SINGAPORE – To ensure that learning opportunities are accessible to all Singaporean children, the Education Ministry (MOE) is extending compulsory education to all children – including those with moderate to severe special education needs – from 2019.
This will bring some 40 children in every cohort, who are currently exempt from the Compulsory Education Act, under the law mandating that all children aged above six to below 15 have to attend a national primary school.
Minister for Education (Schools) Ng Chee Meng made the announcement at a Special Education (Sped) conference involving some 2,200 representatives across 20 Government-funded Sped schools and voluntary welfare organisations (VWO) on Friday (Nov 4) morning.
Noting that it was an important milestone in Singapore’s drive towards national inclusiveness, Mr Ng said: “This is a reaffirmation that every child matters, regardless of his or her learning challenges.”
Currently, MOE said there are some 1,770 children with special educational needs in every cohort. Of these, 75 per cent with mild needs attend mainstream primary school.
The remaining 25 per cent have moderate to severe education needs, majority of whom attend Government-funded Sped schools.
However, as parents can ask for exemption from compulsory education with medical proof of physical or mental disabilities, some 40 children in every cohort could fall through the cracks, and MOE has no way to track if these children receive any education at all, whether through home-schooling or private schools.
So this legislative change will allow MOE to ensure that all children, including special needs children, will have equal access to education.
The rule change will start with the Primary 1 registration exercise in 2018.
In making his announcement, Mr Ng said it is a testament to the Sped sector’s “considerable progress” that children with moderate to severe special needs will be able to fulfill their compulsory education obligations in specified VWO -run Sped schools, similar to their peers who regularly attend the mainstream school system.
As part of the move, MOE said it will ramp up capacity in Sped schools in the coming years to ensure there are enough places, although it does not expect the number of students to “increase significantly”.
An advisory panel, chaired by Minister of State for Education Janil Puthucheary, will also be looking at how to implement compulsory education to best serve the needs of children with special education needs.
The panel will comprise members in the public healthcare sector, social service sector, educational psychologists and school leaders, and is targeted to come up with its recommendations by next year.
For parents who prefer to home-school their special needs children, MOE said it will adopt a “customised” approach with exemptions considered on a case-by-case basis.
“Our approach is to work with parents to help them understand the child’s needs and make an informed decision about which setting best meets their child’s needs,” said an MOE spokesperson.
Dr Puthucheary said that MOE and various VWOs had been working closely to step up on the quality, affordability and accessibility of Sped schools, as well as to beef up support for children with special education needs in mainstream schools.
“The advisory panel will have some work ahead, to make sure that we implement CE in a way that serves the needs of all children, but with the community and the professionals coming together I’m sure we’ll be able to,” he added.
Calling the move a significant one, long-time special needs advocate Denise Phua, who is also the chairperson of the Government Parliamentary Committee (Education), said: “It brings to par children with or without special needs and ensures that every child has access to education opportunities; education being an important passport to a better life.”
Noting challenges like a lack of skilled manpower and reluctance of professionals to serve those with more complex needs, the Member of Parliament (Jalan Besar) said it was important to “look deeper” into how the law will be enforced, especially for children with more severe conditions.
Beyond sending a “strong signal” that every child is important, Mrs Koh-Lim Ai Lay, principal of the Cerebral Palsy Alliance Singapore School, said this move also was a form of recognition that Sped schools are able to provide an education that caters to the specific needs of children with moderate to severe special needs.
This would thus provide an “impetus” for some parents who might not see the need for an education for their special needs children, or are too overwhelmed with family issues and unable to prioritise their child’s education.
“With this move, more help from the social service sector will come in to render support to these parents so that their child’s education can become their priority,” she said.
However, going forward, Sped schools would also need to “work closely” with families to address their challenges, such as transportation arrangements. For instance, children with severe conditions might require hydraulic buses to bring them to school, which could be very costly.
Calling compulsory education is “only one way” of improving the lives of children with special needs, Mr Phua also stressed that educators should not let up on measures to improve the quality of education through curriculum development.
And she added that going further, education offerings should also be made available to students with special needs, even after they exit their formal school years.
