About 100 schools in Singapore to get more teachers over next few years
SINGAPORE — About 100 schools in Singapore will be getting more teachers in the next few years to support students with greater needs, the Ministry of Education (MOE) announced on Wednesday (10 November).
MOE will initially expand this enhanced resourcing to 24 primary and secondary schools next year, under its UPLIFT (Uplifting Pupils in Life and Inspiring Families Taskforce) Enhanced School Resourcing programme.
An additional four to five teachers per school will be deployed at the 24 schools in the first phase, and each school will be given more capacity to put in place structures and programmes to support its disadvantaged and at-risk students.
For example, some teachers can be deployed to provide re-integration and academic support for students with absenteeism issues, while others can be assigned to conduct after-school programmes.
MOE plans to extend such resourcing to about 100 such schools in the next few years. When fully rolled out, the programme is expected to support around 13,000 students.
Rollout of nationwide UPLIFT Community Network
The ministry made the announcement in a virtual appreciation event, “Hand in Hand: Uplifting Our Children Together”, which was graced by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong.
The UPLIFT Enhanced School Resourcing programme was piloted in 2019 in 23 schools, allocating additional resources to support targeted interventions for students with greater needs.
So far, it has supported more than 2,000 students each year and seen encouraging interim outcomes, including improvements in students’ attendance and behaviour, as well as a greater sense of belonging among secondary-school students.
UPLIFT was established in October 2018 as an inter-agency team led by MOE to boost partnerships within the community to support disadvantaged students. To date, over 50 organisations have worked with UPLIFT to build a network of care and support.
During the virtual event on Wednesday, MOE announced the rollout of the nationwide UPLIFT Community Network, in collaboration with the Ministry of Social and Family Development.
From next year, the network will be rolled out to eight towns with social service offices: Bedok, Chua Chu Kang, Geylang Serai, Jalan Besar, Punggol, Sengkang, Toa Payoh and Yishun. This is an expansion of the pilot programme, which was rolled out to four towns – Boon Lay, Bukit Merah, Kreta Ayer and Woodlands – supporting more than 300 schools since January 2020.
Support for students and their families in these towns is coordinated at the town level, as they will be referred to appropriate agencies and community-based resources based on their needs.
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