Committee of Supply - A competitive, connected and resilient economy, with diverse pathways and opportunities for all

Ms Denise Phua Lay Peng (Jalan Besar): Thank you, Mr Chairman, for noticing my hand. A few clarifications.

Number one is on the DSA arms race. We know that applications are surging and I hear that there is a lot more interest in this space as well. So, how does the MOE intend to reduce the preparation advantage, increase more authentic school-based nominations and reduce all this portfolio-gaming?

The second one is on yet another arms race. I did not raise it in my speech, but it is about the internship arms race. I know of some residents, they are from slightly disadvantaged backgrounds. They shared with me that when it comes to internships, they have very little connections and networks, and they lose out to some of their classmates who sometimes have four or five options, and even have internships stacked upon one another. How do we address that so that they get more equal access?

The third one is on the PSLE pilot through-train. I heard that the Minister said that he will consider. So, I was just wondering, is this kind of a "yes", "no" or "maybe" response, because this has been spoken about for quite a long time? So, just checking your views on this. 

And the last one is on SPED schools for the Senior Parliamentary Secretary. Physical capacity is definitely needed, but I think very importantly, and I volunteer in special schools, so, a lot of the constraints is not in the physical capacity. A lot is in the manpower capacity. So, I want to ask MOE on what it will do in the manpower space so that it is not just business as usual. How can we tap on, for example, specialist manpower to address this gap. 

Number two is, I think the Senior Parliamentary Secretary has mentioned that there is a review of salaries of educators and teacher aids. But the SPED schools are run by a lot of the other professionals as well such as occupational therapists, speech pathologists, psychologists, coaches and so forth. And I ask for MOE, as it always looks at SPED educators, to also focus on this other very important group; because retention is capacity.

And the last one is on making sure that the poaching from SPED mainstream schools and sometimes MOE, the Ministry of Health does not recur. 

And how do we intend to grow the pie to address this manpower challenge?