Boost will help expand enrichment programmes at lower cost to students
By
Liaw Wy-Cin
FOR students at Xinmin Secondary, the school's plans to expand its enrichment programmes will not see parents digging deeper into their pockets.
The autonomous school in Hougang is one of a group of schools which will be given extra money from the Education Ministry (MOE) to continue running high quality programmes to broaden their students' skills and experiences.
This is good news for the school's principal, Madam Liew Wei Li.
She said: 'The extra money means we can continue to expand our programmes and minimise having students pay out of their pockets or Edusave (an education fund).'
From next month, Singapore's 27 autonomous schools, will receive a funding boost, doubling the money per student per year that the schools are currently getting.
The $300 per student will be on top of a school's annual operating budget given by the ministry.
Announcing this at a community dialogue on Sunday at Nanyang Community Centre in Jurong West, Education Minister Ng Eng Hen said the revision was part of the Government's commitment to spending more on education as the best investment for the future, especially during the current recession.
'We will increase our spending for autonomous schools...so that they can step up their enrichment programmes,' said Dr Ng.
The money, which is directly given to the school, can be used to pay for services and programmes such as camps and different co-curricular activity (CCA) electives.
Based on student population figures on the ministry's website, this latest funding move is estimated to cost the MOE about $6 million more a year.
