Friday, July 31, 2009

Schools need more special-needs officers

I AM glad the Ministry of Education (MOE) is doing its best to help children with special needs study in mainstream schools. As a therapist and a mother of a special-needs boy who is studying in a mainstream school (he is in Primary 3), I would like to share my experiences.

Special-needs officers (SNOs) have an important role in helping these children in school, but often there is only one SNO in schools with many children with special needs. One SNO cannot help many children with special needs, so some will not get full help.

When these children are in Primary 1, SNOs help them get to know school routines, introduce them to a new and very different environment and help them cope with lessons. They also help teachers by showing them how to handle these children in class.

However, in most cases, problems start to arise when these children are in Primary 3 or 4, where they face a heavier workload, additional subjects, bigger classes, more examinations and, in some cases, bullying. With no teacher assistant, only one SNO and too many children with special needs, it is very difficult to ensure adequate support for these children. As a result, they become stressed and cause teachers more problems. These children cannot express themselves well and often throw tantrums, refuse to study or go to school and even refuse to take their exams.

Many have to be withdrawn from school because of these problems. It is such a pity that these children are not given a chance to prove they can do as well as 'normal' children. They do not want to be 'special', but they have to deal with their condition and work harder than 'normal' children because everything is a challenge to them. If they leave school half-way, we are sending a message that they are not good enough, which will affect their confidence and self-esteem.

I am sure MOE will do its best to help these children do well in school. I hope the ministry can assign more SNOs to schools that accept many children with special needs, as well as teacher assistants in upper primary, as this will help these children and their teachers.

Silvia Buniardi (Mdm)

 

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Indian students shunning Australia

SYDNEY: Indian students are turning their backs on Australia after a spate of violent attacks and a crackdown on migration scams, threatening a US$13 billion (S$18 billion) industry, education officials said yesterday.

IDP Education, Australia's largest student recruiter in India, said inquiries at its 14 offices there had dropped off by 80per cent amid a storm of negative publicity over alleged racial violence and exploitation.

'The way this story has been reported in India has very much overplayed what's happening,' a spokesman said. 'We are working hard to just remind people that Australian education is fundamentally of high quality.'

The International Education Association of Australia, which represents universities' international student business arms, said Indian enrolments and interest in private colleges were already suffering.

Executive director Dennis Murray said vocational colleges would be particularly hard-hit, with early indications of an industry-wide slowdown next year.

'I think you would have to say that in parts of the industry, and that's probably in the private vocational institutions in particular, there's an immediate effect starting to show,' Mr Murray said.

Australia's higher education industry is the country's third-largest export earner, with universities and colleges actively targeting India's growing middle class.

But the government has conceded that some of the private colleges which have sprung up to meet booming demand are 'sub-standard'.

This week, Canberra vowed to clamp down on unscrupulous migration agents and private colleges after a TV investigation reported that some Indian families, lured by false promises of permanent residency, had been left broke after sending children to Australia for courses that failed to deliver any educational value.

The revelations further damaged Australia's reputation, after a series of attacks on Indian students prompted demonstrations in Melbourne and Sydney.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE

 

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President's Award for top 3 nurses

THREE nurses, three disparate fields of contribution to the profession - infection control, nurse management and palliative nursing.

But excellence is the thread running through the work of Ms Lim Siok Hong, 54, Mrs Lee Siu Yin, 56, and Ms Sylvia Lee, 35.

They share one other thing: A deep satisfaction in what they do, and a certainty that this is the career for them.

For their work, they received the nation's highest accolade in nursing, the President's Award for Nurses, from President SR Nathan at the Istana yesterday.

The honours were given out in advance of Nurses' Day tomorrow.

Ms Lim, a senior nurse clinician, leads the infection control unit at the KK Women's and Children's Hospital and was in the battlefront against Sars in 2003.

These days, it is the H1N1 flu virus -  and her phone had been ringing off the hook and after hours. She also checks that face masks fit the part- timers manning the screening points and that the flu protocols are followed.

Her role extends beyond H1N1 - she sees to it that proper steps are taken when someone comes down with tuberculosis, chicken pox or any other 'catching' disease, and volunteers her expertise in places like Cambodia.

Asked what she finds gratifying, she said: 'It has made me realise that I can help a person I do not know, just by providing a listening ear and a shoulder to cry on.'

Mrs Lee Siu Yin, the National University Hospital's nursing director, has come a long way from being that child who, when hospitalised, saw how nurses brightened a patient's day.

That was what she wanted to do, she resolved. She went ahead and achieved her goal. Starting as a midwife 30 years ago, she climbed the career ladder and now leads 2,400 nurses.

Moving up has taken her to a whole new arena - that of designing systems that match patient-care needs with the number of nurses on hand to do the work. The system she came up with has been used in other public hospitals.

She expects nurses to think critically and learn continuously. 'Gone are the days when nurses just carry out doctors' instructions,' she said.

Recently appointed adjunct associate professor by the Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine's Alice Lee Centre for Nursing Studies, she will teach there, besides doing so at the Nanyang Polytechnic.

The third award recipient is also the youngest to have bagged it since the inception of the honours a decade ago.

Ms Sylvia Lee's turf is the Dover Park Hospice, where she manages terminally ill patients - most with less than three months to live - and guides other nurses.

A specialist in palliative care and holder of a master's in gerontology, she is the pioneer among 'advanced practice nurses', meaning she is qualified to carry out some tasks done by doctors.

Although she sees a death among her patients almost every day, she has a decidedly bright outlook on her job: 'People always say it's a depressing place but there is so much laughter here. It's about living and not dying.'

She walks the journey with her patients, becomes a trusted friend and helps them through psycho- social and spiritual struggles. Some grow so close to her they ask for her to be there in their last moments.

Her family will contribute one more person to nursing: Her younger sister wants to be a nurse too.

 

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Charge of the youth brigade

THE youth of our nation are getting into the swing of things for Singapore's 44th birthday.

More than 2,200 students from primary schools to universities are busy marching, dancing, singing and drumming for the National Day Parade (NDP) on Aug 9.

The youth brigade will form a sizeable contingent among the 6,000 participants at this year's show.

Things got busy for them way back in March, as rehearsals began at assembly grounds in schools around the island.

Ms Wong Shing Hwee, 22, commander for the Red Cross marching contingent, has the unenviable task of sustaining the enthusiasm of her 14- and 15-year-old charges which can easily wane during mind-numbing drills under the hot sun.

'Encouraging them and motivating them is an ongoing process,' she said.

The excitement kicks in more readily for first-timers like 14-year-old Muhammad Nur Irfan bin Hausani, who is marching with the National Police Cadet Corps.

Said the cadet from Pasir Ris Secondary School: 'It's a prestigious moment...The feeling of sitting in the stands is different from the feeling of being in the parade.'

This year's NDP weaves together the parade and ceremony segments, usually separate, into 'One Show' spread over 10 chapters, each based on an excerpt of the Singapore Pledge. The students appear in a pre-parade segment and seven of the chapters. Whether they are Touch motivators handing out balloons and whipping up crowd fervour or dancers doing their thing from nine-storey structures on stage, their energy will be hard to miss.

Among the performers is Giri Krishnasamy, 16, one of 125 dancers from Bhas-kar's Arts Academy who will showcase Bharatanatyam, a classic Tamil dance form. He is stationed on the penultimate level of one of two nine-storey grids, one on each side of the main stage. 'From up there, I can see all the spectators,' he said.

 

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Undergrads keen on non-profit sector jobs

MORE than half of the undergraduates in a recent survey said they were interested in making a career in the non-profit sector.

This response corresponds with the reasonably high rate of volunteerism here - about 30 per cent of the 3,143 respondents said they volunteered at least once in the last 12 months. The national rate is around 17 per cent.

The survey of National University of Singapore (NUS) undergraduates, aged between 17 and 29, aimed to identify new trends in volunteering, assess undergraduate involvement and find out their attitudes towards issues in the non-profit and charity sector.

It was conducted in May by the NUS Volunteer Network, a student group made up of different clubs involved in community service, and the NUS Business School's Centre for Social Entrepreneurship and Philanthropy. Details were released yesterday.

Professor Albert Teo, director of the centre, said the interest in charity work follows moves by the business world to be more proactive in society: 'Businesses and business schools are going through a soul- searching phase.

'Corporate social responsibility is practised in many firms in Singapore and so more students are aware of it.'

Students and professors said the increased professionalism and higher profile of the charity sector were also reasons for the piqued interest.

President of the NUS Volunteer Network Timothy Lin added: 'It's the only sector where you can find more meaning in your job. Instead of just getting material things, you are helping people.'

There was also positivity about volunteering after graduation, with more than nine in 10 respondents saying they would do so.

But more could be done to improve the reputation of the non-profit sector, the survey found. More than half of those surveyed gave a lukewarm response, saying they had only a moderate level of confidence in charities here.

Mr Lin, an undergraduate, said this cautious view could be due to incidents such as the National Kidney Foundation scandal, which revealed the abuses at the old NKF, and the on-going Ren Ci trial, with allegedly questionable loans in the spotlight.

The survey also showed that friends were key to encouraging volunteerism as 73.9 per cent said they would volunteer if their friends engaged in such activities.

Said Prof Teo: 'This validates the importance of social networks.

'It's not easy to deal with suffering and pain, so it's important to have a network to support you, so you can share feelings and won't burn out.'

 

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