New primary school equipped with ICT facilities to open next year

Singapore - A new primary school that‘s equipped with ICT (Information and Communication Technologies) facilities will be welcoming its first batch of students next year.

Beacon Primary is one of five schools specially chosen for the Education Ministry‘s FutureSchools@Singapore project, which aims to use more ICT in the classroom.

Incoming students of Beacon Primary were given a taste of what to expect when school starts next week.

Instead of the traditional blackboard, classrooms were installed with white boards - costing around S$1,000 each - that allow students to be more interactive in their lessons.

The school is also in the process of completing what‘s called a 3D Virtual Learning Environment, which is expected to make subjects like science more interesting.

Beacon Primary‘s principal, Lim Boon Cheng, said going virtual offers other benefits as well.

"In learning languages, they can use podcasts for digital storytelling and this will allow them to expand their learning further," said Lim.

But will all these extra facilities translate to higher school fees in the future?

"The school fees that parents pay at this moment is the same as other primary schools in Singapore. As for the future, we will probably explore the funding models that we need to adopt to ensure that our pupils‘ learning needs are not compromised," said Suraj Nair, Vice Principal, Beacon Primary.

Besides the high tech facilities available, the school is also looking at providing each student with a tablet PC at the primary two level.

It is also hoping parents will invest in technology for their children at home, and that means parents will eventually have to fork out more money for their children‘s education. But it‘s something most are ready to do.

"For the sake of the kids, there should be no issue. We are prepared, in fact," said one parent.

"My daughter is in secondary one and her school is also using tablet PCs, so my son is quite familiar with it," said another.

"We would like to see what kind of assistance either the school or the Education Ministry can provide to parents to buy such things, especially if homework has to be done online using such devices," said a third.

The school said it will be conducting a survey to find out how many of its students have access to a PC at home. It will also be providing advice to parents who need help.

Source: www.channelnewsasia.com (28 Desember 2007)
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