43 schools to get new principals in 2021, including 9 from MOE headquarters (16 October 2020)
"SINGAPORE - An annual reshuffle of principals will see 43 schools next year with new leaders, including nine from the Ministry of Education (MOE) headquarters.
It is the highest number of officers to be moved from the headquarters to head schools in recent years, according to checks by The Straits Times."
Boy shows growing interest in Malay after joining programme (19 October 2020)
"For the first time in his life, Farrel Fahri Mohamad Saffari started to ask his mother to speak to him more in Malay.
Earlier this year, the Primary 3 boy started asking her for the Malay translation of certain English words and telling her new Malay words he learnt in school."
Mum thankful after son's understanding of Chinese improves (19 October 2020)
"Chinese language classes were always 10-year-old Benson See's least favourite part of school, as he had trouble understanding his teacher, and could not read his textbooks.
His mother, Madam Su Lishan, said it was challenging when he entered Primary 1 at Kheng Cheng School."
Children who are weak in mother tongue get a leg-up (19 October 2020)
"Pupils who are weaker in their mother tongue are receiving help from a new programme that weaves more activities and games into lessons.
In this Mother Tongue Support Programme, Primary 3 and 4 pupils are taught in smaller groups of five to 12 using resources specially produced by the Ministry of Education (MOE)."
Literature a subject with real-world relevance: NIE study (19 October 2020)
"Literature is not just the study of Shakespeare, nor is it an impractical subject with no relevance to the real world, a local study has shown.
Teachers in Singapore have been using diverse literary texts in the classroom, with the understanding that they constitute a powerful tool to help teenagers see the world from different perspectives."
Singapore's 15-year-olds top OECD's Pisa global competence test (22 October 2020)
"SINGAPORE - The ability to understand and act on intercultural and global issues saw Singapore's 15-year-olds claim the top spot in an international test.
The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), which conducted the test in 2018, announced the findings on Thursday (Oct 22)."
How the OECD tested students on global competence (22 October 2020)
"SINGAPORE - The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) decided to test 15-year-old students on their global competency in the latest Programme for International Student Assessment (Pisa).
It said such competence is a pressing necessity, with schools "central" to the teaching of global competency skills."
Singapore students familiar with global issues, but know less about world conflicts and economy: 2018 Pisa study (22 October 2020)
"SINGAPORE - Students in Singapore know more about issues like climate change and global warming but lack knowledge in other areas like international conflicts.
More than eight in 10 of them said they felt confident explaining issues related to global climate change. These includes, for instance, the impact of carbon-dioxide emissions and why some countries suffer from climate change more than others."
PSB Academy launches $3 million initiative to help students amid Covid-19 pandemic (22 October 2020)
"SINGAPORE - When Ms Jenny Tan, 21, enrolled in the University of Newcastle at PSB Academy (PSBA) in August, she was the third person in her family to do so.
Her father, Mr Sunny Tan, 54, completed a part-time degree in environmental and occupational health and safety at the same university eight years earlier. Her brother, Jeffrey, 24, joined its mechanical engineering degree programme in August last year."
Going the extra mile for special educational needs (23 October 2020)
"As a final year student pursuing a Bachelor of Psychology (Honours) at James Cook University (JCU) Singapore, Ms Rebecca Yeo had her eye on a career in neuropsychology.
But while observing and analysing youth at family service centres and secondary schools for her final year project, she became intrigued by special needs education."
What it takes to help students with behavioural issues (23 October 2020)
"If there is one thing Mr Muhammad Suhairi Subarjo has learnt from his years of counselling and guiding students with behavioural issues, it is how to be a good listener.
"A lot of people tell these students they can't do this and that. Sometimes it's about listening to the students themselves, who are often misunderstood," said the senior allied educator (AED), who specialises in learning and behavioural support (LBS)."
Best kids' subscription boxes: Learning out of the box during the pandemic (23 October 2020)
"SINGAPORE - When Ms Ziyi Sheena Cheong signed up for a children's books subscription service in January, she did not realise how useful it would turn out to be.
At the time, the busy mum of two wanted to find age-appropriate titles and was impressed by the detailed questions from One Happy Book."
Ex-NUS professor Jeremy Fernando alleged of sexual misconduct apologises, files police report (24 October 2020)
"SINGAPORE - Former National University of Singapore (NUS) professor Jeremy Fernando has apologised for the distress related to allegations of sexual misconduct made against him.
