Should politicians be allowed into schools to help students exercise sound judgement in political questions?
Not according to Singapore’s Senior Minister of State Education, Dr Janil Puthucheary.
On Monday, Dr Puthucheary said all schools should be totally free of partisan politics and should not invite politicians to speak at school events.
Dr Puthucheary was responding to a question by Workers’ Party representative, Leon Perera, who asked if any of the Ministry’s rules prohibited primary or secondary schools from inviting MPs or nominated MPs from any party as speakers at events
“Schools cannot be used as platforms for partisan politics or invite or accede to requests by any Member of Parliament or political party to speak at school events,” Dr Puthucheary said.
Asked whether this also included office-holders and ministers, Dr Puthucheary reiterated that there was no place for partisan politics in schools and added that “people should not be speaking in their capacity as a member of a political party attending a school for an event”.
Perera followed the reply with another question asking if members of other parties represented in parliament and nominated MPs would be allowed to engage with students in the same way office holders and ministers do.
He asked if students should have access to both sides of the political debate, so that they can “develop into citizens who can exercise sound judgement in political questions”.
Dr Puthucheary responded that “this is not the intention of what we do in schools”.
“If he [Perera] would like to make a case as to why there should be partisan politics in school, I think that is the case he should make. We take the view that partisan politics should be kept out of schools.”
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