SINGAPORE: The Government’s plan to extend compulsory education to all children with special needs sends a strong signal of inclusiveness, those in the sector told Channel NewsAsia.

On Friday (4 Nov), Minister for Education (Schools) Ng Chee Meng announced that all children with special needs above six years old and below 15 will need to attend school. This includes those children with moderate to severe special needs, who were previously exempt from compulsory education.

President of the Autism Resource Centre Denise Phua said the move “brings to par children with or without special needs”.

“It ensures that every child has access to education opportunities, as education is an important passport to a better life,” added Ms Phua, a Member of Parliament and long-time special needs advocate.  

Vice-president of the Rainbow Centre Singapore Kenneth Poon applauded the move as well. “Over the years, what we have seen is an acceleration of MOE’s involvement in the sector. What I would be expecting is the same trajectory to continue, and it is heartening that there are more and more initiatives being introduced,” Dr Poon said.

KEY CHALLENGES

However, Ms Phua noted a key challenge in the lack of skilled manpower in the sector, and the reluctance of professionals to serve those with more complex needs. “Special Education (SPED) schools indeed will have to gear up for this change,” she said.

Many of the SPED schools Channel NewsAsia spoke to also said manpower constraints was a significant concern. There are 20 SPED schools in Singapore run by 13 voluntary welfare organisations. 

President of the Association of Persons with Special Needs (APSN) Victor Tay noted the “resource-intensive teaching environment” in the four schools his organisation runs. “We have around 1,200 students, and a staff base of 400,” he said. “We need to be able to scale that up.”

He added that it is “not easy” to attract teachers to SPED schools. “We have only 20 SPED schools, and hundreds of mainstream schools, so the ability to rotate these teachers and attract teachers to come over becomes important.”

“It is going to be a challenge developing more people, but we welcome it as we think it’s important that something must be done,” said CEO of non-profit organisation AWWA Tim Oei. He added that manpower constraints are not just limited to those in teaching, but stretch across the sector to include roles like therapists, psychologists and social workers.

“We need to be able to develop people longer-term with more programmes, whether it is a bachelor’s degree or a post-graduate degree in special education.”

Parent Jazmyn Fong recalled looking for a therapist for her 10-year-old son Zack, who has autism. “Seven to eight years ago, I could only manage to make an appointment for him in a government hospital once a month, and that’s definitely not enough,” she said. “I had to bring him to a private therapist and that cost a lot.”

“If they could increase the number of therapists in government hospitals so children can get at least appointments once a week, that could help,” she added.

Indeed, the high costs could be a barrier for parents to send their children with special needs to school.

Some families and caregivers could also face financial constraints, said APSN’s Mr Tay. “No doubt the school fees are low, but I think some of them felt the transportation fees, textbooks and various reference materials … that could be one thing the Government can look towards supplementing, possibly with subsidies,” he said.

AWWA’s Mr Oei also noted that infrastructure could be another challenge. “Buildings must be ready to receive children of different function groups, and a transportation system must be in place,” he said.

“If we bring in children with high support needs, there will be a greater need for the system to support them, be it buses or the train system,” he added.

IMPLEMENTATION MIGHT NOT BE STRAIGHTFORWARD

MOE said on Friday that it will appoint an advisory panel chaired by Minister of State for Education Janil Puthucheary to recommend how the change will be implemented.

He said the implementation will not be straightforward, as there are many “difficult and small technical and operational issues” that the panel will have to consider.

“The main thing the panel has to do is to get to grips with where the gaps are, and what we can do within the next year and a half to close them,” he said. “Why is it that some kids are not attending SPED schools or mainstream schools or having any kind of education, and what can we do to help those kids close that gap?”

“We would like to get a better idea of what the challenges are for them, and think about how we can provide an education for all children.” 

SINGAPORE: The Land Transport Authority (LTA) will conduct a limited tender for the Thomson-East Coast Line’s operator licence in the first quarter of 2017, it announced in a media release on Friday (Nov 4). 

Only SMRT Trains and SBS Transit will be invited to participate in the tender, LTA said, as the industry transition to the New Rail Financing Framework (NRFF) has not been completed, and because the first phase of the TEL’s operations are complex. 

“The TEL is our most complex rail project to date,” said LTA. “First, it will be developed in tandem with multiple other projects. On its northern end, it will have an interchange with the future Johor Bahru-Singapore Rapid Transit System Link. On its eastern end, feasibility studies are ongoing for a connection with the future Changi Airport Terminal 5 and the existing Changi Airport MRT station. Second, the TEL will open in five stages over a number of year.”

As the projection of ridership and fare revenue in the train line’s initial years is more uncertain and challenging than earlier train lines, LTA said the Government will simply pay the successful tenderer a service fee to run TEL for its initial period of operations. 

“The NRFF, where tenderers share fare revenue and cost risks with the Government and bid on the licence charge for the right to operate the train line, may therefore result in bids which are unfavourable to the Government, as the tenderers may factor in a significant risk premium,” LTA said. 

It added that the first TEL licence will be awarded for nine years, with a possible two-year extension. By that time, LTA said it expects ridership along the line to have stabilised. 

“Like the Downtown Line, North-South and East-West Lines, Circle Line and Bukit Panjang LRT, the Government will own and be responsible for expanding, upgrading and renewing the TEL’s rail assets, while the operator focuses on rail operations and maintenance,” LTA said.

The authoritiy added that the Government will revert to the NRFF for subsequent tenders after the first licence expires. 

The TEL is expected to be completed in stages, starting 2019. 

SINGAPORE — More than a month after it took in short-term contract hires from fellow bus operators to cope with a shortage of bus drivers, Go-Ahead Singapore has stemmed its employee attrition, with fewer bus drivers leaving last month than in September.

