“Fundamentally, in this House, we have to consider this: Do we agree that this is an emotive and sensitive issue that can fray our social fabric and cohesion?” said Mr Chan.
“Fundamentally if we believe that, then do we agree that we have a leadership responsibility to guide our people, especially our young, to not allow this to affect our social cohesion and harmony?”
“If we agree to both of these points, then we welcome constructive suggestions on how we can better support our teachers, principals who have stepped forward to execute this challenging task for our nation,” said Mr Chan.
Progress Singapore Party (PSP) Non-Constituency MP Leong Mun Wai asked the Education Minister why the lesson slides for the Israel-Hamas CCE lesson have not been released to the public, although they have already been seen by students.
To this, Mr Chan said that the slides on their own do not fully communicate how the topic is taught, and that it is better for parents to discuss the lesson content with the teachers who can better explain how the slides are used.
“MOE is being more than transparent. We are not only prepared to show the parents the material, we are prepared to explain to the parents how the materials are used, rather than to just give a deck of slides which can be taken out of context,” he said.
Some schools have received requests from concerned parents about the lesson materials, he said, and these schools have engaged parents.
PSP Non-Constituency MP Hazel Poa asked if MOE had consulted with community and religious leaders before coming up with the Israel-Hamas lesson materials.
Mr Chan said that MOE did consult various stakeholders, but ultimately it made the decision to go ahead with the lesson.
“Ultimately, consultation does not take away the leadership responsibility for us to decide what is right and necessary to do for our own society and our children,” he said.