As I write this, the reality of Home-Based Learning is hitting all of us. Just like my wife and I are working on our laptops, my son is on his laptop doing his work on the School Learning System and communicating with his friends and teachers. To be honest, I can see some weak points. However, I understand that this is a unique situation and teachers are trying their best. For ourselves, we need to understand and try our best
Ever since the spread of Covid-19, many Singaporeans have asked the government to close schools. However, the Singapore authorities have refused to do so. This is despite the increase in the number of cases both in Singapore and outside Singapore. The Singapore government did state that the situation remains fluid and closing schools is one possible option. Is closing schools really the solution to stop the spread of Covid-19? Let us explore the reasons why we should or should not
What if I tell you the quickest way to enrol in a Polytechnic is NOT through the ‘O’ Levels? Did I get your attention? If you think that you can only go to Polytechnic after’O’ Levels, then you really have to continue reading this blog about the Polytechnic Foundation Programme (PFP).
2021: Changes to PSLE Grade In 2021, the PSLE grade will not be a number, but the score will be derived by the band of each subject, similar to how the ‘O’ levels is scored. It was announced last year but will only be implemented in 2021.
2020: Full Subject Based Banding In 2020, a few secondary schools will introduce full subject-based banding to replace streaming. This is probably the most substantive change announced in the last few years for secondary school students. Instead of students joining the usual Normal (Technical) (N(T)), Normal (Academic) (N(A)) or Express streams, they would be assigned subjects at three different levels (G1, G2 and G3). G1 is roughly pegged to Normal (Technical) standard while G3 is equivalent to the old Express
by Richard Leong I have not written anything regarding the educational landscape for some time. I would like to take this opportunity to address the three biggest changes in the educational landscape from this year (2019) to 2021. 2019: Cutting Down on School Examinations and Removal of Grading from Report Cards In September 2018, the Ministry of Education (MOE) announced that they were cutting down on school examinations. All students from Primary 3 to Secondary 4 or 5 would also
A decision at the end of August 2014 led to a string of letters to be published in the Straits Times over the next two weeks. These letters basically represented two camps – one advocating for universities to only offer courses pertaining to the student’s major and the other that students should take a broad-based education.
Recently, a tutor from a tuition school was told to stop advertising himself as a student of the Gifted Education Programme (GEP). MOE ran some checks in response to complaints from parents and discovered that he was neither a student nor a teacher in the GEP programme. Now, he claims to be a relief teacher who helped out in the GEP programme. But no teacher that taught in the GEP recalled such a relief teacher. I wonder how many people
It is going to be Primary One registration in a month’s time. Is your child due to be registered into Primary One this year and you are still confused over the phases? Let me try to help parents to clear up their doubts. The following table lists each phase: Primary One Registration Phase 1: For a child who has a sibling studying in the primary school of choice Phase 2A(1): For a child whose parent is a former student of
Recently, a Straits Times reader wrote a letter about the new O level English Language syllabus. I thought I should share more information about the revised syllabus.
