Desmond Lee
Singapore
“The Leadership, Enrichment, Achievement, Participation and Service (LEAPS) 2.0 is a framework for recognising student participation and achievement in secondary school co-curricular programmes.”
“The Ministry of Education (MOE) is mindful of the impact that rising temperatures may have on our students, teachers and officials taking part in the National School Games. Matches are scheduled only after students have had the time to train and become progressively more heat acclimatised.”
“As shared in Parliament in March 2026, the proportion of students with special educational needs (SEN) in mainstream schools has remained stable, at around 7% of the overall student population. This stability is observed across both primary and secondary schools.”
“The Ministry recruits and assesses applicants based on merit and suitability for the teaching profession, regardless of gender. We look for individuals with a passion for teaching, a belief in the potential of every child, and who possess the values and character to make a positive difference in students' lives.”
“Over the past five years, an average of 750 teachers resigned from the Education Service annually, representing a resignation rate of around 2%.”
“MOE has also progressively strengthened open access within the Primary 1 Registration Framework through Phase 2C, which is open to students regardless of whether they have prior connections to the school. MOE had increased the number of reserved Phase 2C places from zero to 20 in 2014; and from 20 to 40 in 2022.”
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“I will deal with the question on working with agencies, SSAs and Primary 1 places. Senior Minister of State Janil with CET; and then Senior Minister of State David on DSA and early specialisation. On schools working with SSAs, the answer is the ComLink Alliance Working Group as well as internally between the schools and HQ through UPLIFT. But ComLink is the national flagship to build relationships between schools and our SSAs and partners to better support our students from the perspective of the schools. On Primary 1 places, if we were to, as I said, we are reviewing the Primary 1 admission framework to achieve the broad goal I mentioned earlier. There are various ideas that have been raised. Indeed, some have suggested expanding the places for certain schools where they are very popular and hope to then have more diversity. The downside is, of course, that it may cause other schools to hollow out and you know that schools have had to merge over the years and with falling cohort sizes and with more mergers, if we were to do as the Member had suggested, there is a risk that there will be even more mergers, affecting accessibility in terms of proximity for families.”
“I thank the Member. The answer to the first part of the question I responded by Parliamentary Question the last time. The answer is yes, more details in the Hansard. In (b), expanding Allied Educators, Teaching and Learning (T&L) has been sunsetted; we announced it quite a number of years ago, about nine years ago. We are dedicating our resources to allied education in areas which benefit the students and the teachers, such as SEN, counselling for children's wellness as well as student welfare.”
“On PSLE and through-train, as I said, in coming up with the Education Conversations, no suggestion will be off the table. We will not be closed off to any idea. But every idea, including what I mentioned in the speech, comes with its tensions and trade-offs. And for every idea raised, there will be people in opposition to that idea. For instance, through-train, then who will through-train to some of the more popular secondary schools? Will it cause the race to be brought down from PSLE to before Primary 1 admission? All these are considerations, but we will start this conversation with a very broad open mind.”
“Chairman, I will deal with the other two questions that Ms Denise Phua raised. The first is on internships arms race. Well, we have a PSLE arms race, DSA arms race, internships arms race – and earlier I mentioned, even previously for the GEP, there were some hot housing in order to push children through, not always to the benefit of the children. It can be detrimental. Sometimes, the children push themselves without realising that they are putting themselves through undue stress. But aspiration and motivation on the one side, and stress and pressure on the other side are two faces of a coin. We need to manage this carefully. So, the internship arms race came about when we speak to IHLs, we speak to companies, we speak to students. Not just IHL students, by the way, even your upper secondary school students. It is a reflection of how some employers are saying, "Well, your students who apply, applicants are all so good, the results are all great, almost all similar. So, I distinguish by looking at their character, their leadership, their empathy, whether they are toxic or whether they are empathetic. And we think an internship will allow us to get a feel of them", and there, you create a certain pathway. So, taken to extremes, motivation and drive can become unhealthy not just for the individual and the family, but for society as a whole. And when we fine tune and calibrate or reform a system, we have to be mindful that it is not just one exam or the exam itself. It could be what the exam results are being used for, whether it is a PSLE result, A-level exam results and so on. And so, this is a very large system issue that we need to tackle carefully and thoughtfully.”
“On the stronger baseline of support, we provide the schools with resources from HQ. Schools also have the school advisory committees, where not just alumni, but also very well-meaning individuals who join the school advisory committees contribute resources, but also contribute networks for the schools. But certainly, through ComLink+, as I mentioned earlier, integrating more intensively with our schools, with our school student welfare officers, with our school leaders, we want to provide not just resources, but a network of SSAs and resources to empower the schools to help these children. Because the problems are not always with the children in school, but sometimes, in their families. The next question is about recruitment. The role of a teacher is multi-faceted and complex. It is not just teaching. They also help run CCAs. They do CCE. They come up with projects to improve school operations and teaching. So, they pick up lots of skills which are valuable in of its own right. And I think our teachers know it. We also send our teachers for teacher work attachments so that they can see what is happening in other sectors – not just to benefit teaching, but also to give them a sense of the kinds of skillsets that are out there that are needed in industry broadly.”
“I will try, Chairman. But we all bear your admonition. First, the Opportunity Fund, whether students know about it. Our schools reach out to students. Our schools have data of the students who are more disadvantaged and who may need more support, whether they are from a lower SES family or because they face more complex challenges. This information is shared with students as well as parents, but certainly we will see what more we can do. In terms of the base, 50,000 students, I mentioned earlier that with our enhanced the bursary criteria, about 133,000 students will benefit. Whether that is the right base, well, it is debatable. But certainly, we can check. Each school will have a sense of the students that will benefit from the Opportunity Fund, and encourage them and work through the barriers to enable them to benefit. My handwriting is not legible now! Something about GEP centres. Those are not GEP centres. Those are centres which run the centre-based advanced modules. And we have selected the sites the first round so that they have a geographical spread along across the island and have public transport accessibility. We think that for students from the surrounding schools to travel to that school should ideally through public transport, take less than half an hour. But we allow schools to decide for themselves how best to enable their students to access these centre-based advanced modules. Suffice to say that schools will have resources so that no child will be deprived of access to these centre-based advanced modules because they cannot afford it. The Member also asked a question about recruitment. I have not been able to follow that train, Mr Chairman.”
