Tampines JC and MOE hiring English tutors for foreign scholars. SGs Go Fly Kite!

[makapaaa]

Yesterday 03:46 PM #1
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[h=2]Tampines JC and MOE hiring English tutors for foreign scholars[/h]

What type of talent is that? English also need help can be scholars???


The Govt procurement portal site, GeBiz, to confirm and found that, indeed, there were 2 tenders being called by Tampines Junior College to ask for English tutors to help its international scholars. Presumably, the English tuition will be offered free of charge to the foreign scholars and they don’t have to pay anything.

Both tenders were published on Mon (18 Mar) and will close next week on 26 Mar.

One of them is for hiring General Paper (GP) tutors for the foreign scholars
GeBIZ Partner :: Main
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One can only surmise that the English standard of these foreign scholars are not good enough and that is why they need extra English tuition both for their foundation ‘O’ level English as well as GP, which they will take for their ‘A’ level at the end of their course in Tampines Junior College.

A question here is, why is Singapore taking in sub-standard foreign scholars who require extra tutions?

The TRE reader asked, “TUITION FOR FOREIGN SCHOLARS!!! Can someone tell me what is going on?”

“How do these foreign scholars get the scholarships to enter JC if their English is not even up to ‘O’ level standard? Why give them a place in JC and deprive our Singaporean students a place? Isn’t this discrimination against Singaporeans!!!!”

If language is an issue, why not make these scholars study an extra year for their ‘O’ level English before enrolling them into JC? After all, many of our own Singaporean scholars who went to France, Germany or Japan to study had to do an extra year in the language of the respective country before enrolling into their formal course.

Paying for extra English tuitions for these foreign scholars in JC will inevitably lead to the question why weaker Singaporeans in the same JC aren’t given free GP tuitions too.

The reader said, “GP tuition for foreign scholars??? Does it mean our Singaporean students are ALL so good in GP that none of them needs tuition? Why do we pay so much scholarship $$$$ for foreign scholars whose GP is not as good as our local students’ ?”

“Shouldn’t we spend the money to improve the GP standard of our weaker local students? Why are we awarding scholarship $$$$ to sub-standard foreign scholars and then spend more $$$$ to bring them up to standard so they can compete against our own local Singaporean students for a place in University!!!!???? ALL USING LOCAL SINGAPOREAN TAX PAYERS’ MONEY!!!”

From this simple episode at JC level, it’s no wonder that our youth also think that “foreign talents” have more privileges than native Singaporeans.​

 

[makapaaa]

[h=2]JC hiring English tutors to help foreign scholars but not SG students[/h]

March 20th, 2013 |

Author: Editorial

A TR Emeritus (TRE) reader posted a comment [Link] on TRE yesterday (19 Mar) highlighting that a Junior College (JC) is looking for English tutors for its international scholars.
TRE went into the Govt procurement portal site, GeBiz, to confirm and found that, indeed, there were 2 tenders being called by Tampines Junior College for English tutors to help its international scholars. Presumably, the English tuition will be offered free of charge to the foreign scholars and they do not have to pay anything.
Both tenders were published on Monday (18 Mar) and will close next week on 26 March 2013.
One of them is for hiring General Paper (GP) tutors for the foreign scholars [Link]:

The other seeks GCE ‘O’ level tutors, presumably in English, for the foreign scholars [Link]:

One can only surmise that the standard of English of these foreign scholars is not good enough and that is why they need extra English tuition, for both foundational ‘O’ level English as well as GP, which they will take for their ‘A’ levels at the end of their studies at Tampines Junior College.
The question arises: Why is Singapore taking in sub-standard foreign scholars requiring tuition?
The further question arises: Are they scholars in the first place if their English is so crappy?
The TRE reader exclaims, “TUITION FOR FOREIGN SCHOLARS!!! Can someone tell me what is going on?”
“How do these foreign scholars get the scholarships to enter JC if their English is not even up to ‘O’ level standard? Why give them a place in JC and deprive our Singaporean students a place? Isn’t this discrimination against Singaporeans!!!!”
If language is an issue, why not make these scholars study an extra year and get their ‘O’ level English up to par before enrolling them in JC? After all, many of our own Singaporean scholars who go to France, Germany and Japan to study have to do an extra year in the language of the respective country before enrolling.
Paying for extra English tuition for these foreign scholars in JC will inevitably lead to the question why weaker Singaporeans in the same JC are not given free tuition too.
The reader goes on to say, “GP tuition for foreign scholars??? Does it mean our Singaporean students are ALL so good in GP that none of them needs tuition? Why do we pay so much scholarship $$$$ for foreign scholars whose GP is not as good as our local students?”
“Shouldn’t we spend the money to improve the GP standard of our weaker local students? Why are we awarding scholarship $$$$ to sub-standard foreign scholars and then spend more $$$$ to bring them up to standard so they can compete against our own local Singaporean students for a place in University!!!!???? ALL USING LOCAL SINGAPOREAN TAX PAYERS’ MONEY!!!”
From this simple episode at JC level, it is no wonder that our ordinary youth, like our adults, think that “foreign talents” have more privileges than native Singaporeans.
.
Join our TRE facebook page here: http://www.facebook.com/TREmeritus
.
Editor’s note: TRE has also emailed Education Minister Heng for comments on this matter.

