31 August 2019
Education Minister Ong Ye Kung has said that examination grades should be not be the sole means of defining a person, and that societal mindsets need to shift to reflect this.
Mr Ong raised these issues at a forum with parents and students that was filmed for Talking Point. The forum discussed sources of educational stress for students, and the impact of subject-based banding.
Subject-based banding allows students to take subjects at a higher or lower level, based on their strengths.
Mr Ong added that it was “reasonable to ask for qualifications”, but not “for every grade” unless the job requires particular subject knowledge.
That being said, reducing stress was not the aim behind the decision to do away with some exams.
“For every exam we remove, we have three weeks of freed up curriculum time, which is very useful for teachers to then teach better and for students learn better,” said Mr Ong.