Some teachers were subjected to abuse following the recent online uproar about the Character and Citizenship Education (CCE) lesson package on the Israel-Hamas conflict, which was misrepresented online, Education Minister Chan Chun Sing said in parliament on March 4.
He also said during the Committee of Supply debate on his ministry’s spending that cherry-picking of a slide “insinuated" that the Ministry of Education (MOE) was "pro-Israel” and had characterised one side as the aggressor and the other as the victim, which caused people to be riled up.
Subjected to abusive comments
Chan said some educators ended up being subjected to rude and abusive comments in the wake of this episode.
He said an educator's photo was circulated online by some who encouraged spreading it to make her "viral".
The image had a racial slur as its caption, which insulted her as an uneducated person of her ethnicity.
Chan said: “While we may disagree on issues, personal attacks and racial slurs against fellow Singaporeans cannot be condoned.”
He added that MOE will investigate all instances of abuse or harassment towards its educators as it takes this incident seriously.
Slide not used in all schools
Chan also revealed that the slide that was called out online was added by one school to make the subject matter relatable and was not issued to all schools.
He also pointed out that some commenters online had “selectively picked out” a slide from the presentation to insist that schools were informing students that the conflict in Gaza only started on Oct. 7.
Chan clarified that the actual words used on that particular slide were referring to “events since Oct. 7”.
A previous slide had emphasised how the conflict has a long and complex history, Chan said.
External parties joining fray
The uproar over the presentation saw online commentators also accusing MOE of trivialising the conflict as it compared the situation in Gaza with a football match.
“This is indeed a sobering reminder that in the online space, it is not always easy to separate those who question the material with well-meaning intentions from those who join the fray with ulterior intent to stir up negative emotions on an already sensitive topic,” Chan said.
This case also highlighted the damaging nature of online misrepresentation, Chan said, as he cautioned against “potential external interference” from those with an agenda to undermine Singapore’s cohesion.
He said “some external online parties” have participated in the discourse to “play on Singaporeans’ conscience to adopt their positions” and further generate anger and unhappiness.
“It is not difficult to guess the agenda of these external parties,” said Chan.
“We have to be careful not to fall prey to their attempts to rile up our people and undermine our cohesion.”
The minister said background material on the conflict's history was provided for teachers, but he emphasised that the objective of the CCE lesson was not to teach history.
Teachers could share more with students who wished to know more about the history.
Not going to make the slides public
Chan said the ministry will not be publishing the slides for the public to see after extensive discussions.
This was in response to Wan Rizal Wan Zakariah, MP for Jalan Besar GRC, who asked if the slides shared with students should be made public.
MOE's position was that it "would not do justice" to what teachers taught in class because "the slide doesn't speak", Chan replied.
"We have tested this, and no matter how we try to make the slides public or available, if it's done selectively without interpretation, we will still come back to the same issue," he said.
However, Chan did not respond to the MP's query if Singapore's fake news law could be used on platforms circulating slides purportedly from the MOE-issued slides, but were not part of the package.
Top photo via images circulated online & Unsplash