THREE from China, two from India and one from Vietnam - these foreign students lobbed six of the seven questions during the allocated question-and-answer session last night.

Only the first question for Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew came from a Singaporean.

But as the moderator began to wrap up the proceedings, MM Lee stopped him and asked: 'Is there no Singaporean who wants to ask a question?'

As the crowd of Nanyang Technological University (NTU) students burst into laughter, one Singaporean pitched a question on the turnover rate of teachers here.

Mr Lee said Singapore has better teachers today than it has ever had.

The challenge is how to ensure that teaching continues to attract good people as the country develops.

Stressing that he had no worries about the current quality of teaching, he said: 'The attention and effort we have made recruiting good people into the profession have raised the quality of teachers to the highest level we ever had.

'It's partly because they are better remunerated and there is more progression in the profession.'

After fielding the question, he noticed another student waiting at one of the microphones.

He agreed to take the question on climate change but only after asking: 'You are Singaporean?'

Another Singaporean also took to the floor to ask about censorship in Singapore.

But until his intervention, it looked very much as if foreign students would dominate the forum.

With most of them, MM Lee would ask about their background: 'Where are you from?' and 'Where did you learn English?', before complimenting them on their command of the language.

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