He also said he filed a police report on a related aspect of the situation."
Project(Life)Management (2 October 2020)
"Should we expect young people to just automatically be good at managing schoolwork, life and work? Republic Polytechnic lecturer Teeny Teh feels otherwise, and will stop at nothing to teach her students how to tackle life. And work.
Ms Teeny Teh Wee Ting, Republic Polytechnic, President’s Award for Teachers 2020 Finalistt
Coming to class as a bride while throwing rose petals on herself and her students. Dancing to K-Pop in a bunny costume with her husband for which they had to rehearse for months just for her students. Allowing her students to experiment with dry ice and playing songs like “Money, Money, Money” by BTS in class. (The Abba version gets trotted out for adult learners.)
If there is one thing you can expect in Teeny Teh’s class, it is the unexpected.
Get attention and they will learn
Teeny wants her students to thoroughly understand what “Leisure Events and Entertainment Management”, a module that she teaches at Republic Polytechnic, is all about. Walking into class in a white dress with a bridal veil and bouquet, tossing rose petals was meant to get students to visualize components of a wedding and get them thinking about the emotions and energy that can be created, as well as simple practicalities involved in events, e.g. flower petals staining light coloured carpets. The use of dry ice was to have the students try their hand at creating the misty effect for themselves to allow them to discuss the pros and cons of various special effects, and the playing of music during class was to tap into the auditory learning part of students’ brains to shake up their learning.
The bunny suit dance provided her students an opportunity to create a viral video as part of their lesson on “Event Marketing” and allowed them to observe in real-time, the trends, effectiveness and challenges of each social media platform (it the video was eventually viewed 114,000 times on Facebook and 70,000 times on Twitter). Teeny’s unorthodox teaching approach also made the news online and in the press."
A kick out of teaching (2 october 2020)
"Zhang Pengchi’s reimagining of biomedical science concepts as storylines in kung fu flicks help students punch above their weight in his Medical Biotechnology and Biomedical Science classes.
Mr Zhang Pengchi , Temasek Polytechnic, President’s Award for Teachers 2020 Finalist
The phrase “allosteric regulation of enzymes” would probably intimidate most students the first time they hear it. But what if they had a lecturer explain it using kung fu? (Yes, you read that right.).
Enter Temasek Polytechnic’s (TP) Zhang Pengchi, Course Chair at the School of Applied Science.
“I get two students to join me in front of the class to demonstrate the analogy. I will ‘be’ an enzyme and my hands are the active sites holding substrates to speed up the reaction,” explained Pengchi.
“So, when an allosteric inhibitor attacks me, it is like having a martial arts expert hold on my shoulder, such that I cannot react.”
“By role-playing, and creating amusing analogies and personifications, I am able to bring to life the driest of science concepts,” explained Pengchi. Students stay engaged during the lectures, they remember concepts better, and their interest in the subject grows.”
Keep it fun
Pengchi has more tricks up his sleeves to keep students interested.
For instance, songs to help students remember formulas and concepts. One of his hits: ‘The 10-step metabolism of glycolysis’ – it’s so catchy, students can’t stop singing it. Pengchi also produced some 20 virtual reality (VR) videos on mammalian cell technology, which students watch through VR headsets."
If We Want To Address Youth Mental Health, We Need To Look Beyond Suicide (2 october 2020)
"We often don’t know where to start, or what to say; sometimes we can barely even find the words. However, purely by virtue of how tragic it is, suicide tends to dominate our mental health discourse, particularly in the media. News reports of suicide make for the clickiest of bait, particularly when it is a young person who has taken their own life.
Each time a new case makes the headlines, we engage in a fresh bout of soul-searching. We ask: Why? What happened? Could it have been prevented? How did someone so young come to be in so much pain that they felt life was no longer worth living?
Unfortunately, this process of questioning takes place too late. Suicide is the devastating conclusion to what is often a long, lonely, and anguished struggle.
As such, the issues which precede it—bearing in mind that the majority of mental health struggles do not end in suicide—must be discussed with the same urgency, nuance, and depth of feeling as suicide itself.
But to do so, we must recognise that mental health straddles a vast and complex spectrum, of which suicide is at one extreme end.
Any question about why young people are driven to take their own lives is really a question about a much broader range of issues—the infinite contributing factors which make up the landscape of mental health and social problems. With more and more young people treating this as a priority, we need to expand our responses to match this."