“For the first question, we certainly will study the use of technology to help augment classroom management, and learning and teaching in the classrooms. Already in the Student Learning Space, which is used not just at home, but also in the classroom to accompany teaching and pedagogy, students already have recourse to online material, as well as the use of AI tools, for example, the learning feedback assistant. So, we will continue to look at the ways as technology improves to leverage it, in order to augment teaching and learning. Second on the direction of class sizes, as I said, if you compare our class sizes to say, a few decades ago, we have been actively moving, prioritising resources to students that need more support and scaffolding. And I have given many examples previously. So, that is the direction we are heading. But as I said earlier, there are non-trivial considerations and we have to study this very carefully. Third, on the centre-based advanced modules, this is in relation to the new framework and approach for students with talents and strengths in certain domains, this is for primary school. So, we have a school-based programme and a centre-based advanced module. In secondary schools, there are already schools, including some of the Integrated Programme schools, and in fact, all secondary schools have programmes as well as experienced teachers to help to stretch students who are more inquisitive, have talents in certain domains. But at the MOE level we also have MOE electives and programmes to empower some of these students. At the school level and national level, we have Olympiad for maths and science. These also allow some of these students to be stretched as well.”
“Therefore, we will increase funding for the Mother Tongue Language Learning and Promotion Committees over the next five years to strengthen bilingualism through a wider range of activities. Senior Parliamentary Secretary Syed Harun will share details on our efforts for special education and promotion of Mother Tongue languages later. 11.15 am (In English): Mr Chairman, the collective efforts of Singaporeans have helped to support and strengthen our students' learning experiences. In the spirit of "we first", we will keep working together with Singaporeans to improve our education system and weave a stronger social fabric. This work is more critical and urgent this fast-changing and uncertain world. [Applause.]”
“This year's Primary 3 students are the first cohort to participate in the refreshed identification process. They will take a standardised test in August. Even if they are not selected the first time, students can still join the programme in Primary 4 and 5 if they are identified through other sources of information, such as teacher observations and their daily work. This allows students to develop their strengths at their own pace. Education is an important driver of social equality. Regardless of their family background, our education system must give every child the opportunity to rise above their circumstances and achieve upward social mobility. From this year, we will devote more resources to support schools' after-school activities, providing mentoring, interest-based activities and learning journeys for students from low-income families to broaden their horizons and cultivate their aspirations. Schools receiving these additional resources will increase from the current 100 to 157. Schools will work closely with community stakeholders to provide more timely and comprehensive support for disadvantaged students and their families. We will strengthen coordination and collaboration between schools, Social Service Offices and Family Service Centres. Next, we will increase special education school places and establish new schools to support more students with moderate to severe special educational needs. In an increasingly fragmented world, bilingualism allows us to serve as a bridge between the East and the West, while helping us stay rooted in our local culture and strengthen our identity as Singaporeans.”
“These include streamlining administrative processes, increasing support structures and protecting after-work hours, so that our teachers can better balance their professional responsibilities with their personal well-being. We will continue to listen to our teachers and do more to support you. Mr Chairman, I will now speak in Mandarin. (In Mandarin): [Please refer to Vernacular Speech.] Colleagues, first, I want to wish everyone a Happy "Chap Goh Meh" and good health in the Year of Horse. The various initiatives that we are sharing today aim to support Singaporeans' learning needs and aspirations. Regardless of our student's starting point, we will ensure everyone has the opportunity to fulfil their potential, as we build a “we first” society. We will do our best to cater to students with different strengths and needs, and uplift those from disadvantaged backgrounds. Currently, all primary schools offer school-based programmes to develop and challenge students who have strengths and talents in English, mathematics and science. We will broaden access to existing school-based programmes. With this, around 10% of the cohort will benefit, up from 7% today. Students who can benefit from further stretch can choose to attend designated centres after school to participate in advanced modules. This way, students can continue studying at their original primary school without having to transfer. These centres will also offer interdisciplinary modules. These modules guide students to approach and solve real-life problems by making connections across different subjects. Whether students have strengths in a specific area or multiple areas, they can choose to participate in interdisciplinary modules during school holidays.”
“The plans that I have outlined today cannot be achieved by MOE and our schools alone. Everyone has a part to play. Let me thank some of our key partners, in addition to the community partners and SSAs whom I had mentioned earlier. We are grateful to our industry partners who closely collaborate with our IHLs to provide our learners with industry-relevant curriculum and real-world experiences that prepare our students for the future. We also appreciate our parent and school volunteers who plan engaging activities that strengthen student support and build stronger parent-child relationships. And in particular, I would like to recognise and affirm our educators for the important and hard work that they do day in, day out. To our school leaders and teachers, you are the core of our education system. You nurture our students and support their learning – from lessons to remedials, from CCAs to camps, from building trust to journeying with students through difficulties and so much more. We will continue to ensure that our teachers are fairly recognised for their hard work and dedication. MOE is reviewing the salaries of our educators, including our Allied Educators and MOE Kindergarten Educators and will share more when ready. We also recognise that all the things you do for our students take time, effort and sacrifices. It is therefore important that our teachers' workload remains manageable and sustainable and we have had extensive debates in this House before. I have been sharing at length on our commitment in this front and we are making steady headway. For instance, by leveraging technology and AI, alongside the Reimagining the Teaching Profession Taskforce's recommendations, we will continue to help recalibrate what teachers do.”
