Education in Singapore
Education in Singapore is managed by the Ministry of Education. It controls the development and administration of state schools receiving taxpayers' funding, but also has an advisory and supervisory role in respect of private schools. For both private and state schools, there are variations in the extent of autonomy in their curriculum, scope of taxpayers' aid and funding, tuition burden on the students, and admission policy.
Education spending usually makes up about 20 per cent of the annual national budget, which subsidises state education and government-assisted private education for Singaporean citizens and funds the Edusave programme. Non-citizens bear significantly higher costs of educating their children in Singapore government and government-aided schools. In 2000, the Compulsory Education Act codified compulsory education for children of primary school age, and made it a criminal offence for parents to fail to enroll their children in school and ensure their regular attendance. Exemptions are allowed for homeschooling or full-time religious institutions, but parents must apply for exemption from the Ministry of Education and meet a minimum benchmark.
The main language of instruction in Singapore is English, which was officially designated the first language within the local education system in 1987. English is the first language learned by half the children by the time they reach preschool age and becomes the primary medium of instruction by the time they reach primary school. Although Malay, Mandarin and Tamil are also official languages, English is the language of instruction for nearly all subjects except the official Mother Tongue languages and the literatures of those languages; these are generally not taught in English, although there is provision for the use of English at the initial stages. Certain schools, such as secondary schools under the Special Assistance Plan, encourage a richer use of the mother tongue and may occasionally teach subjects in Mandarin Chinese.
Singapore's education system has been consistently ranked as one of the highest in the world by the OECD. It is believed that this comes from the style of teaching that is implemented in Singapore. Teachers focus on making sure that each of their students thoroughly move through the syllabus before moving on. By doing this teachers in Singapore teach a much more narrow but deeper type of instruction. Furthermore, it has been described as "world-leading" and in 2010 was among those picked out for commendation by the Conservative former UK Education Secretary Michael Gove. According to PISA, an influential worldwide study on educational systems, Singapore has the highest performance in international education and tops in global rankings. In 2020, Singaporean students made up half of the perfect scorers in the International Baccalaureate examinations worldwide.
History
Pre-independence
Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles founded the Singapore Institution in 1823, thereby starting education in Singapore under the British rule. Later, three main types of schools appeared in Singapore: Malay schools, Chinese and Tamil schools, and English schools. Malay schools were provided free for all students by the British, while English schools, which used English as the main medium of instruction, were set up by missionaries and charged school fees. Chinese and Tamil schools largely taught their respective mother tongues. Students from Chinese schools in particular were extremely attuned to developments in China, especially in the rise of Chinese nationalism.During World War II, many students in Singapore dropped out of school, causing a huge backlog of students after the war. In 1947, the Ten Years Programme for Education Policy in the Colony of Singapore was formulated. This called for a universal education system that would prepare for self-governance. During the 1950s and 1960s, when Singapore started to develop its own economy, Singapore adapted a "survival-driven education" system to provide a skilled workforce for Singapore's industrialisation programme as well as to lower unemployment. Apart from being an economic necessity, education also helped to integrate the new nation together. The bilingualism policy in schools was officially introduced in 1960, making English the official language for both national integration and utilitarian purposes. Universal education for children of all races and background started to take shape, and more children started to attend schools. However, the quality of schools set up during this time varied considerably. The first Junior College was opened in 1969.
Post-independence
Education has always represented an area of focus for Singapore since its independence in 1965. Its emphasis on education partly reflects Singapore's virtual lack of natural resources and Singapore's need to develop its human resource and manpower capability in its continuing quest to build a knowledge-based economy.In the 1980s, Singapore's economy started to prosper, and the focus of Singapore's education system shifted from quantity to quality. More differentiation for pupils with different academic abilities were implemented, such as revamping vocational education under the new Institute of Technology and splitting of the Normal stream in secondary schools into Normal and Normal streams. The Gifted Education Programme was also set up to cater to more academically inclined students.
In 1997, the Singapore education system started to change into an ability-driven one after then Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong outlined his "Thinking Schools, Learning Nations" vision. Under this policy, more emphasis was given to national education, creative thinking, collaborative learning as well as ICT literacy. Schools became more diverse and were given greater autonomy in deciding their own curriculum and developing their own niche areas. Differences between the various academic streams became blurred. The Ministry of Education also officially acknowledged that "excellence" will not be measured solely in terms of academics; a mountain range of excellence – with many peaks".