 

[kingrant]

What the fuck! This govt is really asking for trouble. We need to draw blood!

 

[winnipegjets]

If they require English tuition, then they are not scholars. What a waste of money. The MOE people who accepted these 'scholars' should be fired.

 

[scroobal]

This has been going on for sometime. Imagine we don't even pay for the additional 2nd language tuition for our own kids and they do this for overaged kids from another country.

Do we deserve to keep a govt like this? The cabinet needs to have their heads examined if they think they are going to walk away in 2016 with their pants intact.

 

[IamTiong]

Englih is not the only measure of talent

 

[kukubird58]

This has been going on for sometime. Imagine we don't even pay for the additional 2nd language tuition for our own kids and they do this for overaged kids from another country.

Do we deserve to keep a govt like this? The cabinet needs to have their heads examined if they think they are going to walk away in 2016 with their pants intact.

hahaha.....why u again want to embarrass yourself, making sweeping statement with shallow thinking and illogical conclusion???
pse enlighten us how long has this been going on???
how many such tenders have been called so far???

 

[linpei]

dun know engrish but can be scholar?? knnbccb like that also can ????

 

[The_Hypocrite]

I hope the opposition brings this up in Parleement. Expose more pap shit n put them on defensive

 

[jw5]

This has been going on for sometime. Imagine we don't even pay for the additional 2nd language tuition for our own kids and they do this for overaged kids from another country.

Do we deserve to keep a govt like this? The cabinet needs to have their heads examined if they think they are going to walk away in 2016 with their pants intact.

Aiyah, you cunning fellow, don't pretend to ask whether we deserve this government and then one month before the elections, try to sabotage the opposition lah.............................................

 

[johnny333]

What happened to the plans to hire teachers from Israel

 

[streetsmart73]

hi there


1. aiyoh!
2. no eye see leh
3. do such foreign scholars require nannies too?
4. as if monies drop down from the skies or what:p
5. it goes back to the taxpayers, you & i

 

[TheWhiteHorse]

WTF upzzzz

 

[winners]

This is nothing new. They have also done so in St Andrew's Junior College with personal English Language coaching to the foreign scholar students by the expatriate teachers. Was told that MOE pays exorbitant remunerations to those expatriate teachers.

All the saying about "Singaporeans First" by the PAPies are nothing but bull-shit.

 

[chilakak]

This happens not only in the JCs but also in the secondary schools. Majority of the Band 1 secondary schools host scholars from China, India and S.E. Asia. The scholars from China and S.E. Asian countries like Vietnam and Thailand join the local secondary schools from Sec 3 onwards and continue on to JCs. They normally arrive in Singapore around November, 2 months before they start Sec 3 in the following January. For the two months before Sec 3 starts, they will be given intensive English coaching by MOE-appointed external vendors. And yes, all this is paid for by taxpayers. In Sec 3 and Sec 4, they will continue to receive English tuition, either by external vendors or by the English teachers in the schools they are posted to. And yes, if Singaporean kids need help with their English, their parents have to fork out money for private tuition while the taxes they pay go to extra lessons for these scholars. Isn't the Singapore government wonderful?

These scholars are provided free education, free tuition, free housing in hostels built with taxpayers funds, monthly pocket money of several hundred dollars each and appointed to CCA positions that ensure they receive the requisite CCA points by the end of Sec 4. The secondary schools that host these scholars take in between 30 to 50 of them each year. In the JCs, the numbers are similar to slightly more per JC. Go do the math on how much taxpayer money has been spent on this program since it started more than 15 years ago. Every year, the schools which host such scholars send their principals and vice-principals to the source countries to conduct recruitment interviews. Before they go, there are paid agents in those countries to run the recruitment drives and do the short-listing for these interviews. It is quite a lucrative business for those agents as they also conduct pre-recruitment trips to Singapore to sell Singapore to these potential scholar candidates. You will see many Singapore government schools that have formed alliances and exchanges with China schools all in the name of cultural exchanges. But these are all potential sources for scholar recruitment. Every year, the Singapore host schools will make at least two scholar recruitment trips to China and at least one to two other trips to other source countries.

So who knows how much of taxpayers money has been spent on these scholarships since the inception of these programs? And what has been our ROI as a nation for this? Bear in mind these scholarships are bond-free. I don't know the answer but I wish our parliamentarians will ask these questions in detail and seek detailed answers to them.

And note that all the above involves only the secondary and JC levels. What about the tertiary level scholarships that are given out to foreign students?