“My colleague, Minister of State Jasmin Lau will provide further details about MOE's AI-related moves and you must see them in the context of the overall national moves and national strategy on AI. Next, since we started the SkillsFuture movement in 2015, training participation from both individuals and employers has significantly increased. We have provided significant financial support to empower individuals to take charge of their learning. In 2024, we introduced the SkillsFuture Level-Up Programme to further lower their opportunity costs of training for mid-career workers. We will continue to strengthen accessibility of a larger range of courses for mid-career workers to upskill. My colleague, Senior Minister of State Janil Puthucheary, will share more later. While we have done well, we can, must do more and do better, to support Singaporeans in navigating an increasingly complex economic landscape and one that is changing in an ever faster clip. At Budget 2026, Prime Minister announced that SkillsFuture Singapore (SSG) and Workforce Singapore (WSG) would be reorganised into a new Statutory Board, jointly overseen by the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) and MOE. The new agency will integrate SSG's training and skills development capabilities, and WSG's employment facilitation ecosystem to provide stronger end-to-end support for Singaporeans in bridging skills to jobs. My colleague, Minister Tan See Leng, will share more details at MOM's Committee of Supply debate. MOE will continue to steer the SkillsFuture movement together with MOM and the new agency and work with our IHLs, to provide high-quality, industry-relevant and accessible training for Singaporeans to upskill. Finally, let me talk about working together for a stronger education system.”
“These are all well-meaning suggestions and what I have just said is not exhaustive. And we take every one of them seriously. But at the end of the day, we have to find the right balance between these competing views and needs, because there are only a finite number of places in each school and every change we contemplate would affect different groups in different ways. And as society evolves, we need to adjust this balance over time. Let me assure Members that MOE is reviewing the Primary 1 Registration Framework so that our primary schools remain open to students from different backgrounds. We will announce more details when ready. Let me talk briefly about AI. The rise of AI has changed the world as we knew it. AI can increasingly accomplish more complex tasks and what once took us hours or days, AI can now accomplish in minutes or even seconds. However, for all its capabilities, and they are growing, AI is not infallible, nor can it totally replace the humans' spirit. To prepare our workforce for an AI-transformed future, our schools and IHLs will equip our students to harness AI through the four "Learns". First, learn about AI. Students will learn what AI is, how it works, what its impact is and what the limitations are. Second, learn to use AI. Students will learn how to harness AI tools effectively and responsibly, in partnership with the industry. Third, learn with AI. Educators will use AI in teaching and learning to enhance students' learning outcomes. And fourth, perhaps the most important, learn beyond AI. Educators will help students develop other critical skills, so that they can add human value and use AI to amplify their impact.”
“If the school is popular with parents, it might be filled first by those living nearest in private housing, because of the home-school distance priority. Schools cannot just passively reflect the neighbourhoods around them, but they must also actively create diverse environments for our students to mix and mingle and to learn from one another. We have received many suggestions on the Primary 1 Registration Framework. Mr David Hoe, Ms Lee Hui Ying and others have suggested removing the priority phases for children and siblings of alumni, including the affiliation advantage at Secondary 1 posting, as they feel that this is unfair and exclusionary. Others have said the same of children whose parents volunteer for the school and community, because not every parent has the time and resources to do the same. Others support keeping things as they are, believing these connections help build school culture and shared values across generations. On proximity, we have also heard equally diverse views. Some parents feel that proximity should be the most important consideration, so that students do not spend too much time traveling to and from school. Others want to widen or even remove the home-school distance bands altogether, so that parents who can afford to buy or rent property near their preferred school do not get an unfair advantage. Some have suggested that the same Primary 1 framework should not be rigidly applied to all schools, especially if the school's neighbourhood comprises mostly some types of housing over others. And some have suggested that others from slightly further away be given some access. For such schools, alumni priority could draw in diverse students from a wider geographical range, instead of only students from the nearby private estate.”
“Together, we will seek to create solutions that will ensure that our education system continues to meet our current and future needs, in particular with the changing and uncertain environment ahead of us. More details will be shared when ready. Next, we also want our schools to be active platforms that bring together students from different backgrounds. After all, it is in our classrooms, school halls and sports arenas, where friendships are formed. And when students share their love of sports, music or mathematics, they discover that they are more similar than different. These interactions allow our students to bridge differences and develop social emotional skills. Our schools intentionally bring together students from different schools and different backgrounds. For instance, we have combined school CCAs or cluster-based CCAs where students from different schools and backgrounds come together to learn and train on a regular basis. Over the years, we have also made changes to the Primary 1 Registration Framework to expand access for students with no prior connections to enter our primary schools. We had reserved 20 places at Phase 2C in 2014, which is open to students regardless of whether they have prior connections to the school. This was further increased from 20 to 40 in 2022. This has ensured open access to all primary schools via Phase 2C. Today, many of our schools have a good mix of students from families of different socio-economic statuses (SES). Nevertheless, there are still some schools that are overrepresented by students from higher-SES families. Some of these schools are located in neighbourhoods that comprise mostly private housing, with fewer public housing.”
“Some enjoy coding and say they want to work in IT or AI. Some are inspired by their teachers and want to become educators themselves. I also recall an enterprising student who told me that he dreams of starting his own business. It is good that our young ones are full of hope and aspirations. Every child should dare to dream. But our children also need to learn that for dreams to become reality, they need to take active steps and be resilient in dealing with challenges and setbacks along the way. We also need to consider those who might not yet be sure about what they want to do when they grow up. We are therefore aligned with Mr David Hoe and Mr Shawn Huang in providing our students exposure to the next stage of their school or work life. For example, some secondary schools offer Applied Learning Programmes (ALP) in areas, such as business and entrepreneurship, to connect classroom learning with real-world experiences. Our polytechnic and ITE students are required to complete internships and can participate in career fairs, mentorship programmes and industry visits. These give our students exposure to different careers and industries to allow them to make more informed decisions on future pathways. 11.00 am Today, I have shared some of the moves we are exploring in Government. But no one has a monopoly on good ideas. That is why, in continuation of our efforts from Forward Singapore, we will start a series of Education Conversations. We intend to engage and consult educators, parents, researchers, students and the community. We will review your ideas and suggestions. And we will study other countries and learn from their best practices.”
