14th OECD Japan Seminar
Keynote Address
Mr Heng Swee Keat, Minister for Education
Singapore
Singapore Education Reform Journey
Integrity, the Foundation
. People, our Focus . Learning, our Passion . Excellence, our Pursuit
Singapore school system pre-independence:
Highly fragmented
2
2
Typical schools built in the 1970s
Early Days
…education is a powerful vehicle of social mobility; that is,
families can improve their earning power through the
education system…we should ask…”What proportion of
the original Primary 1 cohort reached Pre-U 1 and how do
children from different parental educational backgrounds
compare?”…we should get a higher percentage of school
children to get good passes at ‘O’ and ‘A’ levels, and
where their inability to do so is the result of handicaps
arising out of their home or family environment, we must
help them to overcome these.
Dr Goh Keng Swee
Then Education Minister
31 August 1979
For the first time, we dared to think of returning
control of a school to the community that
founded and supported it, and that school
excellence is best achieved ground up.
Mr Wee Heng Tin
Then Director-General of Education
Teachers & School Leaders are key
21st
Century
Skills
Thank You