In August 1978, then Deputy Prime Minister Goh Keng Swee was tasked to lead a study team to identify problems in the education system of Singapore and propose solutions.[1] The Report on the Ministry of Education 1978 (also known as the Goh Report) identified high education wastage, low levels of literacy and ineffective bilingualism as the main problems facing the education system.[2]
According to the study team, a principal factor behind the situation was the difficulty the rigid education system had, with its common curriculum and examinations, in catering to students’ differences in learning aptitudes.[3] A key aim of the study was thus to consider how education policies and their implementation could be made more flexible to enable each child to learn at a pace suited to his or her ability.[4] Endorsed by Parliament on 30 March 1979, the recommendations of the Goh Report became the basis of the New Education System (NES).[5]
Under the NES, pupils were streamed into different courses at the upper primary and secondary levels depending on their language proficiencies and academic abilities at Primary 3 and 6 respectively.[6] This was implemented in primary schools beginning with the 1979 Primary 3 cohort.[7] Pupils were streamed at the end of Primary 3, based on their examination results in Primary 2 and 3, into the normal bilingual, extended bilingual, or monolingual courses with provision for lateral transfers between streams.[8] The normal and extended courses ultimately led to the Primary School Leaving Examination (PSLE) after three years, while the monolingual course led to the Primary School Proficiency Examination (PSPE) after five years.[9] The results of the first streaming exercise exceeded the estimates given in the Goh Report with 84 percent of 49,271 Primary 3 pupils advancing into the Normal Primary 4 course.[10]
The NES was implemented in secondary schools starting with the 1980 Primary 6 cohort.[11] Pupils were streamed based on their PSLE results into the special, express or normal courses.[12] The special and express courses led to the Ordinary level (O level) examination after four years.[13] Pupils in the normal course would sit for the Normal level (N level) examination in their fourth year with the option to take the O level examination after an additional year of study.[14]
References
1. P. M. Raman. (1978, August 17). New team to study education. The Straits Times, p. 1. Retrieved from NewspaperSG.
2. Goh, K. S. & Education Study Team. (1979). Report on the Ministry of Education 1978. (p. 4–1). Singapore: Singapore National Printers. Call no.: RSING 370.95957 SIN)
3. Goh & Education Study Team, 1979, p. 4–1.
4. The Straits Times, 17 Aug 1978, p. 1.
5. Soon, T. W. (1988). Singapore's new education system: Education reform for national development (p. 1). Singapore: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies. Call no.: RSING 370.95957 SOO; Fong, L. (1979, March 31). All 'ayes' for Goh report. The Straits Times, p. 1. Retrieved from NewspaperSG.
6. Soon, 1988 pp. 15–16.
7. Soon, 1988, p. 15.
8. Soon, 1988, pp. 15–16.
9. Soon, 1988, pp. 15–16.
10. 84 pc make it to normal course in Primary 4. (1979, November 22). The Straits Times, p. 1. Retrieved from NewspaperSG.
11. Soon, 1988, p. 16.
12. Soon, 1988, p. 16.
13. Soon, 1988, p. 16.
14. Soon, 1988, p. 16.
The information in this article is valid as at Feb 2016 and correct as far as we are able to ascertain from our sources. It is not intended to be an exhaustive or complete history of the subject. Please contact the Library for further reading materials on the topic.