“The difference between the two questions, on page one and page two, is clear; and the second question, on page two that you are looking at, was a maths question from PSLE back in 2022. To help our students, challenging questions are often structured with scaffolding to help students attempt them progressively. On this note, we agree with Ms Eileen Chong that examinations, such as the PSLE, should not define students' self-worth. We also agree with Ms Denise Phua and Assoc Prof Kenneth Goh that our schools should not just focus on academic results, and they indeed do not. Because we recognise that ultimately, while grades might be the boat that gets you out to sea, it is resilience that keeps you afloat when storms hit; it is adaptability that helps you navigate changing currents; it is creativity that helps you spot new horizons; and it is interpersonal skills that will bring others with you in your journey. And therefore, our schools seek to nurture students for life, and we broadly do it in two ways. Members can continue working on the questions; we can cross-reference the answers later. So, what are these two ways? First, we place a lot of emphasis on holistic development. At the primary, secondary and junior college levels, students develop 21st Century Competencies, such as adaptive and inventive thinking and civic literacy through the learning of subjects, Character and Citizenship Education (CCE) curriculum, CCAs and school-based programmes. Our institutes of higher learning (IHLs) also build on schools' efforts by infusing life skills, such as interpersonal skills and innovation into curriculum. Second, we cultivate students' aspirations. When I visit our schools, I like to ask our students what they dream of becoming when they grow up.”
“There is a pen/pencil on the left side of your seat. You may use your calculators on your mobile phones. But AI is not permitted. [Laughter.] We will give you a few minutes to do page one. Look at page one and not page two, so that I can demonstrate to you what I have just said. Page one shows two rectangular containers, X and Y. Ray poured one-fifth of the water from X into Y to fill it completely, and then, Sarah poured all the water from Y in X, and 120 cm3 of water overflowed from X. What was the height of X? In the spirit of collaboration, you can consult your neighbours, across party lines is fine. This problem assesses problem-solving skills, by testing how students apply mathematics in less familiar situations. In this case, the overflow of water, with real-world applications in future, such as engineering. As you can see, this question is a bit more challenging. I will give you a few more minutes. Put your name and your seat number, and we will collect it later. [Laughter.] All ready? Yes? Turn over the sheet and compare this with the question on the next page. This is essentially the same question, but structured, meaning that the question has two parts: (a), two marks; and then, (b), three marks, versus the first question, that dives straight in, five marks at one go. Part (a), if you look at it, is included to guide students to first find the volume of water in container X, which is the first step to solving the problem. Most students can solve part (a) and this is considered easy. Part (b) is more demanding, because when water was poured back from Y to X, some water overflowed. This assesses students' critical thinking to account for this change. But this is all based on the primary school syllabus and does not require knowledge beyond the syllabus.”
“To do this, we need a fair and consistent benchmark across all primary schools in Singapore and for students across all backgrounds. The PSLE today has a range of questions of varying difficulties, to help us identify students who might need more support with building up their foundations, as well as students who can benefit from further stretch in their next stage of learning. As such, every PSLE paper has a carefully calibrated balance of questions to cater to students of different abilities – 85% are easy and moderate, with 15% challenging questions. For challenging questions, Members may like to know that students are provided with scaffolding support to help them apply the concepts and skills that they have learned in less familiar contexts. With your permission, Mr Chairman, may I ask the Clerks to distribute a mathematics question?”
“To reduce the over-emphasis on academic grades, we have, in recent years: replaced PSLE T-scores with broader Achievement Levels; reduced the number of subjects required for junior college admission from six to five from 2028; and allowed students to offer one "Best" subject at minimally G2 level – or Normal (Academic) level equivalent – for polytechnic admission from 2028. We will build on this momentum and study moves to further break away from the education "arms race" in favour of more holistic development. Ms Denise Phua, Assoc Prof Kenneth Goh and Ms Eileen Chong share our intent to reduce the stakes of our assessment milestones. We are not closed off to any ideas and will consult widely. For example, we are prepared to review how we conduct milestone exams and how the difficulty of such examinations should be calibrated; how DSA can be enhanced to strengthen student development, selection and its accessibility, so that it continues to meet its objectives; and how we post students to secondary schools, including the viability of through-train options, as discussed and suggested by Ms Denise Phua, amongst other areas. Over the years, many Members of Parliament (MPs), and most recently Mr Foo Cexiang at the Budget debate, have raised questions about why there is a need to set challenging questions at PSLE for secondary school selection. Ms Eileen Chong had also asked to remove the competitive grading element in PSLE. To address these questions, we must first consider what the role of PSLE is. The PSLE serves as a checkpoint to assess students' understanding of core concepts and skills in the primary school curriculum. It helps guide students into appropriate secondary school subjects and pathways that will best support their learning aspirations and needs.”
“We will work with SSAs to build more SPED schools and provide more SPED school places amidst rising demand, while continuing to support students with SEN in our mainstream schools. My colleague, Senior Parliamentary Secretary Syed Harun will share more details later. Let me now turn to our efforts to help our students develop holistically. Our education system has long been recognised for its academic rigour and excellence. While these remain important, they have never been our only focus. As our world rapidly transforms, we do not want our students to simply be good at aceing exams today. We want them to be trailblazers for tomorrow. This calls for a reimagining of education – a reform and refresh of how we prepare our students to be resilient, well-rounded and thoughtful. To achieve this, one challenge we must first confront honestly is the education arms race. Many parents still regard the PSLE and Direct Schools Admissions (DSA) as measures of success, which is perfectly understandable. If we were to look deeper, these perceptions stem from the belief that getting into popular schools will help their children do well in life. The fixation on grades and achievements and the excessive competition it generates, draws us away from what really matters. It diminishes the joy of learning, it takes time away from character building and it pits our children against one another. We know it takes more than just academic grades to do well in life and in the workplace. Preparing for the future, especially one that is so uncertain, means anchoring our education system in holistic development.”
