PUBLICATION OF 1983 'O' LEVEL RESULTS BY SUBJECT GROUPING

Mr J.B. Jeyaretnam asked the First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Education (a) What is the insuperable difficulty that his Ministry may face in giving the 'O' level results for the following grouping of subjects: (i) English, (ii) English and Mathematics, (iii) English, Mathematics and the Second Language; and (b) if there is no insuperable difficulty, will he direct his Ministry to prepare an analysis of the results obtained by students from government and government-aided schools in the subjects as grouped in this question in the 1983 'O' level examinations and make them public.

Dr Tay Eng Soon: There is no insuperable difficulty to compute the results requested by the Member for Anson - only that it costs time and money. The data requested by the Member for Anson will cost the taxpayer $1,300 to extract. Unless the information serves a clear purpose, the Ministry does not carry out analyses of the type requested as there is great pressure on computer time for priority work.

The Member for Anson can readily estimate the results he requires from the data provided to him on 20 Dec 1983. The passing rates for the subject combinations can be easily estimated by making use of a well-known probability formula. Thus, for example, given that the passing rate for EL1 and Maths C are 43.8% and 73.3% respectively (in 1982), the passing rate for EL1 and Maths C taken together is around 32% (i.e. 43.8% X 73.3%). But in fact there is a positive correlation between passing EL1 and Maths and in this case the combined pass rate is higher at around 38%. The passing rate for EL1, Maths C and CL2 taken together can be similarly estimated. The main point is that EL1 is the weakest subject and hence any subject grouping including EL1 would be pulled down by the EL1 results.