Weekday or Saturday for Scout Activity? Education Minister speaks. (from SL Tan Sheau Gang on 25 September 2004)

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Many of us have been thrusted with the question in our faces over the
last few weeks when PM made the announcement on 22 Aug 04 in the
National Day Rally Speech regarding a shift to the 5-day week. That
had led to some calls to review the Saturday CCA activity time in the
press and in the work environment.

I have made an answer to the above during an email session that some
of you might be aware of. I reproduce my reply here in full with some
amendments to the web link and taking out the Chinese text and the
postscript notes.
--------------------------------------------------------------
(Email dated 9 Sep 04 Thu)
Dear all, it has been quite a while since we last
corresponded. But thanks to the Internet, we are able
to keep in touch with the developments anywahere in
the world.

As a civil servant myself, I applaud PM's decision in
the National Day Rally Speech to move towards a
five-day week. Taiwan has already implemented such a
work arrangement, and the MFA mission here, Singapore
Trade Office in Taipei also followed the local
practice. So I have felt for the effects myself, and I
must say that it is a very appropriate arrangement for
work and family life.

While working in Taipei, I also have the opportunity
to visit some schools to see how their Scout
activities work. Although Taiwan schools also
practised a five-day week, their Scout units usually
conducted their activities on Saturdays, and even
Sundays. Some did theirs on Saturday mornings or
afternoons, or a whole day..it depends on which troops
you join. However, the information I obtained from the
General Association of the Scouts of China (Taiwan)
was that very few troops do their activities on
weekdays. One thing is because some have a full-day
system, and some has a morning and afternoon session
classes. But the most important thing is, volunteers
who make up a large part of such troops could only
contribute their time during weekends.

I have been following the news , Chinese and English
on the 5-day week impact on CCAs with an interest.
Education Minister Tharman has said a key part that
was not reported by the Straits Times, but was picked
up by the Chinese press, Lianhe Zaobao. I attach the
internet news link and the Chinese text here for your
reference.

http://www.zaobao.com/edu/pages1/edu240804.html

(Chinese text removed)

As you may read in paragraph 6, Minister was quoted
saying (translation) "While implementing the five-day
week, MOE would be pragmatic and would not rigidly
enforce the schools not to conduct any activities on
Saturdays. Some of the national-level examinations or
co-curricular activities which need the involvement of
external volunteers and parents can still be carried
out during weekends."

The Chinese High School Scout Group has functioned
largely by the support of volunteers who are
invariably alumni of the School and the Group. Some of
them, like Jeffrey, Zhici, Guodong and myself are
already in the workforce where we dedicate all our
five or five-and-a-half or even six days in the case
of Jeffrey to the paymasters. Others like Junmin,
Kaihong, Jiaxian are in the tertiary institutions
which academia takes up a large part of their time in
the weekdays. I am not sure about the JC folks, but as
a former Venture Aux myself, I believe there is still
a realistic need to have the guidance and pointers
given by adult leaders, whom looking from the way of
things, could only spare their time in the weekends.

By Minister's quote, I believe our Scout Group falls
under the category that needs to have Saturday as the
activity day due to the backbone of volunteer
presence.

However, we could explore some fine-tuning to the
existing arrangement, where activities were conducted
at 1.30pm. This has its roots in the HCJC Saturday
morning test or revision session since 1995. As such,
the Auxs in HCJC could only make it in the afternoon.
Furthermore, working people like my humbleself who are
civil servants then still under the five-and-a-half
day week can only rush back after 12.30pm. With the
new 5-day arrangement, perhaps we can re-look into
putting back the 9am activity start time and afternoon
as band/lion dance training sessions.

For your contemplation pls.

SG

(postscripts removed)
------------------------------------------------------------------

On 18 Sep 04, Education Minister put forward his stand very clearly
regarding the "shift all activities to Saturday" proposal. I hereby
attach the link to Minister's speech address to the Uniformed Groups
Officers' Conference:

http://www.moe.gov.sg/speeches/2004/sp20040918.htm

I would like to bring your attention to para 11 of Minister's speech:
--------------------------------------------------
11 The Prime Minister's announcement on 22 Aug 04 of the adoption of
the 5-day work week in the civil service has been received with great
enthusiasm by our schools and teachers. Our first reaction might be to
shift all activities that we now have on Saturdays to the weekdays.
But this will not be possible, or even desirable. The UGs, in
particular, will usually need to carry out activities on Saturdays
because you rely on VALs to carry out training.
-----------------------------------------------------

I can't agree more with Minister, who has unwittingly echoed my points
in my earlier email and in-line with what he had conveyed in the
August Lianhe Zaobao report.

I hope the issue could be laid to a rest at this point in time, as I
believe GSL had communicated with all of you on the matter. We have a
long-distance chat last week, and the particular issue was also part
of the conversation. I totally support GSL of his views regarding the
matter.

Scouting should not be a chore, and not merely a CCA. It should be
part of us, inside us, living us. I have a lot of reflections when I
look at our Taiwanese fellow Scouts, not only during the just-
concluded Scout Moot but in their routine activities too.

SG
from Taipei
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(follow-up by VSL Jeffrey Ho on 26 September 2004)

Sheau Gang,

Very well said. Hope you could bring back some best practice in
Scouting from Taiwan to TCHS Scout Group.

