PRINCIPALS and teachers of disabled children in special education schools will get more help to boost their professional expertise, and also have less paperwork to worry about.

Yesterday, Senior Minister of State for Education Grace Fu announced new Ministry of Education (MOE) scholarships for the 750 teachers in special education. There are 20 special education schools in Singapore with 4,900 pupils.

Each year, the MOE will offer up to 10 scholarships to non-graduate principals and key personnel to pursue a degree in special education, and up to two scholarships for graduate staff to attend a master's programme in a relevant area of specialisation.

The MOE will also sponsor psychologists working in special education schools to get a part-time diploma in educational psychology.

Ms Fu said of MOE's effort to 'continually promote' the professionalism of educators: 'Strong leaders and good teachers are critical to the success of our special education schools.'

Besides the carrot in the form of scholarships, staff will also have less paperwork to deal with from next year.

All special education schools will get an administration manager who will assist the principal in financial, human resource and other matters.

The MOE has placed more focus on special education in the past decade or so. These schools have their own purpose-built facilities instead of being located in mainstream school buildings, as was the case previously. Most teachers now also have at least a diploma in special education.

The National Institute of Education started two courses - a specialist postgraduate diploma and a specialist diploma in special education - this year. There is already an existing diploma in special education course.

About 85 per cent of special education teachers now have at least one of these three diplomas.

Yesterday, three teachers were honoured with the Outstanding Special Education Teacher Award.

They were Miss Linda Tan, 28, from Tanglin School, Miss Erni Noorhaidah Ahmad, 37, from Woodlands Gardens School, and Madam Jenny Lim, 44, from Lee Kong Chian Gardens School. All three teach children with intellectual disabilities.

Madam Lim, a mother of two, teaches not only her charges, but their parents too. She gives them materials and techniques to help their children at home. She said: 'Each time I tell a story, I see the children smiling and cheering, and this makes me want to teach every day. My reward is to see these children improve.'

Two schools, Chaoyang School and Tanglin School, were also honoured for their innovative efforts to promote learning.

For example, Tanglin School, which takes in teens aged 13 to 16 with intellectual or learning disabilities, has a project to teach its students entrepreneurial and other practical skills.

The school has its own 'bank', where students who earn tokens for good behaviour can bank them into their own accounts. Students also take on the roles of bank staff like tellers and security guards, and prizes are given to those who earn the most tokens.

Special education schools interviewed cheered the scholarships and the deployment of administration managers.

Mrs Low Siew Ting, principal of Chaoyang School, said some teachers are not graduates because they cannot afford the university fees.

She added: 'Now this is a good opportunity for teachers to upgrade themselves.'

This article was first published in The Straits Times.