Name: ______________________________________
Class: 3S1
Date: __________________
Singapore’s education policy
Introduction:
Singapore’s education policy is based on meritocracy and only the best students can succeed in this
system. This is because Singapore and resource limited, hence it can only rely on its citizens.
Moreover, there is a need to develop our own talent as we cannot rely on foreign talents on a long
term basis. However, as Singapore does not have enough resources to cater to the best in all fields,
the government can only pump more resources to the best students academically. This results in
social stigma and elitism amongst students and parents
Education Framework
Students start off with optional pre schooling. After that, Compulsory education starts at Primary 1.
The Foundation stage starts from Primary 1 while the Orientation Stage starts from Primary 5. At
Primary 5, streaming occurs and students are streamed on individual subjects. For weaker students,
they study the subject at Foundation level while the others study at normal level. At the end of
Primary 6, students take part in the national centralized Primary School Leaving Examination (PSLE).
This examination gauges if the student is capable of advancing to secondary school and to determine
which stream a student goes to if he can advance to secondary school. The four streams are:
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Normal (Technical)
Normal (Academic)
Express
Special
Some secondary schools offer Integrated Programme where the students do not need to take the O
level and advance to A levels after 6 years, while the majority of the schools do not offer this
programme. The majority take a four or five year course in secondary school leading to the GCE O
level examination. Nevertheless, Redpath(2008) observes that students in IP actually attains O level
standard after the first two years and then take a four year A level course.
Beyond the O levels, students are ranked again, with the top students attending junior colleges
leading to the GCE A level, the average students attending polytechnics leading to Diplomas and the
rest attending ITE (Institute of Technical Education), where they receive specific training in
professional areas.
At the age of 18, males go for National Service and some of them advance to universities to obtain
their various degrees.
The following is the framework of our education system:
Compulsory Education
Since 2003, the government has passed the Compulsory Education Act, requiring all parents to
register their children for Primary education at a national primary school. This occurred after studies
then found out that although most of the national population receives education, there are still a
minority of students who do not register for Primary 1 and receives no other forms of education,
with Malays taking up a high percentage among them. The main cause of concern is as Singapore is
moving into the knowledge based economy, these students cannot reap the benefits of such an
economy because they have no guidance and training to adapt to this change. Hence, it is necessary
for everybody to be able to survive in the knowledge based economy and the skills are taught in
primary school.
Moreover, national primary schools instill a sense of belonging to Singapore, hence this helps to
students to be global players yet loyal to their nation. This allows Singapore to benefit from the New
economy as a whole.
However, this policy was not implemented without controversy. The major controversy was the
Madrasah saga.
Madrasah saga
Although the rationale behind Compulsory education is good, Madrasahs, which are Malay religious
schools, are not classified under national institutions. The Malay community saw this Act as a plot to
close down their madrasahs and they strongly protested against this Act. However, the government
views that the education training provided in Madrasahs are not relevant to surviving in the
Knowledge Based Economy. Therefore, the government thinks that it is necessary was those
students to attend national primary schools instead of madrasahs. Eventually, the Malay community
proposed two plans to the government to resolve this saga.
The Maximist approach was to allow these students to attend national primary schools during
academic curriculum and then proceed to their madrasahs to attend their religious lessons. After
Primary 6, the student can then decide whether or not to attend Madrasahs on the full time basis as
a form of secondary education. However, the Malay community is concerned that in such a scenario,
the number of students attending madrasahs on a full time basis would drop significantly.
The Minimist approach allowed madrasahs to teach subjects that are also taught in national primary
schools, and blend in their religious lessons into their curriculum. These madrashs would also be
placed into the special schools list, where students from those schools are exempted from the Act.
However, these schools need to meet a benchmark during PSLE for them to maintain their status
inside the special schools list. This was more favourable to the Malay community and in the end,
after much negotiation, this plan was adopted.
In conclusion, good governance is shown in Singapore because the government was able to maintain
peace in Singapore by solving this problem harmoniously.
Lack of teachers
Singapore has been constantly short of teachers. This is impactful because while students are
required to attend school, teachers are needed to teach the skills to survive in the KBE to the
students. The government’s existing plan to ensure that there is always enough teachers shows good
governance.
Trainee teachers have to attend a 5 week course on the teaching field teaching students in a school.
After that, they have to undergo interviews by both the MOE and the NIE. After which, they officially
become servants under the MOE and it is compulsory for them to attend a teacher training session
for which all the costs are bore by the MOE. Teachers must then repay this loan for a period of 3
years and a contract is signed between MOE and the teacher. Should the teacher leave within this 3
years, all the costs of the course have to be paid in full to MOE. This ‘golden handcuff’ minimizes the
loss of teachers. Therefore, we see good governance as there is a constant supply of teachers to
provide education to the future generation.
