The education in Singapore is very systematic, efficient and brutally simple. A child enters pre-schooling at the age of five and learns simple addition and subtraction and basic English and his mother tongue. Once he reaches the age of seven, he enters Primary school. For the next 4 years, he takes 4 subjects which are English,Maths, Science and Mother Tongue and goes on to take the streaming in Primary 4 which was scrapped some years ago. If he does well, he will go on to EM1 where he can take higher mother tongue and mix with other smart children. If he does average, he will be streamed to EM2 and if he fares badly in the streaming, he will be dumped to EM3. Students begin life afresh again at Primary 5 and work their way to Primary 6 where they take the PSLE exam. This is one exam which can alter the path of your life. A higher aggregate score will guarantee you a good school while a mediocre or average score will land you in a neighbourhood school.
After the PSLE, students will undergo secondary school where there are 3 levels- Express, Normal and Normal technical where the students at Express learn more subjects at a faster pace compared to the students in N and NT level and they will study for another 4 years before the N and NT students take their N-Levels and the Express students take their O-levels. After these exams, the NT students will most likely end up in a ITE and soon start work after their ITE studies. Some of the express students will go on to Junior College where they will study to get in a university and some do not get into University and the rest of the express students go on to polytechnic.
Some of you might be wondering why I am explaining the Singapore education system when we all know about it from top to bottom having gone through the system. If you take a closer look at the system, it emphasises on the survival of the fittest principle where the weaker ones who have not done well are dumped to one corner where they slug it out with their "weak" peers and the stronger ones progress further and competing with the better ones. As the level gets harder and harder, the better ones are eventually identified through their grades and go on to secure good jobs and get sought after by scholorship boards.
Some of you might cry foul and say that the education system is systematic and efficient. I do agree that it is systematic and efficient but the people who say this are likely to be the ones who have excelled well in the education system and sing praises of the education system when it is actually flawed. I know it is very difficult to come up with an education system which can take years to change but the change has to be made now. There are minor changes such as the abolition of streaming at Primary school. More needs to be done right from Primary school.
The entire education needs a complete revamp as the grades one gets in a exam are mostly or solely based on a single exam he takes. I believe that the understanding of biology and physics cannot be solely understood without experiencing it. Though there are lab sessions and field trips, the number of such activites pale in comparison with the number of hours spent in the classroom understanding these wonderful things.
The next thing is to place more emphasis on personal development and introduce courses meant to improve the student as a whole. I believe the students at independant schools are exposed to such courses as their hefty monthly school fees justify their courses. Neighbourhood schools should not be denied the opportunity to experience such courses although the neighbourhood school I studied did have such courses but it paled in comparison with the indepedant school's number. I understand it is difficult for the goverment to subsidise every single government school's programme as the budget is very limited but I strongly believe that no compromise should be made on a child's well being and education.
(To be continued..)
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