24 April 2019

Some Singapore academics have said that they are unable to accept the Ministry of Education’s assurances that the proposed law against online falsehoods will not affect their work.

These academics comprise of Singapore educators based at home as well as overseas, as well as their foreign associates. They sent a press statement recently indicating that they wanted certain assurances to be reflected in the draft legislation.

Among the Singaporean academics who signed the letter were Associate Professor Teo You Yenn and Assistant Professor Walid Jumblatt from Nanyang Technological University; National University of Singapore Associate Professor Chong Ja Ian; and SMU professor Pang Eng Fong.

At the same time, the group of academics acknowledged that the “disinformation dilemma that has prompted the Singapore government to act is a real one” that has resulted in “the corruption of democratic processes and the spread of hate propaganda against defenceless communities”.

Supporting the Government’s stand, Singapore Management University School of Law dean Goh Yihan said that the Bill strikes a right balance in giving ministers the power to make the initial call to swiftly address the problem, and then allowing that decision to be challenged in court.

23 April 2019

More students from Singapore’s schools are seeking help at the Institute of Mental Health for stress.

The clinics saw an average of about 2,400 new cases every year from 2012 to 2017.

Dr Lim Choon Guan, senior consultant and deputy chief of IMH’s department of developmental psychiatry, said: “Over the past few years, I have seen more teenagers in our clinic who are from top schools and report experiencing school-related stress.”

Experts say that pressures faced by students are real. These pressures could come from the home or school environment or even themselves.

Though the Ministry of Education has expanded the university cohort to provide more opportunities, students still face stressors, such as the desire to get into the best courses and prestigious schools.

Many schools have implemented a peer support system to motivate students and encourage students to seek help from trusted adults.

14 April 2019

Education Minister Ong Ye Kung has said that education remains the best social leveller, but there needs to be a broader definition of meritocracy, as well as the recognition that talent goes beyond just grades.

He was speaking at a forum on education at the National University of Singapore.

The forum, attended by over 300 guests, explored various issues, such as the divide between schools perceived as elite and neighbourhood, and the need for a more compassionate meritocracy.

Yale-NUS College president Tan Tai Yong said that while education has raised the standard of living over the years, Singapore’s education system has become too differentiated.

Prof Tan said that academic performance is not determined entirely by the natural and inherent abilities of an individual, but is, to a large extent, a function of socioeconomic and environmental conditions.

11 April 2019

Even up till today, GCE ‘O’ and ‘A’ Level certificates earned by Singapore students bear the name of Cambridge in recognition of our long-standing affiliation with the British-based examination group which dates back to 1892

Now, questions are being raised on why Singapore continues to rely on Cambridge Assessment to set and mark our papers. Over the years, we have evolved a unique education system that has its own internal standards of rigour and our syllabus has been changed and updated to reflect societal needs.

So why do we still need to wear the Cambridge brand?

Mr Seah Yam Meng, a retired civil servant said, “(As) a First World country whose education system is ranked among the best in the world, we should be confident enough to mark our own exam scripts by now.”

According to the Singapore Examinations and Assessment Board (SEAB), our longstanding working relationship with Cambridge Assessment was previously updated with a new agreement signed in 2013 on the delivery of the GCE N/O/A-level exams here.

SEAB said: “Given the large number of subjects and papers examined in the GCE-level examinations, any changes to the conduct of the national examination or the examination processes must be carefully planned, taking into consideration the timeline and resources available.”

But why does Singapore, which has an education system that has been recognised as one of the world’s best, continue to link itself with Cambridge after so many years, while other former British colonies have cut ties and developed their own qualifications?

While our local examinations bear the Cambridge brand, the exam here is not linked to the British equivalents or the international version of the GCE exams.

Secondary schools here offer uniquely Singapore O-level subjects like computing in more applied areas, while the N levels – for less academically inclined students – was introduced in the 1980s by MOE.

10 April 2019

Singapore universities have cited work attachment programmes as a key factor that greatly promotes graduate employability.

For instance, Nanyang Technological University students may do 10 to 30 weeks of internship or work attachment either locally or overseas.

This has been a proven formula for success, as seen by the fact that more than one in three Business and Computing graduates were hired by their internship companies.

Similarly, at the Singapore University of Social Sciences, work attachments are a graduation requirement for full-time undergraduates.

The SUSS work attachments last 24 weeks and expose students to “authentic work environments” which facilitates their learning, said SUSS in a press release.

08 April 2019

There was a very lively debate at the recently held Straits Times Education Forum.

Participants of the forum, which was held at the Singapore Management University School of Law Building, discussed the phenomenon of “people farming”, where information gleamed from social media interaction is amassed and sold for a profit, often without transparency or accountability.

The Straits Times Education Forum is organised by The Straits Times and supported by SMU, and this year is its fourth edition.

National Junior College student Eliora Joseph, speaking during the debate on entrepreneurship at the same forum, said that “companies are profit-driven and will prioritise revenue over more important things like privacy.”

Social entrepreneur Sumitra Pasupathy said: “Businesses do harm when they’re not considering the good for all.”

She added that entrepreneurs should be driven by purpose, have people as the priority and be supported by policies that promote good organisations through resources and capital.

04 April 2019

PhD students at the National University of Singapore and the Nanyang Technological University will soon be able to go on exchanges between them.

Under a new exchange programme, each group of students can attend classes at the other institution, which will result in a broader spectrum of course offerings that can be studied.

This programme is open to full-time PhD students who have completed at least one semester of study.

NTU president Subra Suresh said the exchange programme would “integrate the diverse and complementary strengths of NTU and NUS to provide a more comprehensive selection of course offerings for our PhD students”.