Ministry reviewing maid test
It will ensure it remains relevant, while taking into consideration feedback received
- TODAY (07 June 2011) : Ministry reviewing maid test
- TODAY (04 June 2011) : Rethink English test for maids, Honesty more important
- TODAY (04 June 2011) : Hold it in your home country
Ministry reviewing maid test
It will ensure it remains relevant, while taking into consideration feedback received
- TODAY, 07 June 2011
1. We refer to recent letters in TODAY on the Entry Test for first-time Foreign Domestic Workers (FDWs).
2. The Ministry of Manpower (MOM) introduced the Entry Test in 2005 as part of a package of measures to ensure first-time FDWs are able to adapt to working and living in Singapore.
3. The Entry Test was thus designed to ensure that they possess basic numeracy and literacy skills. It also helps ascertain the ability of FDWs to understand basic safety instructions, as most FDWs will be working in a highly urbanised environment for the first time. This is important, both for the safety of the FDW as well as the young children and elderly she may be taking care of.
4. The Ministry has been receiving suggestions and ideas on the Entry Test in recent months, in part due to policy changes in the FDW source countries. MOM is reviewing the effectiveness of the Entry Test to ensure it remains relevant, while taking into consideration the feedback received. We will work with key stakeholders as part of the review. Members of the public can email suggestions and views to mom_fmmd@mom.gov.sg.
Rethink English test for maids, Honesty more important
- TODAY, 04 June 2011
The English test has produced a lose-lose-lose situation for employers, maids and agents. What any employer needs is a maid who can do housework well. Good work ethic and honesty are important.
Agents stand to lose profits when a candidate maid fails the test, so naturally, agencies pre-screen candidates primarily for their ability to pass the English test. This has shrunk the supply pool and affected the quality of the maids one can get.
The English test is no guarantee of language skills either; cases of miscommunication still abound. Why not instead let the employer and the maid declare to the ministry the common language(s) in which they can communicate? This would allow the employer more leeway to choose a maid based on their real priorities.
In language-critical situations such as a visit to the doctor, the employer then must make sure someone who can translate accompanies the maid.
I can cite the case of a maid fluent in English, who had deceived the family into believing she had been changing the water in the flowerpots every two days as instructed. The family was shocked when inspectors fined them after finding mosquitos breeding in the pots.
One can try to teach any language to an honest and diligent worker; but honesty and diligence can never be taught on the job. Ever since the English tests became the critical hurdle, the profile of candidates attracted to try their hand at becoming a maid in Singapore has changed, and not necessarily to anyone's benefit.
It helps nobody to have a system in place where a good worker is rejected, while someone less worthy is given the job due to her English skills.
Hold it in your home country
- TODAY, 04 June 2011
I refer to the recent report about a maid attempting suicide due to failing the English language entry test three times. I urge the authorities to scrap the test or, at most, conduct a simple conversational English test.
I also agree with suggestions that the English test be conducted in the maid's home country, so that they do not have to come up with S$1,000 to come to Singapore just to take the test and risk being repatriated after failing the test thrice.
Since the MOM has outsourced the test to a private agency, the agency can send its staff to the maid's home country to conduct the test there.
I recently employed an Indonesian maid who passed the English language entry test at her first attempt. However I still faced communication issues. My maid cannot speak much English nor understand my instructions in English. She has been speaking Indonesian to me. I have to draw on my limited knowledge of Malay or use a dictionary or sign language.
In short, the English language entry test does not appear to be effective - it relies on the maid's ability to memorise answers to sample test questions. Hence, a simple conversational English test should be sufficient.