Job coaching for ITE students with special needs, more CCAs among key updates from MOE budget debate

SINGAPORE – A range of measures spanning special education, skills upgrading and co-curricular activities in schools were announced in Parliament on March 6.

These updates were unveiled during the debate on the Ministry of Education’s (MOE) budget.

Support for students with special needs

1. Expanded internship and employment support

Students with special needs at the Institute of Technical Education (ITE) will get more support to prepare them for work with a new programme that will place them in internships, announced Second Minister for Education Maliki Osman, along with other updates for special education (Sped) schools.

Under the ITE-SG Enable Internship and Employment Support programme piloted in mid-2024, students receive training in areas such as workplace communication and resume and interview preparation, to prepare them to join the workforce.

They are placed in internship or job roles, and supported by a job coach thereafter.

About 100 students have gone through the programme so far. The aim is to expand the intake to about 250 students each year.

“An increasing number of students with special educational needs progress from our mainstream and Sped schools to our post-secondary education institutions, including the ITE,” said Dr Maliki.

In the past three years,

over 1,000 students with such needs have enrolled at ITE yearly

.

An MOE spokeswoman said these students, who have progressed to ITE from a range of schools, including Pathlight School and mainstream ones, have varying needs.

They face difficulties including physical and sensory ones, social and behavioural ones like autism spectrum disorder and attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, as well as learning and language ones like intellectual disabilities and dyslexia.

2. Improving special education schools

Operations at Sped schools are set to be more efficient with the use of technology and digital tools.

To ease teachers’ administrative workload, MOE is looking into digital solutions, including possibly extending existing MOE systems to Sped schools. This would give educators more time to focus on teaching and improving learning outcomes.

Also, with the addition of the final two of seven teaching and learning syllabuses, the National Sped Curriculum was rolled out in 2024.

The curriculum covers subjects like visual arts, daily living skills, vocational education, communication and language, and social-emotional learning. In 2024, physical education and numeracy were added.

This framework is meant to help Sped schools develop their curriculum and improve their content, teaching methods and assessments.

3. More avenues to share knowledge

To deepen expertise and share good practices, “communities of practice”, or groups specialising in the needs of different disability profiles across the sector, will also be set up.

MOE is working with social service agencies and Sped schools to create these networks for educators to share best practices and deepen their understanding of disabilities.

The first group focused on multiple disabilities was set up in October 2024.

The group, consisting of 14 practitioners from Cerebral Palsy Alliance Singapore, AWWA and Rainbow Centre, met in February to share insights and reflect on their practices.

A second group focusing on autism will be introduced in the second half of the year.

Upgrading the workforce

1. Extension of ITE Progression Award

A scheme that helps ITE graduates upskill to a diploma earlier for better career opportunities will be extended from June 1 to include those under 30 pursuing diploma programmes under the Singapore Workforce Skills Qualification (WSQ), said Dr Maliki.

The ITE Progression Award, introduced in March 2024, is for eligible ITE graduates. They will receive a top-up of $5,000 in their post-secondary education account when they enrol to pursue a diploma issued by ITE, the polytechnics, Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts and Lasalle College of the Arts, or the National Institute of Early Childhood Development.

Upon completing their diploma, they will receive a $10,000 top-up of their Central Provident Fund Ordinary Account.

MOE said that currently, about 100 ITE graduates aged 30 and below take up WSQ diplomas each year. With the extension, more eligible ITE graduates may take up WSQ diplomas, it added.

As a one-time arrangement, the award will also be given to Singaporean ITE graduates aged 31 who enrol to pursue a WSQ diploma from June 1 to Dec 31, 2025.

This also applies to all Singaporean ITE graduates already enrolled in a WSQ diploma programme as at June 1, 2025, regardless of age, who will receive a $10,000 top-up of their Central Provident Fund Ordinary Account upon completion of the course.

MOE said about 50 ITE graduates are expected to benefit from this one-time arrangement.

Around 12,000 ITE graduates who enrolled to pursue or completed their diplomas in 2024 benefited from the award, with a total of $90 million awarded.

2. Updates to training allowance for mid-career workers

Application for a full-time training allowance under the SkillsFuture Level-Up Programme will open from March 10, for those already enrolled or intending to enrol in an eligible programme, said Minister of State for Education Gan Siow Huang.

Under the programme, which was introduced at Budget 2024, all Singaporeans aged 40 and above will receive up to $3,000 in monthly training allowance for selected full-time courses, up to a cap of $72,000 per worker.

Around 600 full-time programmes, which comprise full qualification programmes at institutes of higher learning and the SkillsFuture Career Transition Programme, will qualify.

MOE said these programmes are typically longer and deliver a “substantial” curriculum that supports reskilling for a new job role, or skills deepening in an area of specialisation.

The training allowance will also be extended to eligible part-time training from early 2026 – as announced by Prime Minister Lawrence Wong in his Budget speech on Feb 18 – and will have a lifetime cap of 24 months of support for both full-time and part-time training.

Eligible individuals will receive a flat rate of $300 per month to support incidental training expenses, such as for books and transport, during part-time courses.

PM Wong said this will help defray learning expenses for mid-career workers who prefer to continue working while upskilling on a part-time basis.

More sports CCA opportunities

Students will be able to take up canoeing as a co-curricular activity in 2025 and hockey in 2026, as part of a move to provide more CCA options for secondary school students beyond what their schools offer, said Senior Parliamentary Secretary for Education Shawn Huang.

“While schools seek to provide a good range of CCA options to cater to students’ varied interests, a lack of critical mass may prevent them from providing more CCAs,” he said.

Thirty-five students across 22 schools are taking part in canoeing under the Strategic Partnership CCA programme – a partnership MOE has with the Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth.

The current CCAs on this scheme are athletics, which 105 students from 46 schools have joined in 2025, and water polo, which now has 77 students from 50 schools.