Percentage of Singaporean Mother Tongue Teachers in Preschools

21 Mr Darryl David asked the Minister for Social and Family Development (a) what percentage of Mother Tongue teachers in preschools are Singaporeans; and (b) what strategies are in place to develop more Singaporean Mother Tongue teachers in preschools.

The Minister for Social and Family Development (Mr Desmond Lee): Mr Speaker, Sir, today, about 75% of our early childhood educators who can be engaged to teach Mother Tongue Languages (MTL) are locals, which include both Singapore Citizens and Permanent Residents. Of the early childhood educators who specialise in teaching MTLs, about 60% are locals.

The Government has been working to encourage and support more locals to become MTL preschool teachers. From 2016, polytechnic students who wish to become MTL preschool teachers can pursue specialised MTL tracks in Early Childhood. The Early Childhood Development Agency (ECDA) also supports these students with training awards, such as course fee sponsorship, allowance grants and professional development grants.

To encourage mid-career entrants to join the sector, ECDA, Skills Future Singapore and Workforce Singapore also provide support for them to enrol in English or MTL Early Childhood diplomas offered by a range of training providers. The support is available in the form of course fee subsidies, in-training allowances and salary grants under the Professional Conversion Programme and other place-and-train modes.

The Ministry of Education (MOE) annually presents the Outstanding Preschool MTL Teacher Award to raise the profile of MTL preschool teachers. This Award recognises preschool MTL teachers who have demonstrated passion, innovation and dedication.

Going forward, ECDA will work closely with the new National Institute for Early Childhood Development and other sector partners to enhance the training and career development of MTL teachers and encourage more locals to take up MTL teaching in preschools.

Mr Speaker: Mr Darryl David, please keep it short.

Mr Darryl David (Ang Mo Kio): I thank the Minister. Just a couple of quick supplementary questions —

Mr Speaker: We do not have time for a couple of supplementary questions. Just one supplementary.

Mr Darryl David: One question, then, Sir. Thank you for the indulgence. With regard to the MTL teachers, do we differentiate between teachers of specific mother tongues in terms of the different languages and do we have different strategies that we adopt for these teachers?

Mr Desmond Lee: Just to clarify, what does the Member mean by differentiate?

Mr Darryl David: The different mother tongues, for example, say the different MTLs, do we notice a difference in terms of the percentages of Singaporeans who teach these MTLs and does MOE then have different strategies for different MTL teachers?

Mr Desmond Lee: I do not have the specific breakdown for different languages, but for further plans, wait for the Committee of Supply.

Mr Speaker: Order. End of Question time. Introduction of Government Bills.

[Pursuant to Standing Order No 22(3), provided that Members had not asked for questions standing in their names to be postponed to a later Sitting day or withdrawn, written answers to questions not reached by the end of Question Time are reproduced in the Appendix.]