Impact of Third Language Grading on Edusave Awards, Promotion Decisions and Post-secondary Admission Aggregates and Consideration of Pass/Fail Grading Option

Ms Eileen Chong Pei Shan asked the Minister for Education (a) whether third language grades count towards Edusave academic award eligibility, school promotion decisions, and post-secondary admission aggregates; (b) whether the Ministry tracks how often third language grades lower rather than improve a student's aggregate; and (c) whether making a pass or fail grading option available to students has been considered.

Mr Desmond Lee: Third Language grades are taken into account with other examinable subjects when determining students' in-school progression and eligibility for Edusave academic awards. For post-secondary admissions, the Third Language grade is only counted in the computation of a student's aggregate score if it is among the student's best-performing subjects. It will therefore not worsen a student's admission aggregate. The Ministry of Education (MOE) does not track how often Third Language grades are used in aggregate computation.

MOE offers non-examinable language programmes for interest and enrichment, such as Conversational Chinese and Malay, and the Modular Foreign Languages Programme (French and German).