It lost 13 drivers in October, compared with 31 in September, a Go-Ahead spokesperson told TODAY in response to queries.

The largest bus operator in London, Go-Ahead netted the second contract under the Singapore Government’s bus-contracting model last year to run 25 services in areas including Changi, Pasir Ris and Punggol.

The firm, which has 740 drivers, has hired more than 80 bus drivers since its first buses hit the roads on Sept 4.

Then, just a little over a fortnight into operations in September, it announced that it was taking on bus drivers from SBS Transit and SMRT on short-term contracts after some of its own quit.

Their abrupt departure was blamed on difficulties adjusting to the operator’s “interlining” model, which requires bus drivers to ply a number of different routes during the week, instead of a single one.

The firm said previously that it would scale back this “interlining” model to address the turnover. It also pressed on with recruitment.

In the interim, it also had to get help from operator Tower Transit to supply a bus service for its employees at Loyang Bus Depot.

This arrangement has since ceased, and Go-Ahead has resumed running its own bus service for employees since Oct 16, its spokesperson said.

When asked if it would extend its short-term arrangements with SBS Transit and SMRT, the spokesperson would only say that it would provide an update “in due course”.

Commenting on the manpower situation, Mr David Cutts, deputy chairman of Go-Ahead Singapore, said that the operator has steadily reduced its driver shortage since mid-September, and the turnover was “at a level normally seen in the public bus industry”.

He added: “We will continue to work hard to improve our bus services in the months ahead and are committed to providing commuters with the best possible level of service.”

SINGAPORE — Amid challenging times for retailers, department store John Little will cease operations at Plaza Singapura – its last remaining store – by the end of this year, with the brand to evolve into a pop-up format, details of which will be announced next year.

“The Robinsons Group made this decision after evaluating the relevancy and sustainability of the John Little brick-and-mortar business. John Little will instead evolve as a brand into a pop up format, which is in line with the global trend for retail businesses,” said the Robinsons Group in a media statement issued on Friday (Nov 4).

This closure is part of the consolidation efforts to focus on businesses that are growing within the Robinsons Group, and re-channel resources to bring in new brands and shopping concepts.

Staff affected by the closure had been briefed and the company is in the midst of deploying them to other suitable businesses within the Robinsons Group, which manages Robinsons, John Little and Marks and Spencer. It is owned by the Dubai-headquartered Al-Futtaim group, which had said earlier this year that it would shut 10 stores as it restructured its Singapore operations.

Last year, outlets closed included the Marks and Spencer outlet at Centrepoint, John Little at Marina Square and Tiong Bahru Plaza, and some Royal Sporting House outlets.

John Little Plaza Singapura will be holding a moving out sale until it closes on Jan 2 next year.

Meanwhile, a Plaza Singapura spokesperson said the mall is currently in discussions with a number of retailers that have expressed interest to take over the 38,000-square-foot space on the first level.

SINGAPORE: The Ministry of National Development (MND) said in a statement on Friday (Nov 4) that is “deeply concerned” with the latest findings in auditor KPMG’s report on the accounts of Aljunied-Hougang Town Council (AHTC), and said steps must be taken to recover the public funds lost.

MND said the findings “are serious and there has been a significant loss of public monies.”

In its report released on Tuesday (Nov 1), KPMG noted “serious flaws” in AHTC’s governance. It also identified improper payments of some S$1.5 million from May 2011 to November 2015, of which S$608,911 ought to be recovered.

Some of these improprieties, if committed deliberately, “could amount to criminal conduct”, the auditor added.

MND said “to protect residents’ interests, steps must be taken to recover the monies which have been lost, and to ensure that those who acted wrongfully are held to account.”

MND added that the Government is considering what other steps are necessary, in relation to the way some of the town councillors have behaved in dealing with public funds.

HDB has also sent a letter to AHTC on Friday, asking it to confirm that it will appoint a suitable third party to take steps, on the town council’s behalf, to recover the monies which have been lost, including legal actions where necessary.

SINGAPORE — Expressing concern over “serious” findings turned up by KPMG’s report on the Aljunied Hougang Town Council (AHTC), the National Development Ministry (MND) said the town council must take steps to recover monies which have been lost and ensure that those who acted wrongfully are held to account.

In a statement on Friday evening, MND said the Government is also considering what other steps are necessary given the concerns KPMG highlighted over the behaviour of some of the town councilors in dealing with public funds. 

The Housing and Development Board notified AHTC on Friday (Nov 5) to confirm that it will appoint a suitable third party to recover the monies lost on its behalf, including through legal actions where necessary.

MND said it is “deeply concerned” by KPMG’s findings of “serious legal and other regulatory breaches”, improper payments made by AHTC running into millions of dollars, and the possibility of criminal conduct.

“These findings by KPMG are serious. There has been a significant loss of public monies,” said the MND.

KPMG’s latest 68-page report, which was made public by AHTC on its website on Tuesday, flagged “serious conflicts of interest” and a “failed control environment” which exposed millions of dollars in public funds to improper use, including in payments to its former managing agent FM Solutions & Services and service provider FM Solutions and Integrated Services.

The owners of these two companies concurrently held key management and financial control positions in the town council and approved 132 payment vouchers amounting to more than S$23 million from the town council to the company.

KPMG also said improper payments to FMSS and FMSI alone amounted to over S$1.5 million, of which at least S$600,000 ought to be recovered by the town council.

The improper payments to FMSS and FMSI included overpayments for project management fees, overpayments to FMSS for purported overtime and CPF contributions payments to FMSS without certification that work had been performed, as well as payments made without the requisite co-signature of members of the town council.

AHTC also overpaid when it appointed FMSS as its managing agent by more than S$1.2 million.