In recent years, the goal of the education sector, particularly tertiary education, has moved beyond simply building local manpower capabilities, and is actively being developed by the Singapore government as a source of revenue. The government's plan, which was initiated in 2002, is to make Singapore a "Global Schoolhouse", attracting revenue-generating international students. In 2002, the education sector accounted for 3.6% of Singapore's economy. The government's aim was to grow this sector to 5% of Singapore's economy over the subsequent decade.
School grades
The school year is divided into four terms. The first begins at the beginning of January and ends in Week 2 of March; the second begins in Week 3 of March and ends in the end of May; the third begins in July and ends in the first week of September, and the final term begins on the 2nd or 3rd week of September and ends in mid-November.Kindergartens
s in Singapore provide up to three years of pre-school for children ages three to six. The three years are commonly called Nursery, Kindergarten 1 and Kindergarten 2, respectively.Kindergartens provide an environment for children to learn how to interact with others, and to prepare them for formal education at Primary school. Activities include learning language – written and oral – and numbers, development of personal and social skills, games, music, and outdoor play. Children learn two languages, English and their official Mother Tongue. Many private or church-based kindergartens might not offer Malay and/or Tamil, so non-Chinese pupils might also learn some Standard Mandarin in these kindergartens.
The kindergartens are run by the private sector, including community foundations, religious bodies, and civic or business groups. There are more than 200 kindergartens registered with Early Childhood Development Agency. Kindergartens are also run by child care centres as well as international schools.
The People's Action Party, which has governed Singapore since 1957, runs over 370 kindergartens through its charitable arm, the PAP Community Foundation.
Primary education
Primary education, normally starting at age seven, is a four-year foundation stage and a two-year orientation stage. Primary education is compulsory under the Compulsory Education Act since 2003. Exemptions are made for pupils who are homeschooling, attending a full-time religious institution or those with special needs who are unable to attend mainstream schools. However, parents have to meet the requirements set out by the Ministry of Education before these exemptions are granted. Students have to take a test at Primary 4 to determine whether they could remain homeschooled. Primary education is free for all Singapore citizens in schools under the purview of the Ministry of Education, though there is a monthly miscellaneous fee of up to SGD 13 per student. From 2020 it was announced that there would be a cap of 25–30% for Permanent Resident children entering into 10 primary schools which had PR admissions close to 25 to 30 per cent. This was to keep the concentration of PR children low and allow more interaction between citizens and PRs.The foundation stage is the first stage of formal schooling. The four years, from primary 1 to 4, provide a foundation in English, mother tongue, Mathematics and Science. Other subjects include Civics and Moral Education, arts and crafts, music, health education, social studies, and physical education, which are taught throughout Primary 1 to 6. Science is taught from Primary 3 onwards.
English is taught as a first language in primary school, with the Ministry of Education choosing to do so as English is the lingua franca of international business, science and technology. Therefore, a strong foundation in the English Language is considered an essential skill to develop. Bilingualism is considered a cornerstone of Singapore's education system, and all students are required to choose a second, Mother Tongue Language on enrolment into Primary school, to ensure that students can in future, tap the opportunities that can be found in the global environment. Exemptions are available for students whose native language is not an available Mother Tongue language. With more Primary 1 students coming from households where English is the dominant language spoken at home, the Ministry of Education has continued to refine the teaching of Mother Tongue Languages, with greater emphasis on listening and speaking skills.
All pupils advance to the orientation stage after Primary 4, where they are streamed according to the pupil's ability. The streaming system has been adjusted: previously, pupils were divided at Primary 5 to the EM1, EM2 and EM3 streams, but since 2008 they are streamed according to subject under a scheme known as "Subject-based banding". Students take subjects at different levels based on their scores in the respective subjects at the end of Primary 4. The Mother Tongue subjects are offered at the higher, standard or foundation levels; Science and Maths can be taken at the standard or foundation levels.
After six years of Primary education, students will have to sit for the national Primary School Leaving Examination. Students will then choose the secondary school of their choice based on their results at this examination; they will then be assigned to a secondary school based on merit and their choice. Students are also admitted into a secondary school under a separate "Direct School Admission" scheme, whereby secondary schools are able to choose a certain number of students based on their special talents before these students take the PSLE. Students admitted under this scheme cannot select their schools based on their PSLE results.