The “art” of uplifting students in troubled times (5 october 2020)
"From K-pop classes to painting lessons, here’s how Xishan Primary got some of their students to stay engaged and upbeat during the Circuit Breaker. We spoke to Mdm Janice Leong, Year Head (Upper Primary). By Tung Yon Heong
The school is quiet. Singapore is under Circuit Breaker, but a handful of students are decorating Merlion sculptures in their after-school enrichment class.
“For some of my students, staying home during the Circuit Breaker was a challenge,” said Mdm Janice Leong, the Year Head of Upper Primary at Xishan Primary School. So, a group of 60 students continued to come to school with 25 of them staying on for after-school programmes.
As Mdm Leong explains, “Schools are not just places to study subjects; they provide a structure for students to develop their character and life skills. (Without school) I was worried that some students would not only fall behind in their studies, I was also concerned about other aspects of their personal growth and emotional well-being.”
Once in school, a team of teachers supervised these students during offline and online lessons. They followed the same lessons as their classmates at home.
After school, there were a series of enrichment classes that Mdm Leong and the teachers put together with The RICE Company, a not-for-profit organisation that works with children and youths. Their programmes ranged from dance and theatre classes to art and craft workshops, and the goal was to let students exercise their creative muscles after their academic lessons in the morning."
Investigating crimes – in virtual reality (5 october 2020)
"You won’t need to bring gloves or a magnifying glass to this crime scene. Instead, students taking the National University of Singapore’s Forensic Toxicology and Poisons module, an interdisciplinary subject, are donning headsets to pick up real-world investigation skills in virtual crime scenes. By Tung Yon Heong
Imagine being at a murder scene. You move around to find traces of the malignant act. The clock is ticking, and you need to act fast to solve the mystery.
There is only one peculiarity about this ghastly scene: everything is taking place in virtual reality (VR) within a computer lab.
That’s the experience of students taking the Forensic Toxicology and Poisons elective at the National University of Singapore (NUS).
They don a VR headset to be transported into a virtual crime scene – for instance, a bedroom. Once inside the ‘room’, students use wireless controllers to navigate their way, picking out signs of foul play, such as bloodstains on a bedsheet or mysterious substances inside knocked-over bottles, for example.
This programme’s concept was developed by Associate Professor Stella Tan Wei Ling and the NUS Forensic Science team. They worked with the Technology Enhanced Learning (TEL) Imaginarium team at the NUS Libraries to roll out the programme. The TEL Imaginarium works with NUS staff and students to implement immersive tech tools like VR into their research projects."
First Person: Home first, classroom later (7 october 2020)
"Ms Adeline Tan from Ahmad Ibrahim Primary School believes in building her students’ confidence – by making sure they all start on the same page. She explains how Home-Based Learning and technology set the stage for deeper learning in the classroom.
“If there is a 20% discount for one item, does it mean I get a 40% discount for buying two?”
That was one of the questions my students raised in our pre-lesson on the topic of Calculating Discounts and Goods and Service Tax (GST) in Primary 5 Math.
In the pre-lesson, students were introduced to the concepts of discounts and GST on the Student Learning Space (SLS). Through a series of short videos, students familiarised themselves with the terms used in this chapter such as sale price and price inclusive of GST. They also learnt how to calculate them through simple sums involving whole numbers and completed a short quiz. At the end of the lesson, they were prompted to type in any questions they had on the topic so far.
That’s where I came across the question above – and realised that some students were not sure how to calculate discounts for multiple items.
I would have to address this question when I see them in class itself, something I could now prepare for because of this Blended Learning approach."
Learning the Arts, Living the Values (7 october 2020)
"To reach out to the migrant workers who had just moved to their neighbourhood, the students of Bukit View Secondary School made use of their diverse artistic talents - from singing and dance to poetry – to make a difference. While serving the community, they also re-discovered the value of the arts.
When The Sunday Times published a survey in which artists were ranked as the top non-essential job in a pandemic, the teachers at Bukit View Secondary School saw it as a good opportunity to have conversations with their students about the value of the arts in its many forms. After all, the school’s Learning for Life Programme is ‘Learning the Arts, Living the Values, and teachers wanted students to know the important role that art and artists played in uplifting people, especially during trying times.
And so was born Arts@Kismis, a grounds-up Values-in-Action (VIA) initiative for migrant workers at Kismis Dormitory.
