IV - New Structure for the Education System

Summary

Introduction of Streaming

THE Report observed that the existing “single curriculum“ 6-4-2 education system (that is, six years of primary, four years of secondary, and two years of pre-university) which required all children to cover the same syllabus within the same period and to sit for the same examinations, did not take into consideration differences in absorption capacities and rates of learning. Arguing that this system tended to favour the aboveaverage children and to penalize the below-average children and the slow learners, the Report suggested that the high failure rates at the PSLE and the O level examination could be reduced with an education system sufficiently flexible to cater for children with different abilities — in other words, by streaming them into different courses according to ability.

Recognizing that no streaming system could be perfect, the Report recommended that the first streaming should be undertaken only after three or four years of primary schooling and that only those who fail at least two consecutive years would be streamed to the primarily Monolingual course. In addition, provision was to be made for lateral transfers between streams.

The Report further recognized that “pupils who do not succeed in academic studies could succeed in technical or commercial training”. It was therefore important for the Vocational and Industrial Training Board (VITB), the polytechnics, and other training institutions to expand their capacities.

Bilingual Education with Emphasis on English

Considering that a basic objective of any education system must be to produce literate and numerate school-leavers, it is not surprising that the Report recommended that the first three years of primary schooling concentrate on the learning of languages and mathematics. This was to give pupils a strong foundation for learning of content, such as in Science, Mathematics, and other subjects.

Mindful of the differences in ability of pupils, particularly in languages, the Report suggested that:

a. Those pupils who are ablest would be given the opportunity to do two “first languages” [ELI + CLl] and possibly a third language (like German).

b. The average and the above average pupils would be given the opportunity to do a “first” language and a “second” language (eg., ELI + CL2).

c. Those pupils who cannot cope with two languages would be better off being literate in one language than attempting to learn two languages and being literate in neither.