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SINGAPORE – The Ministry of Education (MOE) is considering making changes to the way PSLE results are used in secondary school admissions, as well as to the difficulty of examinations, among other things.

Education Minister Desmond Lee said the ministry is

looking at curbing the education “arms race”

, along with examining issues such as direct school admissions (DSA) and co-curricular activities (CCAs), which have become increasingly competitive.

The MOE will soon start a series of conversations with Singaporeans to hear their views before making any changes, said Mr Lee on Jan 26 in an interview with the media.

Asked whether MOE would study alternative assessment models or if the PSLE would remain, he said: “We do not want to pre-judge, we do not want to circumscribe... it may or may not be a tweak. It could also be quite major.”

His remarks come amid growing recognition that the “arms race” in education has not abated, despite significant changes made by the Government to dial back excessive academic pressure by ending streaming and revamping PSLE scoring.

Mr Lee said MOE’s multi-year effort will involve conversations with school leaders, educators, parents, students, researchers and the wider community. This will be done through in-person focus groups, online engagements and surveys.

More details will be shared later, he added.

Exams and assessments aim to gauge a child’s understanding and to guide placement, as well as determine the level of learning best suited for him or her, said Mr Lee.

He noted that any policy changes will be made carefully, as these will likely have a major impact.

“I’m quite sure there’ll be very diverse feedback that we’ll get, including ideas about how we can better move away from this ‘arms race’ to enable our children to learn more holistically and to learn more deeply,” he added.

On the other hand, some feel that students need to face stress, he said. “There are some people who say examination stress is important, academic excellence is important… don’t dumb our system down.”

Mr Lee did not provide a timeline for when parents could expect results from MOE’s efforts.

“Let us start the process first. I’m quite sure we’ll have a lot of input and you have to study different models,” he said, adding that MOE is studying overseas models including “well-known examples” like Denmark, Finland and Estonia in Europe, as well as East Asian countries.

The ongoing review of the DSA system and the next review of CCAs will also be part of the conversation.

While DSA was established to “recognise a wider meritocracy” beyond academic success, Mr Lee said he recognises it can also drive hothousing – the practice of intensively coaching children in specific areas to gain admission advantages.

“It also causes the full impacts of social stratification. Those with more resources are able to spend more on their children,” he added.

Mr Lee also said that MOE is additionally

studying the Primary 1 registration framework

to enhance access to primary schools for students of different backgrounds.