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.
try cane first .. if it does not work, try other method