Responding to current social issues
When COVID-19 hit the migrant worker dormitories, the school wanted to help students understand the current situation and contribute.
They came up with four initiatives to help different groups of migrant workers, who have different needs. One of them was Arts@Kimis, an initiative to lift the spirits of the workers, who had recently moved into vacant state properties at Kismis Avenue, through the arts."
First Person: Game to Try (9 october 2020)
"It doesn’t take fancy graphics or complex gameplay to make students excited about learning. Mr Jeremy Lim from Admiralty Secondary School explains why, he thinks, a simple game can be just as effective to motivate students to learn.
Students today are spoilt for choice when it comes to games. Their mobile phones alone offer them a wide range of titles. From combat to role-playing, arcade or puzzle games – there is something for everyone at all budgets.
So how can teachers hope to engage students with games of our own design – when they are exposed to games with stunning graphics and effects every day?
That was a question I was keen to explore during the period of Home-Based Learning (HBL) this year.
The appeal of games
Ever since my teacher training days, I have been interested in games and their use in education.
When HBL was announced this year, I was determined to seize this opportunity to experiment using games to support learning. I thought that in such uncertain times, it is all the more important that we infuse an element of fun while learning. It was easier to implement the games online too."
In Their Skin (15 October 2020)
"When it comes to dealing with their emotions, our children’s struggles oftentimes take place unseen. Ms Joanna Tan, a Guidance Branch senior specialist in the areas of mental health and resilience, shares what parents can do to better understand how their children are feeling.
Years down the road, when we ask our children what they remembered most from school in the year 2020, words like “Home-Based Learning (HBL)”, “masks”, and “COVID-19” may pepper their responses.
Take, for example, Sarah and Tim.
Sarah is a Primary 5 student who had to share a laptop with her two siblings for HBL during the circuit breaker period. Stressed about catching up with school work, as well as being affected by her father’s anxiety of losing his job, she talked to her form teacher daily about her problems during the first week of coming back to school in Term 3.
Tim, a Secondary 3 student, attended his Zoom lessons during the HBL period while regularly going online for social media and entertainment. Learning from home afforded him the chance to sleep later and wake up later. When Term 3 started, he had some initial challenges in adjusting his sleep patterns back to the school routine, but he was still able to attend school regularly.
While both Sarah and Tim were facing different issues, clearly, Tim was managing much better than Sarah… or was that really the case?"
From “I’m okay” to “It’s okay” (15 October 2020)
“I’m okay,” says your child when you ask him how he is. But is he really okay? Ms Joanna Tan, a Guidance Branch senior specialist in the areas of mental health and resilience, shares insights into how children may be really feeling when they say, “I’m okay.”
“How are you?”
Do you find yourself habitually responding with “I’m okay”, yet feel a tinge of discomfort at how untrue that really is? “Just super busy,” you may add to sound more authentic.
Sometimes, saying “I’m okay” comes from a need to keep things cordial in situations that do not afford us a chance to bare our souls. Other times, it could be a convenient response to appear put-together regardless of how we may actually feel.
If, as adults, we experience this, our children could very well be saying “I’m okay” when they do not mean it. If yes, we need to ask ourselves, why they may feel compelled to show that all is well.
The need to be perfect
A global survey among parents conducted by Varkey Foundation in 2018 found that a top concern among Singaporean parents was the cost of living, and whether their child could secure a job and a successful career.
This could lead to pressure on children to do well, influence their perception of what “successful” means, and prompt them to set high expectations of themselves."
First person: Words that matter (16 October 2020)
"New teachers may lack experience, but that does not stop them from bringing the joy of learning to their classrooms. It’s not just about fun and games either. First-year teacher Ms Mitchelle Ang from Kuo Chuan Presbyterian Secondary School describes her take on joyful learning and what she leant about helping students find relevance in what they learn – both in and out of the classroom.
When schools shifted into Full Home-Based Learning (HBL) in April, I had only been teaching for 3 months. As a new teacher, I was initially anxious. Unlike the more senior teachers, I didn’t have a large bank of resources to draw from. I had only taught in the traditional classroom, and this represented a huge shift from everything I had learnt in my new school environment thus far. My immediate concern was that I would not see my students for a long stretch of time – how, then, would I be an effective teacher?
Surprisingly, HBL nudged me to think of new ways to engage my students - such that even after going back to school in June, I continued to use different online platforms to complement what we were doing in class.
