Education

The Straits Times, Sept 3, 1989 By Rohaniah Saini THE Government will introduce legislation by the end of the year to pave the way for government schools to go independent. Education Minister Dr Tony Tan said last night that this was being done because more schools are expected to become independent in the coming years. The new law would provide the legal framework for this. Dr Tan said it would be passed in time for Raffles Institution to go independent in January. It will be the first government school to do so. The legislation would provide guidelines for the board of governors of a government school going independent to manage the school and employ teachers. Dr Tan said that at present, premises occupied by government schools and the employment of their teachers are under the jurisdiction of the Education Ministry. The five aided schools which have gone independent -- Anglo-Chinese School, Chinese High School, St Joseph's Institution, Methodist Girls' School and Singapore Chinese Girls' School -- had less need for the guidelines in the new law as they had more autonomy in their management, he added. In his speech earlier, Dr Tan sounded a note of caution to any school going independent: The "critical requirement" is to find dedicated and committed people to serve on the board of governors to work with and support the principal's educational programme. As more schools turn independent, "schools will start to develop their own identities and modes of operation. Teachers will find teaching to be more satisfying and rewarding. The result will be a better education for our children and better citizens for Singapore," Dr Tan said. Dr Tan noted that the progress of the five independent schools had been encouraging. "The five schools have pioneered several innovations to improve the quality of educational programmes in their schools," he said. Previous Copyright © 1998 Singapore Press Holdings. All Rights Reserved.