Measures to Assess and Ensure Children Continue to Uphold Relevant Oriental Core and Family Values
Ministry of EducationSpeakers
Summary
This question concerns Mr Gan Thiam Poh’s inquiry on how the Ministry assesses and ensures students continue to uphold relevant oriental core and family values. Minister for Education Ong Ye Kung responded that schools emphasize values like respect and responsibility through the national curriculum and subjects like Character and Citizenship Education. To reinforce these teachings, schools collaborate with parents and community partners to provide experiential learning opportunities, such as engaging with the elderly through the Values in Action programme. The Ministry and schools conduct regular reviews of their syllabuses and pedagogical approaches to ensure the effective inculcation of values such as filial piety and savings habits. These integrated efforts across schools, homes, and the community aim to help students internalise and consistently demonstrate these core values in their daily lives.
Transcript
38 Mr Gan Thiam Poh asked the Minister for Education how will the Ministry assess regularly and ensure that our children continue to uphold relevant oriental core values and family values, such as filial piety, care for the elderly and savings habits, that have made Singapore what it is today.
Mr Ong Ye Kung: As part of our national curriculum, schools emphasise the values of respect, resilience, responsibility, integrity, care and harmony in classroom lessons, through co-curricular activities and experiential activities like the Values in Action (VIA) programme. Topics, such as filial piety, caring for others and the importance of saving, are covered in subjects, such as Character and Citizenship Education (CCE).
Schools also work with parents and the community in reinforcing values education. Schools encourage parents to build on what is taught in schools at home. Schools also work with community partners for students to live out the core values through age-appropriate experiential learning. By engaging with the elderly through VIA, for example, students better understand their needs and the role they can play to make a difference.
Schools review their programmes regularly on the effectiveness of the curriculum in inculcating values. The Ministry also conducts regular reviews and improves on the syllabuses and pedagogical approaches in teaching values through the various subject areas. Home and community efforts, coupled with what is taught in schools, will maximise our students' ability to internalise the values taught and demonstrate them in their daily lives.