My goal? To help my students see the use of the English Language outside the classroom context.
Writing for Joy
In trying out new platforms and projects, I was surprised by what my students were capable of when they were given a chance to pursue their interests.
When teaching narrative writing to my Secondary 2 class in June, I found that quite a few of the students demonstrated a flair for writing. To stretch their learning, I designed an extension task for the aspiring writers – to create an online magazine to showcase their best stories.
Ten students signed up for this optional writing challenge. I gave feedback on their drafts online, and they refined their work in their own time. I also introduced them to an online publishing application where they could select suitable layouts and images to accompany their work."
First person: Curiosity at home (22 October 2020)
"More questions, greater initiative – these are observations Ms Kirenjit Kaur of Meridian Primary School made about her students during Home-Based Learning. She reflects on how the home environment stimulates curiosity, and how teachers can seize the opportunity to broaden students’ learning.
An ice tray, a bowl, a cup full of water. These are some of the different “apparatus” my students used in their experiments for a Science lesson during Home-Based Learning (HBL) in April.
My Primary 5 students were learning about water and its changes of state. To help them connect the concepts to their everyday lives, I instructed them to place water in the freezer overnight. The next day, they were to observe what happens after they remove the ice they had made from the freezer.
Sounds like a simple experiment, right?
Not a standard experiment
Although everyone managed the experiment, I was surprised by how they interpreted the instructions in different ways. I thought they would use an ice tray, but some used a bowl, a cup, and even a takeaway container!
When the class came together for a ‘live’ lesson on a video-conferencing platform a few days later, they were eager to share. They compared the size and shape of the ice they had made, and how long it had taken to melt – everything became more interesting as it was self-directed.
This is not to say we don’t have such hands-on experiences in school. Normally, we would bring a beaker of ice cubes to class for the children to observe the melting process and record the changes in temperature."
Open for Nominations: President's Award for Teachers and Outstanding Youth in Education Award (1 October 2020)
Do you know educators who have made outstanding contributions in moulding the future of our nation? The Ministry of Education (MOE) invites you to nominate them for the following national awards:
President's Award for Teachers (PAT) 2021
The President's Award for Teachers recognises excellent educators for their dedication and hard work in developing our young. These educators are role models for the fraternity and inspire students through their words and deeds."
Further Resumption of Co-Curricular Activities and School Activities (7 October 2020)
"Since 27 July 2020, secondary schools, Junior Colleges and Millennia Institute have gradually resumed selected Co-Curricular Activities (CCAs) and other school activities, while primary schools have been given the option to bring back such activities since 14 September."
Child Development Account Top-Ups: A Further Collaboration to Support Pre-School Children from Low-Income Families (8 October 2020)
"The Ministry of Education (MOE) is partnering EtonHouse Community Fund (ECF) and the Community Foundation of Singapore (CFS) on a Child Development Account (CDA) top-up programme to benefit about 1,300 pre-schoolers from low-income families this year. This initiative is facilitated by the Uplifting Pupils in Life and Inspiring Families Taskforce (UPLIFT), an inter-agency taskforce set up in 2018 to strengthen support for students from disadvantaged families."
Winners of the National Creative Story Writing Competition and Launch of Chinese Graded Readers (12 October 2020)
"A total of 36 students are recognised today for their creativity and writing skills in the National Creative Story Writing Competition for Secondary Students."
Singapore Schools Sports Council Colours Awards: Recognising Student-Athletes Despite Disrupted Year (13 October 2020)
"The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted many activities, including the school sports scene, resulting in the National School Games (NSG) and other inter-school activities being suspended since early February. Nonetheless, our student-athletes have demonstrated courage and character in adapting to these changes."
Students Continued to Shine at International Meets Despite COVID-19; Singapore to Host IOI 2021 (14 October 2020)
"In view of the COVID-19 situation, international competitions in 2020 could not carry on as per normal1. Instead, many were reformatted to allow countries to participate virtually, giving students the opportunity to continue pursuing their passions through these competitions."
43 Schools to Welcome New Principals (16 October 2020)
"The Ministry of Education (MOE) will be appointing 43 Principals at the annual Appointment and Appreciation Ceremony for Principals to be held on 29 December 2020. Of these, 23 will be newly-appointed Principals."
