Singapore Education System – Comparison, Issues & Challenges

Is this country's education system on the right track?

Parents and children have been worrying and struggling to cope with our highly stressed school system that has been caused by the Ministry of Education’s (MOE) aggressive streaming of students at too young an age and, the branding and ranking of schools. This has resulted in an climate of elitism in our education system. To be part of this elite, a “kiasu” and “kiasee” mentality has developed. Educators find themselves drawn into this culture and mentality, which results in a heavy workload as they try to keep their students up. If educators themselves are also feeling the stress from an increasingly heavy workload, what more their charges?

It is a fact that each student is different, with vastly different skills and abilities. While we should invest to help the gifted pupils to learn better and faster, this should not be done at the expense of the rest. Currently, gifted students are put into special classes to make them feel that they are the best, building in them a sense of arrogance which could polarise society. Thus, instead of segregation, I believe that we should provide them with after school programmes, equivalent to the Co-Curricular Activities (CCA), to help them to further develop their interests.

According to the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) done in 2006, cited by MOE in a 2007 survey by the Fraser Institute, Singapore was ranked fourth among 45 education systems. This is indeed a very impressive achievement that we, as Singaporeans, can be proud of. Dr Kishore Mahbubani, Dean of the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy at NUS, also proudly claimed that educational leaders around the world are flocking to Singapore to copy Singapore's successful educational model. He said that some North American schools are even using similar textbooks as those used in Singaporean schools.

Many first world countries may not have a perfect education system but the reliability of the survey is questionable. One has to question the criteria and sample size used for the survey. Weaknesses notwithstanding, most citizens of these countries are proud of their education system and will not trade it for the aggressive streaming system of Singapore, where one's future and career is based solely on academic results.

Studies have shown that passing standardised examinations with good grades does not necessarily mean that one has a better knowledge of the subject than another with lesser or failing grades. Excellent academic results should not simply be the holy grail of an education. Besides good examination skills, hard work, self-discipline, time commitment and mental capacity to learn and absorb the knowledge and are vital aspects as well.

Let’s take a look at the education system in Canada to illustrate how academic results are not the only barometer of success.

According to UNESCO in its 2007 annual report, Canada's literacy rate was 99% and it was placed 19th in the world, while Singapore's 94.4% and placed it at 74th. In Canada, children there are encouraged, at a young age, to develop at their own natural pace. Needless to say, there is no streaming. While Canada may not compare well with the Singapore education system in terms of world rankings, and Canadian students may not do as well in mathematics and science tests as their Singaporean counterparts, Canada has produced 18 Nobel Prize winners, 44 Olympic medallists (of which 9 were gold) in the last three Olympic Games. This is in addition to the hundreds of world-renowned entrepreneurs, artists, musicians, writers, actors and singers. If we look at population ratio as a measure, Singapore should have produced at least three Nobel Prize winners and scores of artists and writers. Hong Kong, with a comparable population, has managed to have one Nobel Prize winner, many Olympic medallists and entrepreneurs. Israel too does not enjoy the high ranking and the good educational track record Singapore enjoys. However, to date, Israel, with a population of only 7.5 million, has produced nine Nobel Prize winners and, astronauts that participate in NASA space shuttle missions. Even Saint Lucia, a small island with a population of only 200,000, has produced two Nobel laureates.

Let's make another comparison with another first world country – Finland. This country has a population of 5.3 million, compared to the 5 million in Singapore. Finland's world ranking in Science and Mathematics was first and second respectively, based on PIRLS and Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) (as reported by Tom Burridge of BBC World News America). Singapore is ranked fourth, based on PIRLS, as reported by the Ministry of Education, Singapore (MOE). It is surprising that Finnish pupils spend the least number of hours in their school and on homework compared to the other first world countries. Students in Singapore are doing the opposite. To date, Finland has produced 4 Nobel Prize Laureates. Singapore has yet to produce our first Nobel Prize winner.

What has MOE achieved over the last 45 years? Is producing bilingual graduates or pupils their only aim?

The suicide by a medical student from the National University of Singapore (the ninth by a student in from a tertiary institution this year), the fight between rugby players and spectators from Anglo-Chinese School and Saint Andrew’s Secondary School, two elite schools, as well as the recent sex-video of the two pupils from Anglo-Chinese Junior College, strongly reflect serious issues with our society. As children become more exposed in an increasingly connected world through the internet, busy parents are finding that they increasingly do not have the time to inculcate appropriate values in the upbringing of their children. What roles do our schools play in the area of moral education? Are moral lessons only taught religious institutions? Should it be so? Should this be the educational model that other countries aspire to and learn from?

One challenge that we have is to have more successful, world renowned and sustainable companies like Singapore Airlines. A strategic direction and policy shift is not a choice if we truly wish to join the first world competitive league, which implies that a country is sustainable and competitive, with highly innovative companies and a thinking workforce.

The essence of such success is none other than the people our education system has to develop. This is a long term process – Bai Nian Shu Ren – and is not going to be accomplished by the work of one or two ministers of education over one or two terms. Having enjoyed the fruit of the hard work of our forefathers, the continuous and sustained development and enhancement of a system is now our greatest challenge. The strategic importance of education cannot be rated any lower than say, that of defence. As such, the welfare, benefits and prestige of an educational scholarship cannot be perceived to be less superior to that of a defence scholarship. Perhaps the time is ripe for a president scholarship to be offered to MOE scholarship holders.

In the longer term, MOE should raise the educational level of its existing teaching staff to a minimum of a post graduate level, even for primary school teachers. Secondly, improving the teacher-pupil ratio is a pressing priority which will help to enhance teaching effectiveness, reduce teacher fatigue and foster closer teacher-pupil relationships. To encourage teachers to improve themselves, teaching bursaries and scholarships should be offered to all. Only after we have highly motivated and committed teachers, then and only then will we be able to truly develop a world class education system.