Topic: Educational System in Singapore

Presenter: Paolo S. Jimenez

I. Summary
II.  navigationJump to search
III.
IV. Education in Singapore is managed by the Ministry of Education (MOE).[5] 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.
V. Education spending usually makes up about 20 per cent of the annual national budget,
[6]
 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 (excepting those with disabilities),[7] and made it a criminal
offence for parents to fail to enroll their children in school and ensure their regular
attendance.[8] 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.[9]
VI. The main language of instruction in Singapore is English, which was officially designated
the first language within the local education system in 1987.[10] 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 (SAP), encourage a richer use of
the mother tongue and may occasionally teach subjects in Mandarin Chinese.
VII. 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.[11] 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.[12][13] In
2020, Singaporean students made up half of the perfect scorers in the International
Baccalaureate (IB) examinations worldwide

School grades[edit]
The school year is divided into two semesters. The first begins at the beginning of January and ends
in May; the second begins in July and ends in November.
 Typical age on
Level/Grade
birthday

Preschool

Pre-school playgroup 4

Kindergarten 5 to 6

Primary school (Children enter P1 upon the year they turn 7)

Primary 1 7

Primary 2 8

Primary 3 9

Primary 4 10

Primary 5 11

Primary 6 12

Secondary school (Children enter S1 upon the year they turn 13)

Secondary 1 13

Secondary 2 14

Secondary 3 15

Secondary 4 16

Secondary 5 (available for normal academic stream only) 17

Post-secondary education

Junior College, Polytechnic or ITE, followed by University

beyond 16 or 17
education

Reflection: