STREAMING (Advantages)

The following Question stood in the name of Mr Ng Kah Ting -

Mr Ng Kah Ting: To ask the Minister for Finance, Minister for Education and Minister for Health (a) what success has been achieved in reducing education wastage; (b) what measures have been and should be introduced to enable each child to learn at his or her own pace; and (3) whether these measures will affect the basic objective of giving equal opportunities in education to all children.

Mr Speaker: Mr Ng Kah Ting.

Mr Eric Cheong Yuen Chee (Toa Payoh): Question No. 3.

The Minister of State for Education and Communications and Information (Dr Tay Eng Soon) (for the Minister for Finance, Minister for Education and Minister for Health): Mr Speaker, Sir, I am replying on behalf of my Minister.

Since streaming was introduced in 1979, the education wastage has been significantly reduced. Before the implementation of streaming, 20% of a Primary 1 cohort dropped out of primary school without getting any educational qualification and another 20% dropped out of secondary school without any secondary level qualification. After the implementation of streaming, the corresponding drop-out rates have been reduced to 10% for primary school and 5% for secondary school. This has resulted in a saving of about 13,000 pupils each year from becoming drop-outs.

Streaming enables each child to learn and progress at his own pace. Through streaming, a weak pupil is given more time to complete his syllabus rather than being subjected to a faster pace of work which he is unable to cope with, and ends up by failing. On the other hand, brighter pupils can progress at a faster and more challenging pace. In addition, the Ministry has been developing new teaching methods and materials tailored towards the needs of pupils in all the streams. Workshops and in-service courses are conducted to train teachers to use these teaching methods and materials.

Streaming gives greater opportunities for the pupils to succeed in school. Through streaming, the weaker pupils who otherwise would have failed to cope in school are now able to follow the lessons. The majority of Extended and Monolingual course pupils pass the Primary School Leaving Examination and the Primary School Proficiency Examination, thus enabling them to proceed further in education, either in schools or the VITB. This is much better than in the old education system where many of these pupils would have dropped out during primary school with neither formal qualification nor the skills needed for employment in Singapore's modern economy.