04 Mar 2019
Mr President,
Singapore seeks to build a caring, fair and inclusive society.
Every child is precious to us. We therefore invest heavily to provide good education for our children so that they can get a good start in life, regardless of their family background.
We agree with an important point made in the High Commissioner’s report that inclusive education empowers children with disabilities to be able to participate fully in society.
We are implementing our third Enabling Masterplan (2017-2021) – our national blueprint to enhance the rights of persons with disabilities – by investing $60 million a year to help children with disabilities realise their potential.
We will be extending compulsory education (CE) to children with moderate to severe special educational needs (SEN) from 2019.
Designated mainstream schools provide specialised support to children with moderate to profound hearing loss or visual impairment, such as resource teachers who are trained to teach children with these special needs.
For children with moderate to severe developmental needs, from July 2019 the Early Intervention Programme for Infants and Children, which provides development and therapy intervention for children up to six years-old, will be tailored to meet the needs of each child with disabilities.
For our children with severe disabilities who require specialised support, we have developed Special Education (SPED) schools.
To cultivate inclusive mind-sets from an early age, partnerships between mainstream schools and SPED schools are forged to provide opportunities for social and academic integration between SPED and mainstream students.
We have a growing number of integrated pre-schools assimilating special need children and their mainstream peers.
We also provide for children with different abilities to interact and learn together outside of the classroom, including through custom-built inclusive playgrounds where children with disabilities are able to play together with fully able-bodied children.
We are harnessing technology and innovation to promote inclusive education in Singapore.
The government provides assistive technology, such as Frequency Modulation systems, magnifiers, and text-to-speech software, to our schools.
We hope that our efforts will help build a more inclusive society where children with disabilities do not face social stigmas, segregation or discrimination and can live their lives to their maximum potential.
Thank you Mr President.