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The education system in Singapore is spear-headed by the (MOE) who directs the formulation and implementation of education policies. It controls the development and administration of Government and Government-aided education institutions, but plays a consultancy / supervisory role with respect to private or independent schools.
Children with disabilities are educated in special education (SPED) schools run by , and partially funded by MOE.
As of Jan 2003, it is written into law by the that a child of compulsory school age shall start, and attend regularly as a pupil at (at least) a national primary school, failing which, each parent of the child shall be guilty of an offence.
In Singapore, English is the medium of instruction in subjects like Mathematics, Science (Physics, Chemistry, Biology), and others where appropriate. As envisioned by Lee Kuan Yew, English is the language to link Singapore to the world, and all races domestically. The mother tongue (in other words, Chinese for the Ethnic Chinese; Malay for the Malays; Tamil, Bengali, Gujarati, Hindi, Punjabi or Urdu for the Indians), on the other hand is cultural and for a sense of identity, and no ethnic group is forced to learn the language of another.
Critics of the education system say that the education system is too specialized and too stressful, and does not place emphasis on creative thinking, unlike the education systems in other countries like the United States. On the other hand, Singaporean students have topped international science and mathematics quizzes regularly, along with South Korean students.
Singaporean students also have a relatively poor command of the standard English language. This is because Singlish, the local dialect of English, is more different from standardized English than most colloquial dialects of English spoken elsewhere in the world: a study showed that the vast majority of a test group of junior college students (typically 17-18 years of age) wrote poorly. They have also traditionally fared worse than US students at the [SAT] in the Verbal scores (although faring better at the Mathematics section and in the average score).
Primary education consists of a four-year foundation stage from Primary 1 to 4 and a two-year orientation stage from Primary 5 to 6. Primary education is free, though there is a miscellaneous fee of up to S$10 monthly that goes to the respective school, to help cover the cost of equipment and special programmes for the benefit of the pupils.
Based on results of the PSLE, students undergo secondary education in either the Special, Express or Normal course.
Both Special and Express are 4-year courses leading up to a Singapore-Cambridge General Certificate of Education (GCE) 'Ordinary' - 'O' level examination. The difference between Special and Express is that the former's mother tongue language (English and Mother Tongue) are taught at a higher level (more difficult).
Normal is a 4-year course leading up to a Singapore-Cambridge GCE 'Normal' - 'N' level examination, with the possiblity of a 5th year followed by a Singapore-Cambridge GCE 'Ordinary' - 'O' level examination. Normal is split into Normal(Academic) and Normal(Technical) where in the latter students take subjects that are technical in nature, such as Design and Technology.
After the second year of a secondary school course, students are typically offered from a range of six to ten subjects for the 'O' level examinations by examination results. This includes science (Physics, Biology and Chemistry), humanities (Elective Geography/History, Pure Geography/History, Social Studies, Literature, etc.) and additional mathematics subject at a higher level, or "combined" subject modules.
Co-Curricular Activities become compulsory at the Secondary level, where all pupils must participate in at least one core CCA, and participation is graded together with other things like Leadership throughout the four years of Secondary education, in a scoring system. Competitions are organised so that students can have an objective towards to work, and in the case of musical groups, showcase talents.
The Gifted Education Programme (GEP) was set up by the Ministry of Educaion in 1984 amid some public concern to cater to the intellectually gifted students. As of 2003, the schools participating consisted of several primary schools (Rosyth Primary School, Tao Nan School, St. Hilda's Primary School, Raffles Girls Primary School and more) and seven Secondary schools, namely Raffles Institution, Raffles Girls School, The Chinese High School, Nanyang Girls School, Anglo-Chinese School (Independent), Victoria School and Dunman High School. Only the last two schools are Autonomous schools; the rest are independent schools. However since 2004, when the first five schools implemented their own Integrated Programmes with their affliate Junior Colleges, they are officially no longer under the GEP. However they have their own programmes to cater to the students from the programme in primary school. Despite the changes, there have not been any major changes to the programme, but is basically just a change of name.
Students enter the programme through a series of tests at Primary Three, after which, if successful, they go to a primary school which has the programme. Up till 2003, there was a supplementary intake of students into the programme after their PSLE, before they enter secondary school. It has since been scrapped after the implementation of the Integrated Programme.
Schools in the programme set separate (sometimes jointly set with other GEP schools) test papers and generally hold more activities for the students in the programme. The programme is prejudiced by many for having an elitist concept.
However, the Integrated Programme proved so popular that in 2004, the remaining schools officially in the programme (Victoria School and Dunman High School) saw a drastic decrease in enrollment. Victoria School had too few students to create a GEP class while Dunman High School had to cut down on the number of GEP classes from the usual 2 to 1.
The Integrated Programme, also known as through-train programme, is a scheme which enable students with good academic performance to bypass the 'O'-levels and take the 'A'-Levels directly at the age of 18 after six years of secondary and pre-university education.
The programme allows for more time allocated to enrichment activities because the without the 'O'-levels, the students can spend the time on studying for the examination on other activites instead. The schools are also freer in the choice of subjects. Generally, only the top performers are able to take part in the programme, for fear that if the students are unable to complete their 'A'-levels (after their JC course), they do not have a fallback 'O'-level certificate.
The majority of the schools in the programme base in on the first model, which allows most (or in some cases, some) students from these schools to skip the 'O'-levels at Secondary 4 and go straight into Junior Colleges (JC). This is the case with Raffles JC for the Raffles Programme, together with Raffles Institution and Raffles Girls' School. This is also the case for Hwa Chong Institution in the Hwa Chong Affliate Programme: Hwa Chong Junior College, together with The Chinese High School and Nanyang Girls' High School. Victoria JC and Victoria School, and Temasek Junior College also follow suit.
In the Hwa Chong Affliate Programme, Hwa Chong Junior College also picks students from other schools apart from the two already mentioned, judged by their performance. These students are assured of a place in the Junior College, regardless of their 'O'-level results, but they must still take their 'O'-levels in their respective schools.
One school, Anglo-Chinese School (Independent), has allowed some students to abandon the British system and go Swiss by dropping the GCE exams all together and adopting the International Baccalaureate.
The National Junior College (NJC) have also put out its own programme, where Secondary Two students in various schools are selected to join their programme. These students further their Secondary Three and Four education in the JC itself, followed by the JC course.
Other tertiary educational institutes are also considering their own integrated programmes, like the National University of Singapore (NUS) via its NUS High School. These programmes are expected to be executed in the NJC style of picking students at Secondary Two. Dunman High School, a secondary school, is still planning its own programme, and the outcome of the proposal is expected in 2005.
See: List of universities in Singapore
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