“Existing initiatives, such as Uplifting Pupils in Life and Inspiring Families Taskforce (UPLIFT) Enhanced School Resourcing and Guiding and Empowering students for Affiliation and Resilience to Unlock their Potential, which respectively provide additional resourcing and school support, such as afterschool programmes, will be streamlined into one single support package, which we will further enhance. From this year 2026, we will devote even more resources to schools, expanding the number of schools with additional manpower and funding, from 100 to 157. Our schools will provide customised support to students, by strengthening partnerships with community stakeholders, such as self-help groups and others. We will also provide stronger and more timely wraparound support for students and their families by tightening coordination between schools and key agencies, such as Social Service Offices and Family Service Centres. Our goal is clear: we want every child in our schools to achieve his or her full potential, regardless of background. But that would mean all of us have to work even more closely together. Next, we have made significant progress over the years in supporting students with moderate-to-severe SEN, who attend Special Education (SPED) schools. This includes enhanced curriculum quality through a National SPED Curriculum; strengthening partnerships between General Education and SPED schools; and professionalising SPED educators. We thank families, social service agencies (SSAs) and other Government agencies, who partner us in the broader SPED ecosystem. Through our collective efforts, we help students live independently; learn for life; participate meaningfully in the community; and sustain meaningful employment for those who can access work.”
“Today, about 100 primary and secondary schools, with a higher proportion of students from lower-income households, receive additional resourcing for after-school programmes. These include mentoring, interest-based activities and learning journeys, which broaden students' perspectives and develop their aspirations. The Centennial Fund Award also supports polytechnics and ITE students from disadvantaged backgrounds by providing mentorship to guide them on their career and life goals. Let me share with you Sally's journey. Sally, whose name has been changed to protect her privacy, is a Primary 6 student at Naval Base Primary School. She was anxious in school and lacked confidence in her studies because of her challenging home environment and her burden of having to care for her younger brother after school each day. Sally's teachers encouraged her to join the school's Beacon for Life programme, which is an after-school programme supported by MOE, which offers academic support as well as activities that build teamwork, resilience and emotional well-being. The school also worked with community partners to customise support for Sally and Sally's family also received Ministry of Social and Family Development (MSF) ComCare and assistance from a Family Service Centre. The wraparound care and support given to Sally helped build her confidence in school and social interactions. Today, Sally participates actively during lessons and her CCA. Sally's journey illustrates what we can achieve when schools and communities collaborate closely to uplift our students and their families. MOE will strengthen our support for disadvantaged students like Sally and schools' partnership with the community in support of ComLink+.”
“These schools have good geographical spread and are accessible via public transport. The centre locations will be reviewed periodically. The first batch of Primary 3 students will participate in a standardised one-stage identification exercise this August, instead of the current two-stage process. Schools can also identify students using additional resources of information, such as teacher observations and students' work. Rather than having a single entry point at Primary 4, students can also join at the end of each semester at Primary 4 and Primary 5, making this more porous. Next, let me speak about how we are helping students from disadvantaged backgrounds. 10.45 am Education has helped spur social mobility in Singapore. We want our children to know that as long as they are prepared to put in effort, they can do well in life regardless of their starting point. We would like to assure Mr David Hoe and Mr Abdul Muhaimin that MOE provides additional support for disadvantaged students in their education journey and that financial barriers will not impede their educational aspirations and progression. From Academic Year 2026, we raised the income eligibility criteria and financial assistance amount for Singaporean students to benefit 31,000 more students from lower- to middle-income households. In total, about 133,000 students will benefit annually. In addition, students from lower-income households can tap on the MOE Opportunity Fund for co-curricular activities, learning experiences and personal learning devices. Mr David Hoe will be glad to hear that we also have measures to support these students' aspirations.”
“Where needed, MOE will provide additional teacher resourcing to schools. Teachers and school counsellors will also be given training, curriculum resources and professional development. Through these, schools can better support their students, encouraging exploration, creativity and personal ownership of learning. Students who can benefit from further stretch can choose to attend centre-based advanced modules after school, at a nearby school centre. They will no longer need to leave their school and transfer to another school that hosts the GEP for daily learning. Instead, they will remain in their own schools and continue to learn with their friends. Besides English, mathematics and science, there will be interdisciplinary modules inspired by real-world problems. To be clear, these modules are not intended to give students a leg up in examinations. Rather, they are designed to further cultivate curiosity, creativity and critical thinking. Take, for example, the interdisciplinary module on "Playgrounds". Students will explore them as community systems, integrating social studies, science and mathematics to tackle real world design challenges. They will study how to make such spaces safe, investigate the science of movement, and through empathy exercises, design inclusive playgrounds for diverse users. Last year, we conducted a trial of these modules, which was well-received. Compared to the current GEP cohort, at least double the number of students will be able to take these centre-based modules, which cater to students with strengths in both specific as well as multiple domains. As a start, there will be 15 centres hosted by primary schools across Singapore, such as Palm View Primary and Yew Tee Primary.”
“While MOE has indeed been bringing in more coaches, instructors and administrators to help relief teacher workload by running CCAs, let us be clear. CCAs are an important part of holistic development and our teachers' role in CCAs are not merely administrative. They help nurture our students to develop critical social, emotional competencies. So, if we were to reduce class sizes by restructuring teachers' duties and ask them to teach more academic classes, we would need to weigh the possible impact on students' holistic development and teachers' overall working hours. As you can see, the considerations underlying class sizes are not simple and straightforward. But Assoc Prof Jamus Lim, Mr Darryl David and Ms Denise Phua can be assured that we are studying them carefully to better support our teachers and students in a sustainable way for the long term. Next, as announced in 2024, we will refresh how we support students with academic strengths and talents, and discontinue the Gifted Education Programme (GEP) in its current form. We are ready to share some of our implementation details. Today, all primary schools already offer school-based programmes beyond the curriculum to stretch and challenge students who have strengths and talents in English, mathematics and science. Take Blangah Rise Primary for instance. They have debate competitions and Excellence 2000 (E2K) math and science. As the Prime Minister had shared at the 2024 National Day Rally, we will broaden access to such school-based programmes, from around 7% of the cohort today to 10%. On Ms Elysa Chen's queries, these students will be taught by trained educators. Today, almost all primary schools have at least five teachers trained to teach such students.”
