The officers, who are trained in social work, will work closely with parents to help students stay engaged in learning, said an MOE spokesperson — particularly those who struggle with attending school, have behavioural issues, and experience difficulties in their home and social environments.
The student welfare officers will also tap social services agencies and community resources where necessary, added the spokesperson. This might include connecting families with voluntary welfare organisations VWOs that provide youth and family programmes. The officers could also work with social service offices located in housing estates to offer the families help in the form of financial assistance and job matching. Youth workers have said keeping troubled youth engaged in school remains a worrying issue because of social problems such as broken families and internet addiction.
MOE statistics show that less than 1 per cent of each Primary One cohort in the last five years has failed to complete secondary school. In , a National Institute of Education study involving 3, youth revealed that youth gamers spent about 20 hours a week on gaming and about 10 per cent of them displayed symptoms of obsessive video gaming.
Since , all schools have had at least one resident counsellor on hand to guide students in aspects of socio-emotional and mental health. Principals can also seek VWOs to help conduct home visits and provide intervention programmes. Principals participating in the pilot said the student welfare officers will help facilitate the use of community resources to provide holistic support for students and their families.
But the biggest impact in the change in school time has been to the CCA programme. While previously each student might participate in more than one CCA, they now focus on only one.
Teachers in charge of CCAs were also redeployed. The school has taken this in their stride, trying as far as possible to allocate students and staff according to their interests and strengths. The advantage, however, is that Pri 1 and 2 pupils - who do not typically join CCAs due to their age - now have the chance to sample CCAs through "modular CCAs" incorporated into their time-table. Once a week, for two hours, these pupils take part in either a physical sport module, such as inline skating, or an art or music module.
And just imagine, by the time they complete Pri 2, all the pupils will know the basics of inline skating! According to the teachers, pupils have been very happy as they see the longer hours as having "more time with friends".
Pri 2 pupil Cedric Olivas prefers the new timing because it is still early when he gets home, unlike last year when he was attending the afternoon session - by the time he got home and ate dinner, there was not much time left before bedtime.
For Cedric's mother, Mrs Lorna Olivas, the new timing means the family eats at the same time and her two children can play together. Now everything is synchronised. Parents Mrs Kamisah Atheli left and Mrs Lorna Olivas right appreciate that their respective sons Danish left and Cedric right have more flexibility in their daily routines.
For teachers' families, too, the change has been welcome. Mdm Maha, who has been teaching the afternoon session for about five years, found it a challenge to wake up earlier but now she can spend more time with her family.
Now that I'm working at the same time that he is in school, we can spend much more time together.
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