Adjournment motion on support for educators, ensuring 'every teacher matters'
Give teachers a special bonus for their effort in managing the extraordinary workload and stresses during the COVID-19 pandemic, similar to the one for healthcare personnel, said NMP Abdul Samad Abdul Wahab. In an adjournment motion on Monday (Sep 12), he also suggested a month-long celebration and more importantly, lifelong recognition for teachers. He said he decided to raise the motion after seeing a video of a student in St Andrew’s Secondary School threatening a teacher with violence. Unions that represent teachers said they receive more than 1,000 cases of grievances each year, ranging from managing students’ behaviour, abuse from parents and issues relating to mental health or career progression, he said. Mr Abdul Samad said the unions believe that the Ministry of Education (MOE) could do more to address teachers’ concerns and at least set a "baseline" for school practices. Also speaking on the motion, MP Patrick Tay said that while he welcomes the pay increases for MOE officers, he hopes the salary increases and improved retention benefits could also be extended to all other educators, including those in polytechnics and Institutes of Technical Education. Besides remuneration, career progression, learning and development opportunities, as well as the work environment matter too, he said. He wants more to be done to ensure the mental well-being of educators. They should have opportunities to go on sabbaticals and industry attachments. To ease their load, he suggested setting examination papers at a group or cluster level for all mainstream levels. Responding, Minister of State for Education Gan Siow Huang said that some of these suggestions will be taken into consideration. MOE will also consider other ways to create capacity for educators, including Mr Tay's suggestion for common examination papers to be set across schools. She stressed that MOE is committed to ensuring that educators continue to be well supported and their workload remains manageable, as "every teacher matters".
Give teachers a special bonus for their effort in managing the extraordinary workload and stresses during the COVID-19 pandemic, similar to the one for healthcare personnel, said NMP Abdul Samad Abdul Wahab. In an adjournment motion on Monday (Sep 12), he also suggested a month-long celebration and more importantly, lifelong recognition for teachers. He said he decided to raise the motion after seeing a video of a student in St Andrew’s Secondary School threatening a teacher with violence. Unions that represent teachers said they receive more than 1,000 cases of grievances each year, ranging from managing students’ behaviour, abuse from parents and issues relating to mental health or career progression, he said. Mr Abdul Samad said the unions believe that the Ministry of Education (MOE) could do more to address teachers’ concerns and at least set a "baseline" for school practices. Also speaking on the motion, MP Patrick Tay said that while he welcomes the pay increases for MOE officers, he hopes the salary increases and improved retention benefits could also be extended to all other educators, including those in polytechnics and Institutes of Technical Education. Besides remuneration, career progression, learning and development opportunities, as well as the work environment matter too, he said. He wants more to be done to ensure the mental well-being of educators. They should have opportunities to go on sabbaticals and industry attachments. To ease their load, he suggested setting examination papers at a group or cluster level for all mainstream levels. Responding, Minister of State for Education Gan Siow Huang said that some of these suggestions will be taken into consideration. MOE will also consider other ways to create capacity for educators, including Mr Tay's suggestion for common examination papers to be set across schools. She stressed that MOE is committed to ensuring that educators continue to be well supported and their workload remains manageable, as "every teacher matters".
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