社會及家庭發展部長兼衛生部第二部長，主管回教事務部長馬善高；新加坡內政部兼社會及家庭發展部政務部長孫雪玲回復政府國會社會及家庭發展委員會主席楊益財關於低收家庭幫扶、學前教育問題。
以下內容為新加坡眼根據國會英文資料翻譯整理：
主席：楊益財先生。
楊益財先生：謝謝主席，我有兩個問題，第一個問題是問馬善高部長的。我很高興聽到全國家庭周將延長至為期一個月，這肯定會讓更多的家庭和節目參與進來。我的問題其實是關於低收入家庭的，新加坡社會及家庭發展部計劃如何鼓勵和方便低收入家庭，特別是租住單位的有子女家庭參加家庭月活動？也許，凝聚家庭理事會可以與社會保障機構、家庭導師，甚至人民協會合作，這樣或許可以讓提升版社區聯繫站計劃的家庭，參與到這些活動中來。
我的第二個問題是問孫雪玲部長的。最近發生的一系列學前教育行業的事件，新加坡新加坡社會及家庭發展部與學前教育發展中心可以做些什麼，來向家長保證我們學前教育機構的安全和標準？這些事件是否因學前教育機構資源調配不足所致？如果是的話，教育和兒童發展局可以做些什麼來確保我們所有的學前教育機構都有足夠的資源？
馬善高先生：謝謝楊先生給我這個機會，讓我呼籲在座的所有同事更多地參與進來。我希望我們在舉辦全國家庭日時，不是自上而下的活動，不是由家庭基金或新加坡社會及家庭發展部組織舉辦的活動，而是讓基層組織、企業自覺參與其中。因為我認為，當這個節日在新加坡各地舉行時，就像楊先生剛才提到的那樣，每個人都可以參與其中，無論他們是殘疾人還是來自低收入家庭，這代表著新加坡將成為一個包容和關愛的社會。但是，我們能為此做些什麼，確實需要一個基礎性的倡議。
給大家舉個例子，我的社區俱樂部有一點盈餘，打算花點錢，組織一個簡單的家庭座談會，每個人都可以參與，我們只收5新元。對於那些租房的家庭，我們會告訴他們是什麼活動並讓社會服務組織邀請他們來，只收取1新元的費用，我認為免費並不總是好的，這樣才能表明他們會來。但是，當他們來的時候，我們並不知道某某是需要幫助的人，某某是殘疾人。大家只是圍坐在一起，氣氛非常好的度過了一段輕鬆愉快的時光。所以，活動不一定要非常複雜，只要有一個樂隊從5點到7點為他們演奏，還有自助餐，我想這樣的慶祝活動就會很受歡迎。因此，我希望各公司，不管是在現場舉辦，還是作為家庭日郊遊活動，都能將這種活動擴展到其他可能有需要的家庭當中，這也是企業責任的一部分。
孫雪玲女士：我感謝楊益財議員的第二個問題。我想強調一下我們對幼兒園事件的調查結果，這也是以前公布過的。我們發現，中心領導監管不力，員工也有疏忽。因此，這是一個值得關注的地方。我們已經縮短了幼兒園中心領導的任期，還積極開展監督工作，到現場監督學前班的情況。
因此，我並不認為這是整個部門普遍存在的資源不足問題，因為新加坡社會及家庭發展部對師生比例有非常嚴格的要求，我們沒有發現違反這些規定的情況。我認為，這有力地提醒了整個行業，教師需要對自己的行為負責。他們必須知道，如果他們被發現有過失或疏忽，會被迅速追究責任，而中心領導也必須負起監督責任。
我想補充的最後一點是，正如我在前面的發言中提到，歐盟藥品管理局現有的規定受到了我國現行法律的限制。這些規定正在被審查，我們將加強國內法律的作用，採取加強經濟處罰的形式，以向業界發出一個非常明確的信號，我們不會輕視這種濫用行為。
以下是英文質詢內容：
The Chairman: Mr Melvin Yong.
Mr Melvin Yong Yik Chye: Thank you, Chairman. I have two questions. My first question is for Minister Masagos. I am very happy to hear that the National Family Week will now be extended to a month-long festival. This will certainly allow for more families to participate and also for more family-oriented programmes to be included. My question is really regarding the lower-income families. How does MSF plan to encourage, to facilitate lower-income families, in particular, families with children living in rental flats, to participate in the family month activities? Perhaps, the FFL can work with SSA, family coaches, even the People's Association, to maybe bring the ComLink+ families to participate in these activities.
My second question is for Minister of State Sun Xueling. Given the recent spate of incidents involving the preschool sector, what can MSF and ECDA do to assure parents on the safety and standards of our preschools? Were these incidents a result of insufficient resources deployed by the preschools? If so, what can ECDA do to ensure that all our preschools are adequately resourced?
Mr Masagos Zulkifli B M M: Thank you, Mr Yong, for that opportunity for me to call for even more participation from all my colleagues here. And I hope that when we do the National Family Festival, it is not something that is top-down, something that FFL does or MSF does, but also for grassroots organisations, corporates to participate, whether or not they get reported in media or otherwise, because I think when this festivity goes on throughout Singapore, and then, like what Mr Yong was mentioning just now, get everyone involved, whether they are disabled or from a needy family, I think this will augur well for what Singapore is about, an inclusive and caring society. But we do have to get a ground-up initiative. We want to have ideas, what can be done.
Just to give Members an example I tried in my own Community Club where we have a simple two-hour sit-down family chillax. Just everyone can come and we just charge $5. I have a little surplus in my Community Club, I say let us spend and give families a good time. But for the families which are living in rentals, who we know are in the ComLink+ or other programmes, we get the befrienders as well as SSOs to tell us who they are, invite them and charge them maybe just $1. Because they have to show they have a ticket. And I do not think free is always good, to show that they will be committed to come. But when they came, we did not know, we did not identify so-and-so was needy, so-and-so was disabled. Everyone was just sitting around having a chill time and it was a great atmosphere. So, it does not have to be very structured. Just have a band play for them from five to seven, food truck, free flow of food, that kind of festivity I think will be very welcomed. So, I hope that corporates, whether you do it on-site or as a family day outing, extend this to other families who may be needy, as part of corporate responsibility, too.
Ms Sun Xueling: I thank the Member, Mr Melvin Yong, for his second question. I would like to highlight our findings from the Kinderland case. And this has also been published before. What we have found was that there was inadequate supervision by centre leaders and that there was oversight by the employees. So, this is a learning point. And we have shortened the tenure for the Kinderland centres. We are also actively monitoring, going down on-site to supervise what is happening in the preschool.
So, I do not see it as a general insufficient resourcing in the sector as a whole because MSF has very strict requirements on teacher and student ratios. And we have not observed that these were contravened. Rather, these were lapses in the centre. And I think it is a strong reminder to the industry that teachers need to be accountable for their actions. They need to know that they will be swiftly taken to task if they are found to be errant or negligent and that centre leaders have to be responsible and that they have to supervise.
The last point I would like to add is that, as I mentioned in my speech earlier, the current levers that ECDA has is limited by our current set of legislation in place. We are reviewing those legislation and we will enhance those levers. It could take the form of enhanced financial penalties so that there is a very clear signal to the industry that we do not take such abuse lightly.
新加坡國會丨來源
新加坡國會丨圖源
