Changes to Singapore primary school education

Changes in the primary school education in Singapore

In the next few years our primary school education system will be going through a host of changes so as to offer our students a more holistic education. Here are some of them:

1) By 2015, student-teacher ratio will be reduced to 16: 1. Current ratio is 21:1

2) All government primary schools will be single session by 2016

3) Primary 1 and 2 levels will move away from an overly strong emphasis on exams

4) Schools will instead explore other bite-sized forms of assessment. This is to help build students confidence and desire to learn

5) Schools will receive funding to engage trained coaches, instructors and service providers and obtain equipment for Art, Music, PE and other Programmes for Active Learning (PAL)

6) Non-academic programmes like sports and visual arts will eventually become part of the main curriculum for primary 1 and 2

7) Maintain a sufficient number of places in the more popular primary schools so that pupils who have no affiliation to the school can still have access for admission to Primary 1

8 Schools will have the flexibility to adjust their start and end times with careful consideration of their local conditions, including the profile of their pupils, their pupils’ transportation arrangements, the local traffic conditions and other schools in the vicinity

9) There will be an addition of 18 new schools and upgrading will occur in about 80 existing schools

10) MOE will be budgeting approximately $4.8 billion for these implementations

For more related articles on primary school education, see:

A push towards holistic learning in schools

Education in Singapore

Preparing your child to enter primary school