04 January 2019
Education Minister Ong Ye Kung recently gave a speech in which he mentioned the Learn for Life movement, which aims to move away from an overemphasis on academic results.
“A major impetus is to shift away from an overemphasis on grades and assessment, and invigorate the classroom through applied and inquiry-based learning,” said Mr Ong.
The MOE will be setting guidelines for schools so that there should be only one class test for each subject per term that count towards the year-end score. Teachers will also use assessment tools such as worksheets, class work and homework to gauge the progress of students.
Said Mr Ong: “At first, parents were sceptical and worried that without continual assessments, the children would not study hard. But they soon came around when they saw that fewer continual assessments actually made the students more interested in learning.”