GIFTED EDUCATION PROGRAMME (Measures to increase number of females)

Dr Kanwaljit Soin asked the Minister for Education whether any practical measures can be taken to increase the number of females qualifying for the Gifted Education Programme (GEP) as there are only about one-third females in the programme as compared to males.

Mr Lee Yock Suan: The selection of pupils for the GEP is based on merit. Pupils are selected based on their overall performance on three tests measuring language, numerical and general abilities. Precautions have been taken to ensure that these tests do not contain items which are sex-biased. Over the last 10 years, the male-female ratio of selected pupils has consistently been in the region of 2 : 1. This ratio is similar to that found in the identification of children for gifted programmes in countries such as Israel and the USA.

It is consistent with the well-established fact that there are more males than females both among those with very high IQs, and also among those with very low IQs. This is because the distribution of female IQs is more closely clustered around the average, whereas the distribution of male IQs is more widely dispersed. (However, the average male IQ and the average female IQ are the same.)