HIDDEN_ADDENDA, MINISTRY OF EDUCATION

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION: MR THARMAN SHANMUGARATNAM

Minister for Education

Opportunities for all through quality and diversity

Education is our best hope for the future. We are shifting our focus to quality and diversity in education. We will develop the potential of every child to the maximum, so that we create a mountain range of talents in Singapore, with many peaks of excellence.

We are introducing more choices for students, and more opportunities to develop diverse strengths and interests in sports, arts and intellectual endeavours. Within the next five years, we expect a third of our schools to have niches of excellence of their own.

We will progressively allow further flexibility in student admissions to support schools’ stronger emphasis on all-round development and the nurturing of different talents. More secondary schools, including those with emerging niches of excellence, will be allowed to admit a proportion of their students based on their own assessment of students’ talents, beyond results in national examinations.

We are also allowing individual schools to differentiate their curricula from others. We will retain a strong, common foundation in our schools. But beyond this core that is common, we will allow for more customisation. Students will be able to take a wider selection of elective modules, as well as a range of new school-based and applied O-level subjects. This flexibility will ensure that our curriculum remains rigorous, forward looking and responsive to the changing needs of the times.

At primary levels, we will implement further refinements to our approach to ability-driven education in Primary 5 and 6 by adopting Subject-based Banding to replace the EM3 stream. These changes build on the experience that schools have gained from the changes that we have put in place over the years, including the integration of EM3 students with others in Mother Tongue Language and non-core subjects.

We will also do more to enrich and broaden the learning experiences for students with high intellectual abilities. Students in the Gifted Education Programme (GEP) will have more opportunities to learn and interact with other students. Students outside the GEP with exceptional abilities in specific subjects will also be given further opportunities - by taking these subjects together with GEP students and being exposed to special enrichment programmes and activities.

Levelling up through education

Education is the best gift we can offer our children, especially those from lower-income families. We will work together with social agencies to minimise non-attendance at pre-school education, and reduce dropouts at primary and secondary school levels. Within five years, we aim to halve the proportion of students who drop out of our schools, from the current 3% to 1.5%.

The Financial Assistance Scheme (FAS) and the Edusave Merit Bursary (EMB) awards have been expanded to benefit more students from lower income families. With the revisions earlier this year, more than twice the number of families now qualify for FAS and about a third more will qualify for the EMB awards. We have introduced a new Government bursary to help needy university students pay for living expenses during their studies. The universities have also increased the quanta they have set aside for financial assistance by almost threefold.

We will raise the quality of education for children with special needs. To allow children with mild to moderate special learning needs to benefit from being part of mainstream schools, we will deploy Special Needs Officers (SNOs) as well as provide training in special needs to selected teachers in mainstream schools. MOE has also significantly increased its recurrent funding to Special Education (SPED) schools, and is accelerating the redevelopment of nine purpose-built SPED schools to be completed in 2008.

Strengthening rootedness and preparing for the world

Through the school experience, we will strengthen heartware and rootedness among our young. Our schools will continue to find new ways to foster a strong sense of belonging and pride in Singapore, and create more opportunities for interaction, multiracial bonding and partnerships with the community. We will also encourage students to initiate activities, and help them develop the desire to write the next chapter of the Singapore Story.

We will also expand twinning relationships between our schools and those overseas. These programmes will help our students gain confidence in working across cultures, and build collaborative networks from young.

MOE is making it easier for Singaporean children abroad to join our schools when they return home, so as to support and encourage Singaporeans in their efforts to venture overseas. At the same time, we will strengthen the integration of foreign scholars and students into our schools and tertiary institutions. Over time, these students will either contribute to Singapore’s cosmopolitan and diverse make-up, or build up a network of friends for Singapore when they return to their home countries.

Supporting our teachers

Our teachers are at the heart of our efforts to improve the quality of education. We will provide them with more time and space to interact with their students, reflect on their teaching, and engage in effective professional development. We are making significant improvements in pupil-teacher ratios and have allowed schools greater flexibility to recruit additional qualified teachers directly through the Adjunct Teachers Scheme. Schools will also be receiving greater administrative support, for example, through provisions of new staff to support co-curricular activities.

The GROW package, launched in September 2006, will support teachers in their professional development and better recognise their contributions. Teachers will have benefits such as sabbaticals, which give opportunities for fresh learning and growth.

Going forward, improvements in the quality of education will come from innovations on the ground – new teaching practices and curricula, driven and owned by schools, responding to the needs of their students. MOE’s role will be to provide top-down support for these ground-up initiatives.

Building a vibrant tertiary sector

In tandem with the changes in our economy, ITE training will continue to shift from a predominantly manufacturing focus to a broad-based focus including the services sectors. We will also work to maximise the number of students who go on to ITE, who would otherwise not have post-secondary education.

MOE will provide more local university places for Singaporeans, reaching 25% within a few years. Our three autonomous universities will aim to provide a top quality education at affordable cost. Polytechnic graduates will have more choices to pursue quality degree courses locally. Besides the growing university sector, they will have opportunities for further study in niche areas of an applied nature, to be offered by foreign specialised institutions in collaboration with the polytechnics.

Our universities and polytechnics will also work to develop world-class capabilities in research and development, as part of Singapore’s broader thrust towards R&D excellence. MOE has also put in place an enhanced academic research framework to support the development of Research Centres of Excellence in our universities. The polytechnics will also establish Centres of Innovation in selected areas, so as to further deepen their links with key industries and boost local research and innovation efforts.