Singapore Students Show Strong Intercultural Communication Skills & High Ability to Understand, Act on Global Issues (22 October 2020)
"Singapore’s 15-year-olds have demonstrated a high ability to understand and act on intercultural and global issues and show strong intercultural communication skills, according to the 2018 results from the Global Competence (GC) domain of the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), a triennial international benchmarking study co-ordinated by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD)."
Most CCAs allowed to resume after year-end exams, cap on activities raised to 50: MOE (7 October 2020)
"SINGAPORE — From mid-October, most school activities, including co-curricular activities (CCAs), will be allowed to resume for all levels with safe management measures in place, the Ministry of Education (MOE) said on Tuesday (Oct 7).
The cap on the number of people allowed to take part in most school activities will also be raised from 20 to 50 people with immediate effect. This limit includes any adults overseeing or supporting the activity.
The resumption of activities comes as national capabilities to detect and trace Covid-19 cases have improved, and safe management measures in schools have been effective, MOE said."
Jobseekers’ Diaries: I majored in real estate but followed my heart into social service (11 October 2020)
"Graduating during a pandemic can be quite the ride.
I remember we were told to brace ourselves for a downturn in the job market and to “prepare for the worst”.
Many of us expected the search to be tough, and it was."
‘Humbling experience’ for NUS undergrad who rallied 94 students to work at frontlines, now awarded for efforts (16 October 2020)
"SINGAPORE — When Covid-19 hit Singapore's shores, Mr Ainsley Ryan Lee Yan Bin started an initiative called “In a Heartbeat” with two friends to raise money and buy refreshments for healthcare workers in the emergency wards while supporting food-and-beverage outlets through their purchases.
This was one of several initiatives spearheaded by the 21-year-old third-year medical student from the National University of Singapore (NUS).
In another, he got students to take up work attachments at healthcare facilities to help fight the ongoing pandemic."
Gen Y Speaks: I come from a humble family background. But it has taught me much (18 October 2020)
"I founded a digital marketing and training company last year at the age of 22 and count my blessings that my business has gotten off to a decent start and I can help support my parents who have been badly hit by the current Covid-19 crisis.
Here, I would like to share how my humble family background has shaped my life so far, particularly in trying out different part-time jobs and saving up for a rainy day.
Growing up in a three-room flat, we had enough to get by but there were many things we could not afford."
Student-run group calls for greater transparency in NUS' handling of sexual misconduct case against former lecturer (19 October 2020)
"SINGAPORE — A student-run group from the National University of Singapore (NUS) has called on the university to clarify exactly what had happened to lead to the dismissal of former lecturer Jeremy Fernando, who was accused of sexual misconduct.
This is one of five demands from Students for a Safer NUS (SafeNUS), which noted in a Facebook post on Monday (Oct 19) that the first statement from the university about the matter was issued only two weeks after Dr Fernando’s dismissal and had “sparse” information.
In its statement on Sunday, NUS had said that Dr Fernando, who taught at Tembusu College — one of NUS’ four residential colleges — was found to have “fallen short of the standards of professionalism that the university expects of a teaching staff”, after an internal probe following two complaints of “inappropriate” behaviour."
NUS files police report against sacked Tembusu College lecturer accused of sexual misconduct (21 October 2020)
"SINGAPORE — The National University of Singapore (NUS) on Wednesday (Oct 21) lodged a police report against former Tembusu College lecturer Jeremy Fernando following allegations of sexual misconduct made by two students.
The report was made “given the seriousness of the allegations”, the university said, after the two students who complained about Dr Fernando to the university decided not to go to the police.
NUS said on Sunday that it had fired Dr Fernando for behaving “inappropriately” as a teaching staff and having “fallen short of the standards of professionalism that the university expects of a teaching staff”."
NUS mishandling of sexual misconduct case: Tembusu College rector Tommy Koh says will offer resignation, but later backtracks (24 October 2020)
"SINGAPORE — The rector of National University of Singapore’s (NUS) Tembusu College, Professor Tommy Koh, said on Saturday (Oct 24) he would offer his resignation to the university in the wake of a sexual misconduct scandal involving a professor of the college, but later backtracked.
Prof Koh said this on Facebook, in response to a netizen’s comment on a post he had made earlier on Saturday in which he reiterated that the university had been wrong to delay informing students and faculty of the college about the case but an hour later and after several other commenters said he should not resign, he recanted.
He also replied to a query from TODAY saying that he had been "joking" when he said he would offer to resign."