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24 March 2006

1. As part of the Ministry of Education’s (MOE) continuing efforts to renew and support our schools, thirteen more schools will be upgraded from 2007 to 2009 under the eighth phase of the Programme for Rebuilding and IMproving Existing Schools (PRIME). This was announced by Minister for Education, Mr Tharman Shanmugaratnam, at his school visit to Hong Kah Secondary School on 24 March 2006. The list of schools under PRIME Phase 8 can be found in the Annex.

2. Under PRIME, schools will have more classrooms and be fitted with new or upgraded facilities including computer laboratories, media resource libraries, IT learning resource rooms and pastoral care rooms. The schools under PRIME Phase Eight will also enjoy greater flexibility in the design of their schools under the new Flexible School Infrastructure (FlexSI) framework¹.

3. Under the FlexSI framework, school infrastructure is made more flexible to support teaching approaches that better engage students, thus giving schools more room to innovate in teaching and learning. School staff are also encouraged to get involved in the shaping of school designs to meet their specific teaching and operational requirements, and to reflect their unique school identity and culture.

Background

4. PRIME was launched in May 1999 to upgrade all schools to the latest standards so as to provide a conducive learning environment for our students. Estimated to cost $4.5 billion, this programme is implemented in phases. To date, 222 schools have been included in the earlier seven phases of PRIME. Of these, 196 schools have completed their upgrading.

5. The public may obtain more information on PRIME at http://www.moe.gov.sg/prime/ or through the MOE Customer Service Hotline at tel. 6872 2220.