Utilisation of Schools’ Exam or Test Papers at Tuition Centres

Parliamentary Replies

July 9, 2012

Utilisation of Schools’ Exam or Test Papers at Tuition Centres

Name and Constituency of Member of Parliament

Dr Intan Azura Mokhtar, Ang Mo Kio GRC

Question

To ask the Minister for Education whether the Ministry will take a stricter approach against tuition centres and tuition teachers who use examination or test papers from schools.

Response

1Instructional and assessment materials that are entirely developed by school teachers are the intellectual property of their respective schools. Should schools or teachers find their copyright being infringed upon, they can consider taking necessary action to assert their copyright.

2Given that instructional and assessment materials given to students could be easily circulated and accessed by members of the public, it is difficult to trace or stop the supply of such materials to members outside the school.

3Within the school, however, teachers and students can be reminded on the need to handle copyrighted materials with care so that materials developed by the school are not accessed easily by other entities for commercial gains. Where appropriate, the school can also mark their materials as copyrighted. To some extent, such measures can make it harder for commercial entities to profit from materials developed by schools