Mr Chairman, Sir, one of MOE’s biggest achievements, in my book, is the enhanced support of students with special educational needs (SEN) in the mainstream schools and Institutions of Higher Learning (IHLs), through the Allied Educator (AED) Scheme and the setting up of Special Educational Needs support offices in the IHLs.

As a volunteer, I have met many SEN professionals from Primary to higher education. Many are very dedicated and put their hearts into helping their students with SEN. They are critical to ensure that our education system is an inclusive one. There are, however, challenges faced in this relatively new education support space.

First, on the challenges in the mainstream Primary and Secondary schools.

Student Outcomes. As much of the focus in mainstream schools is on completing the academic curriculum, important non-academic life skills required for students with SEN, like social relationships skills and daily independent living skills, are either not covered or placed at low priority. When these foundations are not set, deficits in such skills are highly likely to present themselves as problems in higher education or at work.

The capacity of AEDs is also a challenge. The number of allied educators are grossly insufficient with an average of one to two in all Primary Schools. Many Secondary schools do not even have any Allied Educators.

Besides capacity, there is a need to systematically raise the capability and the skills of the AEDs as the range of needs are diverse covering various forms of disabilities requiring varying types and degree of support.

Capability of Educators in general, the teachers, is also a challenge. These teachers might generally have an awareness of special needs education but usually not skilled enough in mainstream schools to handle such cases. Although a whole-school approach for SEN support is said to be adopted in the mainstream schools, the implementation leaves much room to improve.

The access to Specialist Support is also quite limited.

Next, challenges in SEN Support in the IHLs. The challenges I shared in Primary schools and Secondary schools are multiplied in the higher institutions as the SEN support system is relatively new, and the IHLs tend to be more autonomous. Not all of them view SEN to be of priority; some may even view it to be not integral to their mission. Unless Government, the key funder of education, insist that SEN support is an important fundamental feature of a progressive educational system, Singapore may belong to the first world economically but its IHLs in this aspect, will be perceived as less than first-world.

My observations in the IHLs are these.

There is now inconsistent support levels in different IHLs – different processes depending on the vision, commitment and diligence of school leaders, faculty members and SEN officers. Many of the faculty members see making a curricula accessible as "additional work".

There is also the risk of Low Rate of Disclosure for fear of stigmatisation by the students or being bypassed in course offering, internships or employment.

There is also inconsistent structured support across these institutions in course selection, project work, internships and career guidance.

There are eight recommendations I would like to make for the schools and the IHLs.

First, adopt a system that ensures a structured whole-school, whole-institution approach with ownership and responsibility from school leaders to all educators and faculty members to allied educators and Special Needs Officers (SNOs) to parents and students – make it clear. Raise the capacity and recruit more AEDs and SNOs in each education institution. Raise capability by ensuring a skills-based training roadmap for all target groups to deepen their needed capabilities. Increase availability and access to more specialist support from MOE and disability VWOs. And especially for the IHLs, set up a support function at the MOE level to ensure the proper resourcing and the support of these students. This function should look at the sharing of resources and best practices across all the institutions. And most important of all, MOE should actively seek out schools and institutions who are inclusive and doing good work in this area. Recognise and reward them generously and encourage more people to join this league.