PERFORMANCE AT PSLE AND O-LEVELS

PERFORMANCE AT PSLE AND O-LEVELS: * * *

3.

Mr Siew Kum Hong asked the Minister for Education whether there are any gaps in performance between students from different socio-economic status families at PSLE and O-levels and, if so, whether the gaps have increased over the past 10 years.

Dr Ng Eng Hen: Most education systems worldwide do show a correlation between academic performance and socio-economic status. This is not unexpected and has been attributed

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to various inheritable factors as well as circumstances related to social upbringing. For Singaporeans, our education system aims to provide opportunities for all students to go as far as possible, regardless of their family background. Our financial assistance schemes provide more assistance to lower income households. We have programmes that are specifically targeted at children with very weak literacy and numeracy skills in early primary school, to help them level up with other classmates. Able children from lower socio-economic households have done well. One in five of the top third of PSLE students come from lower third of households by home background – ie, lower socio-economic groups and parents with lower educational qualifications. For O levels, the corresponding figure is about one in five of the top third of O level students. These figures have remained stable over the past 10 years. The Member may also wish to know that the top 5% of students in the PSLE do not come only from a few schools and from well-off backgrounds. In fact, they come from 98% of our primary schools and across all socio-economic groups. One in eight undergraduates in our public universities come from households who live in 1- to 3-room flats.

Our schools provide all students with access to enrichment activities, such as art, music and sports programmes, and overseas trips and competitions which enhance their exposure. Additional funding including that from the Opportunity and Internationalisation Funds are available to help students, especially those from less well-off families. MOE is committed to provide ample opportunities to help all our children aspire to their full potential and succeed regardless of their home background.

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