CCE lessons such as on Israel-Hamas conflict help students process emotions, reflect on cohesion: Chan

They are not meant to be history lessons or to assign blame: Education Minister

- Tham Yuen-C

The character and citizenship education (CCE) lessons conducted in schools on the Israel-Hamas conflict aim to help students process their emotions and information about the issue, and are not meant to be history lessons or to ascribe blame, said Education Minister Chan Chun Sing.

Given Singapore’s social fabric and the deluge of information on the issue, it was all the more urgent to have frank discussions with students to help them understand the complex topic, he added.

He also thanked educators for their professionalism, noting that they too had their own personal feelings and convictions about the issue, but had not imposed them on students.

His comments, during an interview on Feb 25 with SPH Media and Mediacorp, came amid concerns from some parents about the CCE materials. They had put up social media posts expressing their unhappiness with the lesson content and how their children were taught about the conflict, accusing the Ministry of Education (MOE) of taking sides, among other criticisms.

Mr Chan said MOE had foreseen the challenges in dealing with such a complex topic.

“Whether it is this issue or the Russia-Ukraine conflict, whenever it comes to CCE, we fully expect that there will be issues that will elicit different reactions from different people,” he said.

“It can be a manner of degree, it can be in different ways. So I think we are mentally prepared for this.”

Despite the challenges involved in teaching the topic, when MOE came together with principals and teachers, they had all agreed upon a common objective to “build a shared ethos of how we respond as Singaporeans”, he added.

Mr Chan noted that the lessons are not meant to be history lessons and are also not an exercise to apportion blame to one party or another.