REVAMPING OF EDUCATION SYSTEM (Progress)
Parliament of Singapore · 23 November 1998
Official Report, 23 November 1998, Vol 69, Issue 8 · Open in the reader (summaries, search, filters)
Mr Tay Beng Chuan asked the Minister for Education (a) what is the progress of his Ministry's efforts in revamping the education system; (b) whether his Ministry has been implementing this on a pilot basis in primary and secondary schools and, if so, whether there are any specific results; and (c) what is his assessment of the revamp in terms of preparing our students to confront the new challenges of a knowledge-based economy.
The Senior Minister of State for Education (Dr Aline K. Wong) (for the Minister for Education): Mr Speaker, Sir, our education system has served us well over the years. Today, we have a fundamentally sound system where quality education is delivered to all our pupils, not just the best and the brightest.
My Ministry therefore does not intend to revamp our whole system radically. What we seek to do is to re-position and refine the system to develop our young to meet future challenges.
Three key trends have emerged for the future: globalisation, rapid technological change and transition to a knowledge based economy. Given these trends and the challenges facing Education, we have to realign the focus of our education system towards developing the full spectrum of talents and abilities of every child, and not just in terms of academic achievement.
The re-positioning of the education system aims to put in place ways to identify and help each child to maximise his or her talents and abilities and harness their potential. As part of the process, we have identified six strategic areas of focus for the next five years. These are, first, designing a responsive education structure. We want to be able to identify the talents and abilities of our students early, ---
1.30 pm
Mr Speaker: Order. End of Question time.
[Pursuant to Standing Order No. 21(3), Written Answer (See section, "Oral Answers to Questions Not Reached" (Cols. 1305-8)) to Question No. 18 is reproduced in the Appendix. Question Nos. 19 to 30 have been postponed to the sitting of Parliament on 24th November 1998.]
Source: Singapore Parliament Official Report (Hansard) for 23 November 1998. Republished on SGParliament.