| |
| |
![]() |
| |
|
| |
|
| |
|
SINGAPORE: The committee looking into revamping primary school education met on Wednesday for the first time, and some differences have already emerged as not everyone agrees with the plan to have all schools go single session.
Bukit View Primary School has introduced music and drama in language classes, as well as interactive whiteboards for students to cast their votes, in order to make lessons more engaging and to inculcate more life skills.
The Primary Education Review and Implementation Committee said this is exactly what it is looking deeper into.
Senior Minister of State for Education, Grace Fu, who is also the chairperson of the Primary Education Review and Implementation Committee, said: "Academic competence is not sufficient by itself. They must have the confidence to meet with changes, ambiguity or complexity.
"They must also have the ability to communicate and collaborate with people of different cultures or nationalities. This is the reason why we are rebalancing the education system."
Piyush Gupta, CEO of Citi, Southeast Asia Pacific Region, and member of the Primary Education Review and Implementation Committee, said: "Clearly, an inquiry-based education – less route, more creative education form – helps kids to develop a different way of thinking."
The committee is also studying the possibility of having single session for all schools to give children more time to do other things.
While a single-session structure has advantages such as more time for creative teaching methods, co-curricular activities and staff development programmes, some members in the committee feel it may not work for all schools - especially those that have limited space or large student numbers.
One view is that schools should have the option to achieve the same objectives, without going single session.
Professor Jackie Ying, executive director, Institute of Bioengineering & Nanotech, and member of the Primary Education Review and Implementation Committee, said: "My daughter is in Raffles Girls' Primary School... but the school, because of its location, is limited in space. I think it will be difficult for schools like that to go into single session.
"The plan has to be created in such a way that it will allow different schools to have different practices. Give them the resources and allow them to grow in different ways."
The committee is also tasked with looking into the plan to recruit only graduate teachers by 2015. It has clarified that 'A'-level and polytechnic students may still apply, but they will have to be qualified for acceptance into the National Institute of Education (NIE) for an undergraduate course.
The public can email their views to the committee, which will be submitting its draft report in January, at contact@moe.gov.sg or through www.reach.gov.sg.
- CNA/so
|
