HAVE a degree but no passion for teaching? Don't bother applying for the job.

Addressing a persistent criticism of the Ministry of Education's (MOE) plan to recruit only graduates as teachers for primary schools, MOE second permanent secretary Yeoh Chee Yan said last Friday that when it comes to hiring, the ministry looks for interest and aptitude first and foremost.

Ms Yeoh noted that the ministry has been recruiting teachers only from the top 30 per cent of each school cohort. This means that by 2015, it will be drawing from a pool of people who qualify for an undergraduate education anyway.

Last year, 25 per cent of the cohort obtained degrees and the proportion will rise to 30 per cent by 2015.

Ms Yeoh said: 'But a very clear message that we heard from the public and stakeholders we consulted is that more important than academic qualifications of our teachers is that aptitude to teach, that love for children, that passion to teach.'

She added that the committee had taken note of this and had strongly recommended that recruitment be based first on a candidate's suitability to be a teacher.

Parents in focus group discussions held over the past four months had raised concerns that non-graduates with a passion for teaching would be passed over for the job.

To overcome the problem of under-qualified teachers, MOE will continue to recruit A-level holders and diploma holders with an aptitude to teach but they will have to gain a degree at the National Institute of Education before they can teach in primary schools.

The Senior Minister of State for Education, Ms Grace Fu, said non-degree holders can also join the teaching force as teacher aides, school counsellors and special needs officers.

This article was first published in The Straits Times on January 28, 2009.