Appeals for secondary school transfers stemming from the absence of specific Mother Tongue Language (MTL) offerings

Name and Constituency of Member of Parliament

Mr Zhulkarnain Abdul Rahim, Chua Chu Kang GRC

Question

To ask the Minister for Education (a) on average per year for the past five years, how many appeals have been received by the Ministry for transfer of secondary school for the reason that the school does not offer a particular mother tongue language as a subject; and (b) whether the Ministry monitors the trend of such appeals with a view to providing more resources to offer a certain mother tongue language where the demand for the subject is higher.

Response

1. Currently, all secondary school students who learn Chinese Language or Malay Language can access instruction in their school. Tamil language instruction is available in the majority of but not all secondary schools, due to the limited supply of Tamil Language teachers and the low demand in some schools. Over the past five years, MOE received an average of four appeals per year for secondary school transfers due to the school not offering Tamil language.

2. About 90% of students who study Tamil language do so in their secondary school. The rest of the students attend lessons at one of 11 regional school-based centres, or at the Umar Pulavar Tamil Language Centre. These centres offer a rich learning environment with more learners to engage in the use of Tamil language.

3. MOE monitors trends in school transfer appeals related to mother tongue language availability, and factors this into our teacher recruitment and deployment. However, it is not practical to offer Tamil Language in all schools, due to the very small number of Tamil learners in some schools.