Scope of Strategic Partnership Co-Curricular Activity Programme

11 Mr Mark Chay asked the Minister for Education (a) whether the Ministry will provide an update on the Strategic Partnership Co-Curricular Activity (SP-CCA) programme; (b) whether this programme will be extended to more sports and arts activities; (c) whether the programme will be extended to primary schools; and (d) whether the Ministry will work together with National Sports Associations to deliver sports through the SP-CCA programme.

The Minister of State for Education (Ms Gan Siow Huang) (for the Minister for Education): Mr Speaker, the Strategic Partnership Co-Curricular Activity (SP-CCA) is a partnership between MOE, Sport Singapore (SportSG) and the National Arts Council (NAC) to enable Secondary school students from different schools to come together to pursue their interest in sports and arts beyond what is offered at their schools.

SP-CCA started in 2019, with athletics and ethnic dance. The programme had to be redesigned into a hybrid format during the COVID-19 pandemic to minimise inter-school interactions for safety of our students. Resuming in-person activities this year, the programme has expanded to include a new team sport in water polo.

SP-CCA has been offered to Secondary school students who are older and who can make their way to practice venues outside their schools. MOE will monitor the programme and consider the extension to other levels and areas in sports and the arts.

The SP-CCA athletics and water polo programmes leverage the expertise provided by SportSG. MOE will continue to work closely with our partners to explore how the National Sports Associations might be involved in future.

Mr Speaker: Mr Mark Chay.

Mr Mark Chay (Nominated Member): I would like to thank the Minister of State for her explanation of the update of the SP-CCA. I think it is a very useful tool, especially, with some of the schools not having the resources as well as the number of athletes or participants to form a full team or the CCAs. I have two supplementary questions.

First, what are the considerations for sports uniform group or visual and performing arts programmes to be included as an SP-CCA programme? Would the consideration for strategic national representation or high performance be made a consideration, including such sports or programmes? I think this comes from like team sports, for example, where you cannot really form a team; or take, for example, diving or gymnastics, where we have athletes going to the Olympic games, and not all schools provide these CCAs. I think the number of schools are reducing. So, how can they be considered?

The second supplementary question is on the current SP-CCA programme. How is MOE engaging SportSG to ensure the delivery of these programmes are aligned to the curriculum prescribed by MOE, as these are co-curricular activities?

Ms Gan Siow Huang: On the first question, indeed, we would like to extend SP-CCA to more activities in sports and the arts. At the end of the day, we want to allow our students with different talent to be able to flourish and develop their talent. We also note that the students themselves need to indicate their preferences, need to be able to travel outside of their schools. We know that for some of our students, they want to do CCAs within their own schools so that they can be with their friends, so that they can play sports and do activities with people whom they know.

So, the SP-CCA is actually an add-on, an additional channel for our students who have the passion to pursue sports and the arts that are not offered by their schools, or for various reasons, to be able to do so. So, the main consideration is our students' preferences and their passion. We cannot force the students to go for sports and arts, just because we think it is strategic and it is something that we want them to be good at. At the end of the day, we have to respect the students' choices.

I did not quite get the Member's second question. Can you repeat that please, Mr Mark Chay?

Mr Mark Chay: On the first supplementary question, it is more like, giving them an option. National Sports Associations (NSAs) can play a part in delivering these co-curricular activities through SP-CCA programmes. We are not forcing any students to choose. We are simply providing options for them. If they so choose to, then it is great. It will be good to have the opportunity to have these programmes at the Primary school level as well as the Secondary school level.

The second question is, these are co-curricular activities. Presumably, there is a curriculum for CCAs to be delivered; there are some things or outcomes that will be delivered through the CCAs. How are these delivered through these SP-CCA programmes and how are these communicated to SportSG so that these outcomes are delivered through CCAs?

Ms Gan Siow Huang: MOE and SportSG have regular meetings, where we discuss the outcomes desired of the CCA programmes. That is where we get SportSG to design the CCAs to suit the learning needs and development outcomes that we want of our students. I thank the Member, Mr Mark Chay, for agreeing with us that what we are trying to do, really, is to provide more options and opportunities for our students to be able to pursue arts as well as sports.