Developing every student
Our education system has long been criticized by educators around the world for practicing too
much elitism, focusing on academic subjects and neglecting the non-academic subjects such as art,
music and physical education. Recently, the government has refocused its education system to
attain true meritocracy, where students who are able in other fields are also given the chance to
succeed, particularly in professional related areas. The ITE was set up in replacement of the
vocational training centers to provide a more centralized training centre for such students.
Social stigma and solution
However, social stigma against ITE and the students there surfaced. For example, ITE was dubbed
‘It’s the end’ by some people. In response, PM Lee cited real life examples of ITE students who
succeeded, such as Sairi Sani, who graduated with a first class honours at NTU. In addition, campaign
videos were started by ITE and the students themselves to promote ITE. Many international
speakers were also invited to lecture in ITE, thus helping to solve the social stigma associated with
ITE.
The government’s decision to initiate the ITE shows good governance, because in the knowledge
based economy, we need all kinds of people who are proficient and updated in various skills, not just
academically inclined people. If the knowledge based economy is run purely by academic elites, then
it would collapse eventually since there is insufficient talent in other fields to support this economy.
With this foresight, this policy shows good governance in Singapore.
Poor Malay and Indian families
In terms of education, Malays and Indians tend to lag behind Chinese communities. These two races
would unfortunately be lagging behind in the knowledge based economy if a significant percentage
of them do not receive adequate education. Moreover, the major reason for this trend is that Malay
and Indian Families tend to be poorer than Chinese families on average.
As seen from this chart, Indians and Malays have a significantly lower percentage of university
graduates. They would be disadvantaged in the Knowledge Based economy. Moreover, they would
be involved in the vicious cycle of poverty
The vicious cycle of poverty
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The parent receives no education when he/she is in his/her schooling years because in the
past, a lot of households had major financial difficulties and the government did not provide
enough state funding to ensure a majority of children gets education. Such parents might
have joined the workforce since young, toiling in factories and earning meagre amount of
income.
Such parents, not having enough knowledge about the importance of education because
they still survive in today's economy, claim that they have formed a household and gave
birth to you who is their son, which is counted as success. Hence, to them, education is a
form of luxury service that one can have or not. These parents continue to work in factories
and do not provide enough income to support their child's education.
Instead of applying for FAS from the MOE, these parents prefer to deprive their
son/daughter of education since they feel that their status in society does not earn them the
right to receive education which to them, is a luxury pleasure. These children continue their
childhood years without education of any form at all.
When such people give birth to the next generation, the same vicious cycle continues and in
the end, it is these people who would not be able to harness the goodness of the KBE.
Hence, the Mendaki and SINDA were set up.
Mendaki
Some of the schemes offered in Mendaki include:
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Supplementary Assistance Loan Scheme
Study Loan Scheme (Full Time)
Study Loan Scheme (Part Time)
Skills Training Loan
The first three schemes are targeted at students to further pursue their studies if they have the
potential to succeed. With more Muslims benefitting from these loans, there would be more Malays
who would attain a Degree or Diploma certificate. Hence, they have a better chance to succeed in
the KBE, because they are better qualified to undertake managerial and professional positions and
have a higher salary. Individuals who are in these positions would not be left behind in the KBE so
easily, because although skills become obselete quickly in the KBE, management and professional
skills remain the same. Hence, being trained in these areas allows such individuals to have a stable
income in the KBE.
The Skills Training Loan is targeted at current members of the workforce. Since these members do
not hold managerial or professional positions, their skills can become obselete very quickly if they do
not go for skills retraining and be updated on current tools and skills to undertake their job. This loan
allows poor families to have a chance to retrain their skills so they are not left behind in the KBE. If
their skills become obselete, they would be displaced by more updated people in the KBE, thus their
families would not have a stable income in addition to being poor themselves. This will plunge the
family into serious financial difficulty and hence, Mendaki started this loan scheme to prevent such
terrible consequences to happen.
SINDA
Some of the schemes offered at SINDA include:
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STEP
Project Teach
Sri Krishna Temple study Award
Women empowerment programme
Back to school
In summary, SINDA offers tuition programmes both in its centres and in schools. Besides that, it
offers various scholarships to deserving Indian students. It also focuses on bonding families and
ensure a harmonious family.
Project Teach
For example, the project teach offers cheap tuition programmes in school. Families who have a gross
income of less than S$2000 only need to pay $20 per month, which is cheap as compared to other
private tuition classes which they cannot afford. In this way, students from poor families who have
the ability to excel academically can be given as much guidance as other students so that they can
succeed. This enforces meritocracy as Singapore's backbone of its education system.