“In fact, as I shared in November, we have doubled the number of allied educators in priority areas, such as counselling and special education needs across all schools, over the last 10 years, from about 800 to 1,600. The number of administrative support staff in each school has also increased, from around six to around nine in the same period, to help teachers offload some of their administrative workload. In expanding our allied educator pool, we are focused on the high priority, more specialised support functions that our schools and teachers need the most, such as school counsellors and SEN officers. They play important complementary roles alongside our teachers in supporting students of different strengths and needs. To achieve this, with the limited manpower available, we have been progressively scaling back the deployment of allied educators in teaching and learning and helping them to transition into roles of greater need over the past nine years, through work attachments and training. This was reported in the media in 2016, a Parliamentary Question by Nominated Member of Parliament Yip Pin Xiu in 2019, a Parliamentary Question by Member of Parliament Leon Perera in 2020 and a Parliamentary Question by Assoc Prof Jamus Lim in 2025. So, contrary to the Member's claim, this was not a new shift announced in tandem with the increase in teacher recruitment. I thought to set the record straight to soothe the "sucker punch" that the Member said he felt and to make clear that the Ministry had not been disingenuous. Assoc Prof Lim also suggested that co-curricular activities (CCAs) and Learning Journeys are secondary to classroom instruction, and can thus be outsourced to free up teachers' time so that they can teach more academic classes.”
“The average form class size for primary and secondary schools is 34 and 33 today, respectively. In upper primary, foundation subjects are taught in smaller classes, which in most instances can be 10 to 20. For the Learning Support Programme, its class sizes are of about eight to 10. And in Full SBB, different subjects range between 20 and 40 students, based on students' learning needs and the nature of the subject. We are learning from our experience, over the last few years, with smaller class sizes for students with greater needs, and are studying how best to calibrate class size to bring about engaging and effective learning environments for our students, while managing teacher workload. Assoc Prof Lim asked why we cannot simply hire more teachers to bring class sizes down. He took issue with the Ministry of Education's (MOE's) explanation that it is not easy to hire many more teachers and that quality may suffer. But these are not trivial challenges. We have already ramped up teacher recruitment significantly – from 700 the year previously, to a current target of over 1,000 new teachers a year. That is already a 40% increase. And last year, we recruited over 1,300 teachers. But we would need to increase this much further to achieve across the board class size reductions. At the same time, we are contending with a tight labour market, especially for those we want to recruit as teachers. We need to select not just for those with qualifications, but also the aptitude to teach and the heart to nurture future generations. Yet our local workforce growth is slowing and Singaporeans have many attractive career options in the public and private sector. So, this is hardly a simple fix. Assoc Prof Jamus Lim also suggested hiring more allied educators.”
“The first cohort of students under Full SBB will be sitting for the Singapore-Cambridge Secondary Education Certificate (SEC) examination in 2027 and will progress to post-secondary education in the following year. This common examination gives us the opportunity to streamline several admissions exercises into a single Post-Secondary Admissions Exercise for admissions to junior colleges, Millennia Institute, polytechnics and the Institute of Technical Education (ITE) in the year 2028, which will improve students' user experience and decision making. My colleague Senior Minister of State David Neo will provide more details later. Another move we implemented this year is to allow students who did well in Mother Tongue at the Primary School Leaving Examinations (PSLE) to take up Higher Mother Tongue from Secondary 1, regardless of their overall PSLE score. This will give around 2,500 more students the opportunity to pursue their passion for their Mother Tongue language. It is part of our broader effort to recognise and nurture the students' strengths as well as interests. Mr Darryl David and Assoc Prof Jamus Lim asked for smaller class sizes to better customise education. Ms Denise Phua called for a flexible class size model, right-sized and fit for students' needs. This proposal has been raised over the years by Members from both sides of the House. We agree that having smaller class sizes can improve teaching and learning, as teachers can better cater to the learning needs of their students especially those who need more support. That is precisely why we have smaller class sizes for students with greater needs. We deploy more teachers and allied educators to support and scaffold their learning and channel more of our resources to help them learn.”
“To prepare students for the future, we will further strengthen our focus on holistic development, where students develop core values and critical life skills, and learn to interact and build bridges across differences, instead of just chasing after academic grades. We will also encourage and equip our students to be innovative and enterprising, to pursue deep learning in an AI-transformed world and support them in their journey towards lifelong learning. Lastly, let us work together, educators, parents as well as industry and community partners, to build a stronger education ecosystem. My colleagues will share in greater detail how we will achieve some of these efforts. Senior Minister of State David Neo will speak about creating a student-centric education system. Senior Minister of State Janil Puthucheary will explain how we support lifelong learning beyond schools. Minister of State Jasmin Lau will share how we are preparing Singaporeans for an AI-transformed future. And Senior Parliamentary Secretary Syed Harun will set out our efforts supporting students with SEN and strengthening bilingualism. Let me turn to the first theme of learning together. Our education system serves a broad spectrum of learners. Through Full Subject-Based Banding (Full SBB), students can build on their strengths in different subjects and learn at their own pace. We stretch those with academic strengths and talents, while providing additional support to disadvantaged students. Let me share the progress we have made so far. Over the years, we have made moves to customise education. Notably, Full SBB allows secondary school students to take subjects at different levels based on their strengths, interests and learning needs.”