Warmest regards

Jeffrey
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(follow-up by SL Tan Sheau Gang on 29 October 2004)

Education Minister Tharman made replies to queries raised by MPs
during the 19 Oct 2004 parliamentary session regarding the
implemenattion of the 5-day week in schools. Particular attention has
been paid to address the activities of CCAs on Saturdays, namely in
the last part of paragraph 4 of Minister's response.

Link: http://www.moe.gov.sg/parliamentary_replies/2004/pq19102004.htm#5_Day_Work_Week

Full text of Minister's response attached hereafter is reproduced from
Ministry of Education website. Parts in bold by myself. (in
transferring to Google Groups, this is replaced by markings of **
before and after the initially bolded parts in Para 4)
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Parliamentary Replies - 19 Oct 2004

5-Day Work Week

Name and Constituency of Member of Parliament

Dr Amy Khor Lean Suan, MP for Hong Kah GRC

Question

To ask the Minister for Education (a) if he will give an update on his
Ministry’s implementation of the five-day work week in schools;

(b) what guidelines have been issued to schools in relation to the CCA
activities and the implementation of the five-day work week such that
the quality and objectives of the CCA activities will not be
compromised.


Name and Constituency of Member of Parliament

Mdm Cynthia Phua, MP for Aljunied GRC

Question

To ask the Minister for Education, in view of the five-day work week,
his Ministry will consider (i) introducing full-day sessions in all
schools so that the students can do their co-curricular activities and
attend enrichment classes on weekdays and (ii) sharing the physical
infrastructure of the schools with the community over the weekends.


Response


1. The Five Day Work Week will be implemented in all schools
by January 2005. A committee, chaired by the Director of Schools, is
examining the implementation issues. MOE has provided schools with
guidelines to help them formulate their plans to implement the Five
Day Work Week. It has also shared examples of best practices from
schools that have already been practising a de facto five day week.

2. The Ministry has cautioned that the shift to a Five Day
Work Week should not overload students during weekdays. It should also
not be at the expense of the breadth of educational experience that we
want to provide our students, in academic and other areas.

3. To make this possible, schools will seek to rationalise
their programmes and look at how they can be delivered more
efficiently. It would mean cutting down on less effective or
meaningful activities, while preserving or enhancing those which add
the most value. Some JCs, for instance, intend to rationalise the
number of tests they conduct in JC 1, so that teachers and students
will have more time for learning and CCA activities.

4. Schools will look on Saturday as an opportunity for
students to engage in unstructured activities, to reflect and to
pursue their interests. **Schools will also hold CCAs on weekends
where necessary.** Serangoon JC for example is planning to keep
canoeing on Saturdays as students need the longer period of time that
this allows to gain the full benefit of this CCA. **Certain CCAs
which rely heavily on adult volunteers from outside the school, like
some of the uniformed groups, are also likely to remain on
Saturdays.**

5. Overall, our schools are enthusiastic and committed to
implementing the Five Day Work Week well. At least 22 schools have
already implemented a Five Day Work Week. Schools will find sensible
and pragmatic ways to do so, so as not to overburden either teacher or
student, while preserving the richness of educational experience they
provide.

6. Mdm Cynthia Phua asked about single session schools in this
context. All secondary schools and junior colleges are already
operating on single session. Around two thirds (65%) of the primary
schools will implement full or partial single session from next year,
while the rest will introduce partial single session within the next
ten years.

7. Mdm Phua also asked about community use of school
facilities. Today, there are 310 schools which share their facilities
with the community, and various groups and institutions outside school
hours. In addition, MOE has been piloting a school field sharing
scheme with the Singapore Sports Council (SSC) in 7 schools. MOE is
now working with the Ministry of Community Development, Youth and
Sports (MCYS) and the SSC to expand the scheme.

8. Our schools support requests from the community to use
their facilities as long as there is no compromise on the students’
security and educational experience, which must always take
precedence. Even with the implementation of the Five Day Work Week,
many students are likely to use school facilities on Saturdays.
Nevertheless, it is possible that more school-based facilities could
be freed up for public usage on weekends
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(follow-up by VSL Jeffrey Ho on 31 October 2004)

Dear Xiao Gang,

Why don't you put this up on NPCCyberWorld to seek some views on it?
It's nice to hear from Minister.But it is the interpretation and
implementation of policy at School level that is worrying. Maybe you
should talk to Vivian Sim (Our School Teacher i/c) who tried to
discuss this with me when we met at Istana for this year's PSA
ceremony.

Cheers

Glowing Light
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(follow up by SL Tan Sheau Gang on 1 November 2004)

Hi Jeffrey.

The interpretation of the statements by Minister should have little
misunderstanding, as the phrasing and context leaves little room for
"strategic ambiguity". However, it is, as you have pointed out, the
implementation on the ground that would open room for debate. But as I
have mentioned in numerous occassions before, some finetuning
arrangements, such as shifting the activity time to Saturday morning,
which I have identified the reasons and roots of the practice, could
be discussed; the major issue that I personally see little grounds for
change is the very pragmatic fact that the activities relied on
volunteers to be carried out. Unless we are prepared to see full-time
staff to do the activities on weekdays, it is very unlikely to see a
shift of position on the issue.

We do have realistic reasons for continuing the activities on
Saturday. As a civil servant enjoying the benefits of a 5-day week
myself, I do not see why I have to wake up early on a Saturday to do
Scouting while my other colleagues can enjoy a good long weekend. The
reason is simply: because I'm a Scout, and they aren't! (proudly)

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