SINGAPORE - A little-known programme that helps troubled
students through activities and counselling in schools rather than
punishment-based methods has made strides, with more schools
planning to adopt it.
Restorative Practice (RP), a low-key initiative of the Ministry
of Education, started as a pilot scheme in four schools in 2005 and
is now established in an estimated 30 schools.
Another five schools are keen to adopt it next year.
The ministry does not keep track of the exact number of RP
schools, but Mr Daniel Ang, executive director of Lutheran
Community Care Services Singapore, said there has been a growing
interest in the approach.
The actual content of the programme is left to the schools and
can range from non-academic activities such as art or baking
classes to counselling and sharing sessions.
The programme was crucial in saving recalcitrant student Grace,
(not her real name), 15, from becoming a dropout.
Her principal at Hougang Secondary - one of the first schools to
adopt the RP scheme - told the then 14-year-old to look for a new
school in February last year.
