NEWS UPDATES

MOE TO RELAX ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA FOR CL 'B'
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SINGAPORE - In an effort to encourage more students to acquire a functional command of Chinese, the Education Ministry will further adjust standards to match the capabilities of weaker students.

This move will have an impact especially at the junior college and centralised institute level, where MOE will relax the eligibility criteria for taking CL 'B' from the current O-level E8 grade or below, to D7 grade or below.

This is to allow more students to benefit from taking A-Level CL 'B', said Senior Minister of State (National Development and Education) Grace Fu yesterday.

Secondary schools with a high concentration of students weak in Chinese language (CL) will also be supported by MOE to offer school-based CL 'B' lessons.

Introduced in 2001, CL 'B' places greater emphasis on practical communication skills.

Ms Fu said: "Prior to that, students who were weak in CL were taught and tested in the same way as students with stronger CL ability ... it did not work."

Such students would be better served by CL 'B' which places greater emphasis on practical communication skills, she added. "The students tell us that they recognise the importance of being able to communicate verbally in CL, and that the content of the CL 'B' lessons is pitched at a suitable level and enjoyable."

The percentage of students taking CL 'B' at O level has increased slightly from two per cent to four per cent (about 1,500 students) between 2001 and 2009 while those of students offering CL 'B' at A level has stayed around 2 per cent (about 250 students).

"With more students coming from predominantly English-speaking homes, we expect that there will be more students offering CL 'B' in future," Ms Fu said.

This new focus drew concern from Hougang Member of Parliament Low Thia Khiang. Has the standard of Chinese slipped over the years, he wondered?

"Our objective is not to discourage the students with a high bar but to introduce an appropriate method with (a) good grasp of the basics.

"As for the standard of Chinese, I think we are optimistic about how we can improve (the situation) but at the same time, we have to be realistic," Ms Fu responded. OTHER INITIATIVES

Meanwhile, MOE will also be providing schools with a high concentration of students from English-speaking homes with an additional CL teacher, on top of the two additional teachers all primary schools received in 2007.

This will allow these schools to further customise their teaching.

There will also be more extensive use of English in Chinese lessons to teach weaker students, Ms Fu said.

To help students acquire confidence and proficiency in the use of their mother tongue in daily living, MOE will leverage on the use of information and communication technologies (ICT) tools and applications.

Starting from next year, an ICT-based resource package constituting up to 15 per cent of the mother tongue curriculum across all levels will be provided to all schools.

Looking ahead, the oral component of the mother tongue languages will be given greater weight in the O-, N- and A-level examinations from 2012.

The increase will range from five per cent to 20 per cent, and will also apply to the Chinese, Malay and Tamil papers.

At the N level, the marks given to the oral component will make up 40 per cent, instead of the current 35 per cent.

The weightage for O Levels will be 35 per cent, higher than the current 30 per cent.

And for those taking the language at A level, it will be 30 per cent, higher than the current 20 per cent.

MITSUBISHI ELECTRIC LEAVES NEO OUT IN THE COLD
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SINGAPORE - Mitsubishi Electric Asia will no longer feature Singapore director Jack Neo in its advertising, a spokesperson for the electronics giant told MediaCorp. It has also decided not to renew its endorsement contract with Mr Neo's production and talent management firm J Team Productions.

The announcement comes after Mr Neo's affair with model Wendy Chong, 22, was exposed over the weekend. "We are going to withdraw the advertisements and we won't be renewing the contracts," said the spokesperson, adding that all advertisements featuring Neo should have been pulled by Tuesday night.

She declined to say how much the endorsement deal was worth.

Mr Neo, a Cultural Medallion winner, had been endorsing Mitsubishi's StarMex air-conditioners for at least two years and was often seen in ads for the appliance on television and taxis.

Local firms Bee Cheng Hiang and Goh Joo Hin, which had product placements in the beleaguered director's earlier films, have reportedly declined to comment.


RAIN, A WELCOME RELIEF
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Yesterday morning's heavy showers were a welcome relief from the dry and warm conditions Singapore has been experiencing. And the weatherman says more rainy days can be expected in the coming weeks, with the approach of the inter-monsoon season.

The Meteorological Services Dvision said yesterday's showers were due to a weak monsoon surge, which refers to a strengthening of winds over the South China Sea. This surge is common during the north-east monsoon months of December and January, but can also occur occasionally towards the end of the season in March.


WHERE HAVE ALL THE TAXIS GONE?
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SINGAPORE - Taxi drivers say business is a breeze with the hot weather. But commuters say the soaring temperatures are getting them hot under the collar in more ways than one.

Commuters are glad to get out of the searing heat and into the cool of a cab. That is, if they can get a taxi when they want one.

According to ComfortDelGro which manages bookings for both Comfort taxis and CityCab, call bookings have risen by 8 per cent from January to February.

Compared with the same two-month period last year, call bookings have shot up by 16 per cent.

For lifestyle writer Maureen Aw, 24, using a taxi these days is the best option for her. "I just want to get out of the heat and into air-conditioned comfort," she said.

With more people hopping into taxis, many others have been left waiting, stranded in the heat.

Ms Aw, who hails a taxi about three times a week from town, said she has to wait twice as long for a cab compared to the time not so long ago, when many taxi queues moved faster.

On weekend nights, without calling for a cab, it is almost impossible to get a ride, she said.

Hotel guests, too, are subject to the waiting game. A Meritus Mandarin spokesperson acknowledged the longer waiting time. At Swissotel two Sunday nights ago, those in the taxi queue had to wait for at least an hour before boarding a taxi.

For those catching a taxi to work, the situation can get dangerous. Ms Leong Ho Ming, who waits for a taxi outside Outram MRT station every morning, said there will be at least five people in the queue - without a taxi in sight. At about 8.50am, rather than risk being late for work, she heads onto the road to hail a taxi. It is faster that way, said Ms Leong, a business manager.

But, could the disappearing taxis in the morning be due to the fact that many are flocking to the Resorts World Sentosa (RWS) - where cabbies are entitled to a $3 surcharge and there are lots of weary casino patrons waiting to go home after a long night at the gaming tables? When MediaCorp visited the RWS casino's taxi stand on Monday morning, there was a steady flow of 15 to 20 taxis in the queue during the peak 8am to 9am period. For each taxi, the maximum waiting time for a passenger was under 10 minutes.

Mr Liu Wen Cheng, a limousine cab driver, said many people need a taxi as they are rushing to work from the casinos. In fact, the six times that he was at RWS during both peak and non-peak periods, the queue was short and it moved fast.

However, most of the 10 taxi drivers interviewed told MediaCorp that they go to RWS only if they are nearby.

Perhaps I was lucky, but I managed to hail a cab from a residential area at around 8am on Monday, after waiting just 10 minutes. Explained CityCab driver Robin Ng: "Not all cabbies want to queue for the certainty of a passenger and that $3 surcharge. There are cabbies - like me - who pick up passengers wherever we can."