FROM January next year, special needs students will have a bigger grant to pursue enrichment programmes such as art lessons and writing workshops.

The Ministry of Education (MOE) is putting $40 more into the $200 account of each child's Edusave Pupils Fund, which can also be used to pay their school fees.

At the same time, their schools will receive an Edusave Grant of $90 per student, to buy additional resources such as computers or other learning aids. The sum is $40 more than the current $50.

This extra is on top of what the 20 special needs schools had received this year: a lump sum for them to design their own awards to encourage their students to keep improving.

These financial incentives were announced yesterday in Parliament by Senior Minister of State for Education Grace Fu.

Ms Fu was responding to a question from Mr Christopher de Souza (Holland-Bukit Timah GRC) on the kinds of grants available to these 20 schools.

The extra $40 for each student is only for special needs students studying mainstream secondary curriculum and vocational education programmes.

Later, an Education Ministry spokesman said the lump sum for schools to give awards will be calculated based on how many Singaporeans were enrolled in the school.

Mr de Souza was also concerned that MOE was not doing more to help the nearly 5,000 students in special needs schools integrate into society.

Ms Fu said her ministry will facilitate more partnerships between these schools and mainstream schools, to give special needs students opportunities for purposeful interactions with their mainstream peers.

Ms Denise Phua (Jalan Besar GRC) suggested that all special needs students stay in school till age 21, rather than the current 18.

Ms Fu did not take her up on her suggestion, saying MOE's approach was to increase the employability of special needs students via vocational training, and make education meaningful for them.

Jennani Durai

This article was first published in The Straits Times.