Data for Posting Results of PSLE Students in UPLIFT Programme

3 Mr David Hoe asked the Minister for Education (a) in each of the last five years, what proportion of students who participated in the Uplifting Pupils in Life and Inspiring Families Taskforce (UPLIFT) programme are placed in posting groups 3, 2, and 1 or equivalent academic streams after their PSLE; and (b) whether the Ministry has observed improvements in these posting or other educational outcomes for UPLIFT participants over time.

The Minister for Education (Mr Desmond Lee): Mr Speaker, the work of the Uplifting Pupils in Life and Inspiring Families Taskforce (UPLIFT) has been scaled up through integration with ComLink+, which is a whole-of-society effort led by the Government to provide comprehensive, convenient and coordinated support for lower-income families with children.

According to the latest available data, in 2023 and 2024, about 70% of ComLink+ families with school-going children had all children attending school regularly and progressing to post-secondary education institutions. More detailed data is publicly available in the Ministry of Social and Family Development’s (MSF's) “Supporting Lower-Income Households Trends Report”.

As ComLink+ was launched recently in 2023, we will need more time to observe trends arising from efforts under ComLink+.

Mr Speaker: Mr Hoe.

Mr David Hoe (Jurong East-Bukit Batok): I thank the Minister for his response and I understand that more time is required to study the trends. I have three supplementary questions. First, based on the latest data provided, what is the Ministry of Education's (MOE's) view on that 70% of school-going children attending school and also being able to progress to secondary school? I ask for MOE's view: is this a positive outcome? If this is a positive outcome, what interventions actually contributed to this outcome? Knowing this would help us to better channel our resources.

The second question I have is on the role of community. I do know of many ground-ups and also social service agencies (SSAs) that provide academic support for students from disadvantaged families, specifically homework club and mentoring club. Aside from having access to the syllabus online, are there any other resources that MOE can consider supporting such SSAs, such as pedagogical training? Just because one can do Maths does not necessarily mean that he or she is able to teach Maths well.

My third question is, beyond academic support, how does UPLIFT enable students from a disadvantaged background to be able to discover their strengths in non-academic pathways, be it in sports arts, or the digital space?

Mr Desmond Lee: I thank the Member for his questions. The first question he asked is what to make of the data that MSF had put out, which incorporates the enrolment, attendance and the progression outcomes for children from ComLink families who are in school. I would say that it is a result of the efforts to provide holistic wrap-around through integration of support from various agencies and SSAs, as well as community groups and corporates. It is more data driven, there is a family coach, there are colleagues in the schools brought in, such as special education needs officers, student welfare officers and so on, better to support the children, but also link up with the agencies and SSAs supporting the family. Because often the challenges that the student faces is not necessarily just limited in school, but also relate to challenges they face at home and in the community.

We, of course, want to keep assessing the impact of our school-based programmes. Each partner in the ComLink Alliance Working Group will need to continuously assess the efficacy of the programmes that they bring to bear into the overall ComLink efforts. For our schools, we look at the impact of the extra resourcing we provide, the support in schools through, say, after-school support, and of course the partners that we bring into the schools through the Opportunity Fund and other programmes in order for them to support our children in school.

The second question, if I recall the Member is asking is, that there are community groups that do homework club support and mentoring support, and what more can MOE do to coordinate? Am I right? I would encourage the Member or all Members who know of these groups to link them up with the ComLink Alliance Working Group in every town where there are rental flats or where there are families supported under ComLink+, there will be an Alliance Working Group. Please link them up so that the alliance of SSAs and Government agencies, including our schools who are represented, can better coordinate these efforts so that nobody works in a silo.

The Member's third question is whether the support through UPLIFT in our schools that contribute to for the overall ComLink+ efforts nation-wide, whether they support only academics. I would say they provide support for the holistic development and enrichment of our children in our schools. Some of our after-school support does not just cover academic or homework support. They also provide mentoring, they provide learning journeys, interest-based activities like photography, sports, arts and so on. In that regard, in school as well as outside school, our community partners also provide not just academic support but holistic development.