Students 'say foreigners spur them to work harder'
By Jane Ng
SOME parents and students say they appreciate the competition from foreign students, despite concerns that these newcomers are pipping their Singaporean classmates.
Education Minister Ng Eng Hen said yesterday that when he asked pupils from a neighbourhood primary school what they thought of their foreign classmates, they replied: 'They study very hard.'
To his question about whether they were scared of the competition, the pupils kept quiet.
But when he pressed them, asking if they would rather not have the foreign pupils here, they said no, because these foreigners spur them to work harder.
'I think they're very smart. They're going to meet competition anyway,' said Dr Ng, who was fielding questions from reporters at the PAP headquarters yesterday.
He said he had a similarly pragmatic response in his meetings with parents of secondary school students. They told him that their children would face competition later on anyway, 'so let them compete'.
These responses represent a shift from concerns that Singaporean parents have expressed in the last few years about their children being crowded out of schools here by an influx of foreigners and permanent residents (PRs) who ace national examinations and win places in the top schools.
Dr Ng said yesterday that there is already a quota on the proportion of foreign students, and measures to help Singaporeans are in place.
Last July marked the first time Singaporeans were given an edge when balloting for Primary 1 places - they were given two slips, and PRs, only one.
Foreigners make up less than 10 per cent of the enrolment in primary and secondary schools, and about 20 per cent in universities, which he said benefit from foreigner inputs in research.
'There's a trade-off. We have to calibrate it,' Dr Ng said, adding that the Government will continue to heed parents' feedback.
'It's not fixed in stone. We ought to listen to what people want and need to be able to adjust when we can. But at the end of the day, we want to make sure it's a good system overall.'
To reporters who asked him whether his ministry would raise the target to get 30 per cent of each cohort into university by 2015, Dr Ng said this will be looked into, provided the quality of education is not compromised.
By Jane Ng
SOME parents and students say they appreciate the competition from foreign students, despite concerns that these newcomers are pipping their Singaporean classmates.
Education Minister Ng Eng Hen said yesterday that when he asked pupils from a neighbourhood primary school what they thought of their foreign classmates, they replied: 'They study very hard.'
To his question about whether they were scared of the competition, the pupils kept quiet.
But when he pressed them, asking if they would rather not have the foreign pupils here, they said no, because these foreigners spur them to work harder.
'I think they're very smart. They're going to meet competition anyway,' said Dr Ng, who was fielding questions from reporters at the PAP headquarters yesterday.
He said he had a similarly pragmatic response in his meetings with parents of secondary school students. They told him that their children would face competition later on anyway, 'so let them compete'.
These responses represent a shift from concerns that Singaporean parents have expressed in the last few years about their children being crowded out of schools here by an influx of foreigners and permanent residents (PRs) who ace national examinations and win places in the top schools.
Dr Ng said yesterday that there is already a quota on the proportion of foreign students, and measures to help Singaporeans are in place.
Last July marked the first time Singaporeans were given an edge when balloting for Primary 1 places - they were given two slips, and PRs, only one.
Foreigners make up less than 10 per cent of the enrolment in primary and secondary schools, and about 20 per cent in universities, which he said benefit from foreigner inputs in research.
'There's a trade-off. We have to calibrate it,' Dr Ng said, adding that the Government will continue to heed parents' feedback.
'It's not fixed in stone. We ought to listen to what people want and need to be able to adjust when we can. But at the end of the day, we want to make sure it's a good system overall.'
To reporters who asked him whether his ministry would raise the target to get 30 per cent of each cohort into university by 2015, Dr Ng said this will be looked into, provided the quality of education is not compromised.
