JC students champion smaller class size

For their  JC 1 Project Work, a group of Pioneer Junior College students have come up with a creative and innovative way to achieve smaller class size in schools. Noticing that their school hall is used only sparingly, usually for the school assembly, and is empty most of the day, they suggested that the hall be partitioned into separate units of  small classrooms with movable structures that can also block off noise.  To overcome the cost and difficulty of recruiting more teachers that are needed, they urged greater use of new social media such as Facebook and Twitter to promote teaching as a career.

The students discussed their proposals with Michelle Lee and me on Wednesday 22 June 2011. They were attracted by our $60 billion National Regeneration Plan (described in New_Singapore_Economy_-_summary_extract_15_Feb_2011) which spells out, among many other proposals, why we should and how we could  halve  the current class size in schools. The students were concerned that shortage of land and building costs could hold back our plans.

We admired our young friends for their thoughts of prudence but assured them that space is available immediately as single sessions have resulted in gross under-utilization of schools with classrooms remaining empty for a large part of the day; in addition, we understand that there are many abandoned old buildings including school premises that have been let out on temporary lease. To meet the demand for more teachers, we could extend the retirement age of existing teachers by a few years, persuade recent retirees to return to teaching and recruit part-time teachers from private schools.

While these interim measures can see us through the next few years, we have to build additional new schools and recruit and train more teachers for the longer term. We further assured the JC students that Singapore has both the financial resources and the talent to achieve a doubling of schools and teachers. They represent a worthwhile investment in our young people on whom our future depends.

We are encouraged by the keen interest shown by these JC students to participate in a national policy debate on issues close to their hearts. We look forward to seeing more of such heightened interest among our young in their own future.

Picture below shows the Pioneer JC students (right to left) Wei Cong, Faziana, June, Rebecca and Amelia,  together with Michelle Lee and Tan Jee Say.