“Mr Chairman, as a small nation without natural resources or hinterland, Singapore's success has always depended on our people. Education has been a core engine that equips Singaporeans with what they need to take on new challenges. In the post-Independence years when survival was priority, we focused on basic education. In the 1970s, we shifted away from a one-size-fits-all approach and improved educational outcomes through streaming and differentiated pathways. From the late 1990s, we broadened our definition of success by recognising diverse strengths and abilities. Since the 2010s, we have increased emphasis on students' holistic development and strengthened lifelong learning. During the Budget and Committee of Supply (COS) debates, Members spoke about the uncertainty and challenges brought about by the geopolitical paradigm shift, artificial intelligence (AI) and the existential threat of climate change, and proposed many ways to better prepare Singaporeans, through education, for the future. I thank Members for your suggestions, which we will study carefully. In our next bound of education reform, we want to support every Singaporean to learn and reach their full potential, regardless of their starting point, and to seize opportunities in a fast-changing world. In line with Prime Minister Lawrence Wong's call for a "we first" society, we will "Learn For Life, Together". Today, I will speak about how we will refresh our education system in three ways. First, we will learn together. Students of different strengths and needs will be developed to their full potential. We will also uplift disadvantaged students and support those with Special Educational Needs (SEN). Second, we will grow together.”
“Affiliated schools contribute to our variegated education landscape, with their long history and distinctive school culture. In recognition of this, affiliated schools are allowed to accord some priority to affiliated students, which provides them with the opportunity to consistently imbue their school values, ethos and culture into their students over a longer period, while still adhering to the admission framework set by the Ministry of Education (MOE). From 2004, all affiliated secondary schools need to set Affiliate Minimum Requirements (AMR) – the minimum Primary School Leaving Examination score that students from affiliated primary schools must meet for affiliation priority. Since then, MOE has encouraged affiliated schools' proposals to progressively tighten their AMR to facilitate greater access for non-affiliated students. From 2019, MOE has also required schools to reserve at least 20% of places in each Posting Group at Secondary 1 for non-affiliated students. MOE does not cap the difference between the Cut-Off Point (COP) for non-affiliated students and the AMR, as the COP is determined by demand and choice patterns. For junior college (JC) admissions, affiliated students receive two bonus points when selecting their affiliated JC as first choice, with a maximum of four bonus points in the calculation of net First Language and Relevant Subject. The COP for JC admissions is similarly determined by demand and choice patterns, reflecting the score of the last student posted to the school.”
“As part of the upcoming Education Conversations, MOE will engage and seek views from stakeholders on how we can address concerns over an education "arms race" and reduce examination stakes, among other issues. Given the complexity of the issue and the diverse views among stakeholders, any major changes will need to be considered carefully.”
“Our teachers use a range of pedagogies to facilitate students' learning, such as inquiry-based and collaborative learning. They also use a variety of assessment modes that are fit-for-purpose for school-based assessment, including modes, like project work and oral presentation. The Primary School Leaving Examination (PSLE) serves a different purpose to school-based assessment. Apart from being a useful checkpoint on students' mastery of the primary school curriculum, the results also provide guidance for their next stage of learning and offer an objective way of posting students to secondary schools. Hence, the appropriate mode of PSLE is subject to more complex considerations. Any form of assessment is likely to generate some stress. However, this does not necessarily mean that the assessment mode is not developmentally appropriate. Often, it is not the assessment itself, but what the assessment results are used for and the expectation of one's performance that drives academic stress. Changing the form of assessment without addressing the causes will ultimately not be effective and may even be counterproductive. Over the years, efforts have been made to reduce the overemphasis on academic results and encourage a societal mindset shift towards holistic development. The blunting of the PSLE scoring system and the removal of mid-year examinations are some examples. The Ministry of Education (MOE) continually studies high-performing overseas educational systems for practices that can potentially be adapted to our context. However, we are mindful that these systems operate in different contexts and deal with different trade-offs.”
“This question has been addressed by the answer to oral Parliamentary Question No 1 on 24 February 2026. [Please refer to "Advertising Guidelines for Tuition and Private Education Services to Prevent Fear-based Marketing", Official Report, 24 February 2026, Vol 96, Issue 18, Oral Answers to Questions section.]”
“IHLs work with companies and sector agencies to offer students, regardless of background, a wide variety of quality internship opportunities. The IHLs also provide support to ensure that students who require the completion of an internship to graduate can secure one. This includes offering coaching and advice on resume writing and interview skills, to help students boost their chances at securing an internship. Where necessary, the IHLs may step in to identify and help match students to suitable internships to ensure that these students can complete an internship to meet their academic requirements.”
“These targeted intervention sessions conducted in classes of four to six students enable students with dyslexia to strengthen literacy skills. Concurrently, in their regular English language classes, teachers continue to reinforce these literacy skills using strategies that are essential for some students and beneficial for all. Mainstream schools have SEN Officers who provide learning and behavioural support for students experiencing social-behavioural challenges and adjustment difficulties. This may be done in class or in individual or small group settings. More SEN Officers are deployed to schools with a higher number of students with SEN.”
“About 7% of the student population in mainstream schools have reported special educational needs (SEN). This proportion has remained stable over the past three years. Our schools adopt a whole-school approach to support teaching and learning of all students, including those with SEN. This ecosystem of support comprises school leaders, key personnel overseeing the Case Management Team, Teachers trained in Special Needs (TSNs), subject teachers and SEN Officers. For example, while all teachers have the basic knowledge and strategies to teach classrooms with diverse student needs, each school has about five to 10 TSNs with deeper expertise who are able to share best practices with other teachers to support students with more complex needs. There is also ongoing professional learning for teachers to build up confidence and strengthen their skills to support students with SEN. Furthermore, every primary school is resourced with additional teachers specially trained to carry out targeted interventions such as TRANsition Support for InTegration (TRANSIT) and the School-based Dyslexia Remediation (SDR) Programme. Through TRANSIT, Primary 1 students identified with social and behavioural needs are placed in smaller class sizes of up to 10 to develop foundational self-management skills as they begin their schooling journey. Some students with SEN may also be in parallel pull-out small classes for learning support in English and mathematics where they learn alongside other students with weak language and literacy skills. Teachers trained in the SDR programme support Primary 3 and 4 students with dyslexia through explicit and systematic instruction that encompasses phonics teaching, sight word recognition and reading comprehension strategies.”
“Deputy Speaker, I report that the Committee of Supply has made progress on the Estimates of Expenditure for the financial year 2026/2027 and ask leave to sit again tomorrow.”
