Thriving Together: Maximising the Potential of Education
Maximising Students' Potential through Sports Education and Sports Co-Curricular Activities
1. Mr Chairman, I thank fellow MPs for their passion towards students' development. Ms Denise Phua spoke about students' health habits and Mr Gerald Giam called for sporting opportunities for all. Our students experience diverse sports in PE lessons, exploring which sport best spurs their passion. This will drive them to pursue it and keep active throughout life. Most schools also work with SportSG to offer the Sports Education Programme to further increase quality sports programmes for our students.
2. Co-curricular activities (CCA) remain key platforms where students discover their interests and talents, and develop strong character. Today, nearly 40% of our students are in sports CCAs. To better cater to students' interest, most primary schools do not conduct CCA selection trials.
3. While schools seek to provide a good range of CCA options to cater to students' varied interests, a lack of critical mass may prevent them from providing more CCAs. For example, Suresh Amirthanathan Tharshika, a Secondary 2 student from Broadrick Secondary School, was talent-spotted by her PE teacher after a school race. However, her school did not offer Athletics CCA.
Strategic Partnership-CCA (SP-CCA)
4. This is why students like Tharshika welcome the Strategic Partnership CCA, or SP-CCA. Since 2019, MOE has partnered with MCCY to pilot centralised, non-school-based CCAs, with Athletics and Water Polo as the first two sports. SP-CCA widens the choice of CCA for students beyond what is offered by their secondary schools. Under the guidance of coaches from the SP-CCA, she will be participating in her first National School Games Track & Field Championships this year.
5. Micah Choo is a student from Pasir Ris Secondary School. After two years in the SP-CCA Water Polo team, he grew in leadership skills and is now one of the CCA leaders. Micah met teammates like John Chia from Bukit View Secondary School and Zacharia Teng from Fairfield Methodist Secondary School. Although from different schools, these boys forged strong friendships beyond the pool. When Micah struggled with Mathematics, John helped him. Micah did the same for John with Humanities. Micah's story highlights how SP-CCA provides opportunities to cultivate values and life skills, and promotes friendships with peers from different backgrounds.
6. I am pleased to share with Members that MOE, together with MCCY, will be expanding the number of sports offered under SP-CCA. We have included Canoeing this year, and will offer Hockey in 2026.
Procurement of Coaches
7. Mr Chairman, providing opportunities is important. Finding the right coaches and instructors for CCA is just as critical. They play a significant role in students' development. Mr Edward Chia raised a point on procurement for coaches. The Government Electronic Business portal, or GeBIZ, allows all instructors the opportunity to bid fairly for CCA services. MOE has been working closely with the National Instructors and Coaches Association, or NICA, to address some of the issues raised by the Member, and will continue to do so.
Maximising Students' Potential Through Enhancing Mental Well-being
8. Ms Rachel Ong and Ms Denise Phua highlighted their concerns over students' mental health. Today, the impact of excessive and inappropriate social media use on children and adolescents' mental health is a widespread concern.
9. Schools play a key role equipping every child with competencies to grow to be the best version of themselves – be it in their relationships, educational pursuits, or in the digital world.
10. The Character and Citizenship Education curriculum has emphasis on Mental Health and Cyber Wellness. For example, students learn self-regulation techniques, interpersonal skills, and problem-solving strategies. They learn to maintain a healthy balance of online and offline activities.
11. For younger students, we encourage tighter screen controls. There are also initiatives such as the annual Safer Internet Day to promote screen-free time. Schools appoint dedicated personnel to oversee cyber-related issues. And when the need arises, schools connect students with counselling or mental health professionals.
Achieving More Through Partnerships with Parents
12. Parents play a critical role in their children's well-being, complementing efforts in school. But not all parents may be aware of their children's difficulties. The Media Literacy Council and TOUCH Community Services polled parents in 2022 and found that 38% of parents with children aged between 7 to 17 struggled to get their child to share about their online activities.
13. Hence, the Parenting for Wellness Initiative was developed by MOE, MSF and HPB under the National Mental Health and Well-being Strategy to empower parents to:
- Build strong parent-child relationships,
- Support their child's mental health and emotional resilience, and
- Parent effectively in the digital age.
14. Dr Wan Rizal asked for updates on Parenting for Wellness. To date, there are three different resources catering to parents with different needs:
- First, the Toolbox for Parents is a digital resource comprising bite-sized, just-in-time actionable strategies. This is suitable for busy parents.
- Second, parents who prefer more personalised support, they may log onto the Parenting for Wellness website on Health Hub.
- Third, the Conversation Card Deck helps parents and their children have good conversations and deepen their mutual understanding. Copies are available via the schools' Parent Support Groups.
15. Parents appreciate Parenting for Wellness for its practicality, comprehensiveness and relevance. MOE's Student Welfare Officers also found the Parenting for Wellness resources beneficial. They are keen to use it in their work with families to support needy students. I would like to use this opportunity to call on more parents and professionals. Join us in using the Parenting for Wellness resources to support our children's well-being and growth.
Achieving More Through Partnerships with Government Agencies and Industry Partners
16. Collaborations across government, community and industry partners are essential to support our children's mental wellness. Ms Rachel Ong would be pleased to know that MOE is working with MDDI to address excessive social media usage upstream. We are developing a Positive Use Guide on Technology and Social Media Use which also provides recommendations on mitigating measures.
17. Students in mainstream and SPED schools learn to appreciate the importance of an active and healthy lifestyle through Physical Education. In January, MOH, MOE and MSF launched Grow Well SG starting with mainstream primary schools. This is a new national health promotion strategy to enhance preventive care and inculcate healthier lifestyles. This includes cultivating good nutrition, exercise, device use and sleep habits. To Ms Denise Phua, these efforts lay the foundational habits for students to sustain a healthy, active lifestyle after they graduate.
18. Mr Ong Hua Han raised the issue of financial literacy. MOE has incorporated financial literacy into the school curriculum. Taught through a developmentally-appropriate approach, it includes areas such as Buy-Now-Pay-Later schemes and CPF. Schools also work with partners such as MoneySense and financial institutions to offer financial literacy programmes.
Summary: Working Across Society to Achieve Holistic Development Outcomes for All
19. Mr Chairman, MOE will continue to work collectively with our partners to provide all our students the opportunities to develop their strengths and talents, catered to their needs, regardless of their start points in life.