Sri Krishna Temple study Award
Awarded to deserving Indian Hindu students, this award covers ALL costs, including student
allowances when they are studying in tertiary institutions such as ITE, Polytechnics and Universities.
This helps poor students who have the great potential to succeed to have the financial assistance to
aid them in their quest for excellence. Again, it enforces meritocracy and also serves as a motivation
for students to study harder so that they can attain the award.
Women empowerment programme
This programme targets at women to help build their self confidence so that they can manage their
family functions more effectively (SINDA, 2009)
Back to School
This initiative ensures that Indian students from primary and secondary institutions do not drop out
from school and complete their mandatory education. SINDA will communicate with school teachers
and principals to encourage school dropouts to return back to school.
This initiave acts as a check on students if they obey the compulsory education act. It exemplifies
good governance because whilst the government passes the Compulsory Education Act, there must
be an organisation to check if students are abiding to this Act and to rectify problems as quickly as
possible. Moreover, it checks that students do not drop out because of personal, family or financial
problems.
In conclusion, although Chinese families are more well off than Malay and Indian families on average
based on statistics, the government still takes care of all races in Singapore and through this, practise
good governance and ensures continued peace in Singapore since it shows no favouritism to a
particular races and maintains racial harmony.
SAP schools
SAP schools were started to preserve the Chinese heritage and culture, and to nurture a group of
students deeply knowledgeable about Chinese culture in order to benefit from a rising China. In
general, only the top 10% of students in the PSLE are eligible to attend these schools, causing these
schools to be labelled as elite schools.
SAP schools teach non-examination subjects in Chinese and most of the students are also ethnic
Chinese. Some SAP schools have extra subjects such as China Studies and Chinese Drama. SAP
schools provide their students with more immersion trips to China to enhance their understanding
of the Chinese culture. Moreover, Chinese values will be embedded in their Civcs and Moral
education.
During that time in the 1980s, Western societies were experiencing a social decline, especially
affecting Singapore, which is the most Westernised of all Asian countries during that time. The
government was aware of this impact and thus initiated plans to allow Singapore to be less
Westernised to minimize the impact. SAP schools were part of the plan, nurturing leaders for the
nation who are less Westernised. This shows that the Singapore government has foresight into
future problems and solving them as early as possible, practising good governance in this way.
Controversy and government response
However, SAP schools generated much controversy. To start off, many people worried that SAP
students did not have enough exposure to different races in Singapore they would find it hard to
communicate the other races in the future, affecting racial harmony in Singapore. Also, the Malay
and Indian communities were unhappy with the government for putting so much funds into
protecting Chinese culture and heritage and doing much less for them.
As a response to their concerns, the government has reassured the public that SAP students are
surrounded by other races once out of school just like anyone else and thus would not impair their
ability to collaborate with other races in the future. Also, the government has initiated plans to
discuss about the Malay Language Elective Program which would run once there are enough
students pursuing Higher Malay at the JC level. There was also some discussion about the Malay
equivalent of SAP schools but Malay MPs and the government opposed it because they felt that it
was essential for Malay students to mix with other races as much as possible.
In conclusion, the government has once again ensured peace in Singapore by maintaining racial
harmony effectively in Singapore. Also, it has practised foresight into engaging the rising China and
bringing prosperity to Singapore in the long run. This win-win solution shows good governance in
Singapore.
References:
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Redpath, J. (2008). Singapore Education. Retrieved June 22, 2009, from
http://www.scribd.com/doc/3288952/Singapore-Education
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Eyal, Jonathon (2008). ST: WESTERN CRITICISM OF SINGAPORE. A New Start, Retrieved June
22, 2009, from http://xinkaishi.typepad.com/a_new_start/2008/07/st-western-criticism-ofsingapore.html
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Chen, Eric (2002). My Opinion on the Problems of the Singapore Education System.
Retrieved June 23, 2009, from http://eric.rainbowhuman.com/article-Problems-ofSingapore-Education-System.php
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Tarabay, Jamie Muslims Worry Over Singapore's Push for Compulsory Education. (2000, May
16). The Straits Times,
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Wong et al.(2000, July). REPORT OF THE COMMITEE ON COMPULSORY EDUCATION IN
SINGAPORE. Retrieved 2009, June 23, from http://www.moe.gov.sg/initiatives/compulsoryeducation/files/ce-report.pdf
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Mauzy, Diane K., & Milne, R. S. (2000). Singapore Politics Under the People's Action
Party.London: Routledge.