“Chairman, may I seek your consent to move that progress be reported and leave be asked to sit again?”
“The Ministry of Education works closely with the Ministry of Sustainability and the Environment, the National Environment Agency and the Ministry of Health to draw up guidelines for our schools to manage adverse climate events. These align with whole-of-Government plans and advisories. These guidelines enable learning to continue with minimal disruption during adverse climate events, while ensuring student safety and well-being. For example, schools should modify or, if necessary, suspend physical and outdoor activities when conditions pose risks to student well-being. These guidelines are updated and communicated to schools regularly. Additionally, schools receive timely reminders on mitigation guidelines before anticipated adverse climate periods. This ensures that schools can implement the necessary measures swiftly when climate conditions deteriorate. Schools also keep parents updated on the measures taken.”
“The G1 Humanities subject, which comprises social studies and exposure modules in geography, history and literature in English, was introduced in 2024 as part of the Ministry of Education's (MOE's) efforts to cater to the different strengths, interests and learning needs of our students through Full Subject-Based Banding (Full SBB). Before Full SBB, modules in geography, history and literature were not available in the Normal (Technical) course. This enhancement aligns with MOE's vision that all students will complete their secondary school education with a broad understanding of society and the world and develop global and civic competencies. The structure of G1 Humanities is designed so that students better understand the Singapore society they live in and how they can contribute, through social studies. The exposure modules in G1 Humanities allow students to learn global and civic competencies from geography, history and literature while keeping the overall learning load manageable and accessible. Students have the opportunity to learn different perspectives on key societal, historical and environmental issues through inquiry-based learning, discussions, use of manipulatives, such as card games and field-based learning. Under Full SBB, students who start with G1 Humanities may choose to take specific Humanities subjects at a more demanding level from Secondary 2 onwards if they show interest and aptitude in these disciplines. MOE reviews its curriculum regularly and will continue to make changes as necessary, so that our educational offerings meet students' diverse learning needs.”
“To support our teachers' professional growth and well-being, the Ministry of Education (MOE) provides teachers with opportunities to go for work attachments or further studies. Under the Teacher Work Attachment Plus programme, which started in 2021, teachers can be attached to organisations and industries across different sectors based on their interests for up to four weeks. Such work attachments help teachers to broaden their perspectives outside of teaching as part of professional growth, as they experience the work of the industry and interact with industry leaders. Teachers can then enrich classroom learning with authentic industry examples and provide students with relevant educational and career guidance. Since the programme started, teachers have participated in more than 730 attachments. MOE also supports teachers through the provision of professional development leave (PDL) which provides up to 12 months' half-pay leave or 10 weeks' full-pay leave, depending on their years in service. Officers may also apply for no-pay PDL if they want to take a longer duration of leave for professional development. Over the past three years, more than 360 teachers have taken PDL of different durations, depending on their needs.”
“The Bachelor of Arts/Science (BA/BSc) programme at the National Institute of Education (NIE) is one of the avenues for teacher recruitment. Over the past five years, the percentage of applicants offered admission has increased from 12% to 18%. Successful applicants are selected based on academic merit and teaching aptitude to meet our manpower needs in the different subjects. In addition to the BA/BSc, the Ministry of Education has other recruitment pools, such as fresh graduates and mid-careerists who complete professional training (Diploma in Education and Postgraduate Diploma in Education) at NIE before joining as teachers. To meet our recruitment objectives, we employ various strategies including early talent development through elective programmes, green-harvesting via the Teaching Internship Programme and Teacher Training Sponsorship and the Teaching Scholarships/Teaching Award. Targeted strategies, such as establishing new recruitment channels and enhancing outreach efforts, are adopted for subjects with greater needs.”
“Under the Foreign Language programme, students can learn French, German, Japanese and Spanish as a third language. The programme aims to nurture a pool of Singaporeans who can tap into opportunities in economies which use these languages. It is designed so that students can have the foundation to access undergraduate courses conducted in these languages. The curriculum is intensive and places a high demand on students. Hence, it is offered to students who demonstrate the ability to cope well with their core subjects. The Ministry of Education also offers Malay, Chinese, Arabic and Bahasa Indonesia as a third language. The objective is to enable students to understand the language and cultural heritage of communities in Singapore and of the region. These programmes focus on language skills for day-to-day interactions, which is less intensive. This is why the eligibility criteria for these third languages is relatively lower.”
“The Ministry of Education does not track the household income distribution of students admitted via the Direct School Admission scheme.”
“All teachers are trained to foster positive classroom culture, including strategies based on restorative approaches. This includes building positive peer relationships, effective classroom management to address challenging behaviours and facilitating conflict and relationship restoration. Key school personnel are trained to oversee and implement prevention and intervention measures to create a peer support culture, address bullying incidents, engage parents and facilitate restoration of relationships. These training programmes are delivered through pre-service and in-service courses. Some schools may also engage external service providers for additional professional development for their teachers in these areas.”
“Courses at the Autonomous Universities (AUs) are planned and regularly reviewed in consultation with relevant Ministries and agencies. New undergraduate programmes are introduced after assessing various factors, including industry demand, national manpower needs and resource requirements. The Ministry of Education will continue to work with the AUs and sector agencies, such as the Ministry of National Development and the National Parks Board, to monitor and assess how best to meet Singapore's long-term veterinary manpower needs.”
“Our Autonomous Universities (AUs) collaborate with a wide range of international partners in education and research. This allows our AUs and students to benefit from the experiences of reputable universities around the world, while also contributing to knowledge creation in areas of mutual benefit. Over time, these collaborations progress, evolve and mature. In some cases, they come to a natural end when both parties no longer find it mutually beneficial. Some collaborations have associated costs to pay for the resources committed by overseas university partners towards such efforts. The AUs and the Ministry of Education are mindful that the amount of funding required by AUs to enter into such partnerships should be commensurate with the value obtained, including developing in Singapore capabilities or opportunities that had not previously existed and positioning our AUs well for the future.”
“We will continue to work closely with parents to help students lead an active and healthy lifestyle.”