Cybersecurity as Part of Core Curriculum in Primary Schools

5 Ms Mariam Jaafar asked the Minister for Education whether there are any plans to introduce cybersecurity awareness as part of the core curriculum in Primary schools.

The Minister of State for Education (Ms Sun Xueling) (for the Minister for Education): MOE recognises the importance of equipping students to use technology safely and responsibly. Cybersecurity education is delivered as part of Cyber Wellness lessons within the Character and Citizenship Education (CCE) curriculum. As part of CCE, all primary students are taught how to keep themselves safe in the online environment, including how to identify dangerous online content like phishing emails and online falsehoods.

These lessons are supported by digital literacy resources, covering cybersecurity-related topics such as safeguarding personal information when using the Internet and social media, and hosted on the Student Learning Space (SLS) online platform. These resources are available to all students.

Beyond the formal curriculum, the Cyber Security Agency of Singapore (CSA) supports the Ministry of Education's (MOE) efforts by providing assembly talks and other enrichment programmes in schools. A cybersecurity module is also incorporated into the Code for Fun programme for all upper primary students, where they are exposed to concepts like encryption and ways to protect oneself against cyberattacks.

MOE will continue to ensure that students are equipped with cybersecurity knowledge and skills to use technology safely and responsibly in their day-to-day lives.

Mr Speaker: Ms Mariam Jaafar.

Ms Mariam Jaafar (Sembawang): I thank the Minister of State for her response. As she has said, we all agree that technology is very important in going forward. We also agree that the earlier the introduction is done, the better.

I am glad to know about the programmes that already exist to introduce cybersecurity. But, with respect to both cybersecurity and coding, which we have also discussed in previous Parliamentary Questions (PQs), it is really important that our children are given that digital mindset early in life; otherwise, it could be another source of future inequality and lack of social mobility. Because I have seen great discrepancies in children who have resources and can code in all kinds of languages as kids, versus those who do not even have a computer when they come in.

I also think that introducing coding and cybersecurity in the core curriculum is very important to inspire kids to learn about these careers early in their life which foundational computational skills like Math and Science may not actually introduce them to.

Ms Sun Xueling: I thank the Member for her explanation of why she believes in the importance of coding as well as our cybersecurity knowledge. This is also something that MOE agrees with and that is why a lot of our learning resources are hosted on student learning spaces. And as I mentioned in my response earlier, cybersecurity awareness, cyber wellness are a very integral part of our CCE curriculum, which is available to all Primary school students and above, such as, Secondary schools and IHLs.

So, we want to introduce cyber wellness, cyber awareness, cybersecurity as early as possible, but we also recognise that we have to make the information available in an age-appropriate manner so that the students are best able to absorb the information and also know how to interact with the online space responsibly.

Mr Speaker: Ms Mariam Jaafar.

Ms Mariam Jaafar: Can I call for it again to be in the core curriculum? If you look at countries like Korea, for example, they have in the core curriculum dealing with robots. So, all those sorts of things are just going to be very important going forward.

Ms Sun Xueling: I thank the Member for the question. I think I understand better where she is coming from in her second clarification. Currently, we do have a Code for Fun programme. We do work with agencies, such as CSA. As I mentioned earlier in my response, we do touch on these topics through assembly talks. We do touch on these topics through the Form Teacher Guidance Period for the younger ages, the lower primary ages.

As to whether or not to make it compulsory, this is something that MOE will consider. We are also conscious that we do not want to overload the curriculum because we have to pay attention to the learning needs of the students. But I think the Member has made a valid point and this is something that MOE will study further.