding of sexuality. We have to ensure that sexuality education is targeted in its delivery. So, starting from Primary schools, students are made aware of how they can protect themselves. In Secondary schools, teachers also provide certain scenarios so that students are aware of how they can protect themselves. Specialised training for sexuality education teachers is conducted by very specialised staff within MOE.

In sum, MOE takes this very seriously how students of different ages can protect themselves, and we deliver that education in a targeted manner. Where, unfortunately, a sexual offence has occurred and victims require help and support, we have dedicated personnel, who serve as the first line of support for the victims. They centralise the care and support, and students and affected individuals do not have to go about looking for different individuals for help. They can go directly to the dedicated personnel.

Ms He Ting Ru (Sengkang): I have two supplementary questions. The first is whether there are any plans to make any investigations into such complaints about sexual violence and sexual misconduct, whether to make them independent to give students better confidence? So, basically, independent in the sense that it is not undertaken by the Universities or the institutions themselves.

My second question is, as Ms Carrie Tan mentioned earlier, the Minister of State has responded regarding Secondary school level, steps taken for these students to make sure that they are aware of sexuality and issues relating to consent, is the Ministry taking any proactive steps to making sure to examine whether this is also a problem at younger levels, and whether there is any studies being conducted at the Secondary school level to see whether there are any problems? So, just being proactive and find out whether it is an issue.

Ms Sun Xueling: I thank the Member for her two supplementary questions. On the first, I would like to share that there are two tracks of investigations when an offence around sexual misconduct is highlighted in the IHLs. Firstly, a Board of Discipline may be convened by the IHLs. There is a certain structure in the Board of Discipline; students are also included in the Board of Discipline to provide their perspectives on the issue. Investigations are carried out through campus security and the issue is very seriously considered by the senior management of the IHLs.

Separate from that, there is the criminal justice system. When there are concerns of a serious offence having occurred, a Police report is made and investigations are carried out by the Police. So, there is an independent track of investigations. That is with regard to the first question that the Member highlighted.

On the second question with regard to Secondary school students, we take in feedback from parents. Sexuality education is such that it does not happen in a vacuum. I mentioned earlier about scenarios being used to teach students; or, rather, to also solicit inputs from them. So, it is a two-way process. Otherwise, as part of the education process, we do not really quite know whether the students have imbibed what has been taught. So, sexuality education educators are well aware of the sensitivities around this topic and when they teach it in classrooms, they are very sensitive about it and then use scenarios, so that the students best know how to apply those lessons to undertake self-care.