12 February 2019
Under the guidance of the Ministry of Education, twelve Singapore schools have piloted Subject-Based Banding, a scheme introduced in 2014 which allows Normal (Academic) and Normal (Technical) students who score at least an A for English, Mathematics, Science or mother tongue to take the corresponding subject at the Express level.
N(T) students who scored B or C can take the subject at the N(A) level. They can also take subjects at a higher level if they do well in them after starting Secondary One.
N(A) students from the pilot scheme performed very well compared with their peers from the O-Level cohort in last year’s exams. 90 per cent of N(T) students who took subjects at the higher N(A) level also achieved passes in those subjects last year.
The scheme has been rolled out to all schools offering the N(A) and N(T) courses.
Teachers have reflected that the scheme plays to students’ strengths, and gives them a better chance to qualify for the polytechnics’ foundation courses.