MOE would like to state unequivocally that the buying of school places is not allowed. All school principals are aware that under no circumstances are they to solicit or accept donations in exchange for school places.

The current Primary 1 Registration framework aims to provide children with school places according to a set of transparent criteria, guided by educational goals that serve the interest of the child.

MOE recognises that proximity is an important consideration for parents, so that a young child does not have to travel a long distance to go to school. However, proximity is not the sole deciding criteria. Phase 1 of the registration exercise gives priority to parents who already have a child studying at the school of choice as this is convenient for parents, allows older siblings to help the younger child and builds school ties. Phase 2 recognises the contributions and ties that parents have with schools and communities. For schools to thrive, key stakeholders such as former students, members of the school advisory committees and parent volunteers, are critical as they help build up and strengthen the school’s tradition and ethos, and support its students. However, none of them are guaranteed places for their children as admission is dependent on the demand for and availability of school places.

MOE strives to enable all students, regardless of their family background and circumstances, to achieve their full potential. All our schools are well-resourced with good teachers, suitable facilities and sufficient funding for school programmes. MOE is also enhancing financial support for students through the Edusave Scheme and school-based financial assistance schemes, so that no student will be denied useful educational programmes because of their financial situation.

MOE’s sexuality education programme, conducted from upper primary to pre-university level, reflects the mainstream views and values of Singapore society, where the majority of Singaporeans hold conservative views on sexuality. Thus, MOE’s programme on sexuality education is situated within the context of Singapore society which upholds the family as a key social institution.

In MOE’s sexuality education programme, homosexuality is covered in one lesson in the lower secondary package. The lesson seeks to inform students of the definition of “homosexual”, and that homosexual acts are illegal under Singapore law. It does not promote homosexuality, but follows social norms of mainstream society.

In delivering the programme, teachers are guided by the principle that parents are ultimately responsible for the values education of their children and that issues of sexuality often involve a question of values. Thus, students are encouraged to seek guidance from their parents on contentious issues such as homosexuality, so that they clarify their personal values and beliefs and take informed, responsible and values-based decisions regarding sexuality, while being aware of different views and perspectives in society.

Some parents who wrote in to the Ministry have also expressed concern over the content found in an “AWARE Comprehensive Sexuality Education: Basic Instructor Guide” that has been posted online. MOE is investigating this matter.

Background information on sexuality education programmes in school (see FAQs) is available on the Ministry’s website for parents’ reference.

Sexuality education conducted in MOE schools is premised on the importance of the family and respect for the values and beliefs of the different ethnic and religious communities on sexuality issues. The aim is to help students make responsible values-based choices on matters involving sexuality.

Core programmes are delivered by teachers but schools do collaborate with other agencies in delivering additional modules. However, in doing so, schools must ensure that any programmes run by external agencies are secular and sensitive to the multi-religious make-up of our society. Parents can choose to opt their children out of these programmes.

Last year, 11 secondary schools engaged AWARE to run workshops for their students. The number of students involved in each school ranged from about 20 to 100, and each workshop lasted 3 hours. The objectives of these workshops were to provide students with accurate information on Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs)/HIV, to help students understand the consequences of premarital sexual activity, and to equip students with skills such as decision-making and resisting negative peer pressure.

AWARE also conducted assembly talks, typically of 45-minute duration, for students in a few secondary schools. Some of the areas covered in the talks included body image, self-esteem, eating disorders, teenage pregnancies, sexual harassment and the role of women in today’s context.

The schools that engaged AWARE found that the content and messages of the sessions conducted were appropriate for their students and adhered to guidelines to respect the values of different religious groups. The schools did not receive any negative feedback from students who attended the workshops and talks or their parents.

In particular, MOE has also not received any complaint from parents or Dr Thio Su Mien, who was reported to have made specific claims about sexuality education in our schools. MOE has contacted Dr Thio Su Mien to seek clarifications and facts to substantiate her claims.

If parents and members of the public know of specific instances where guidelines have not been adhered to, they should report them directly to MOE to investigate. MOE recognises that sexuality education is sensitive. In conducting these programmes, the views of parents will be respected and values taught should not deviate from the social norms accepted by mainstream society in Singapore.

The Edusave Scheme is intended to help maximise learning opportunities for all Singaporean children. As such, Edusave funds are currently being used to pay for enrichment programmes such as co-curricular activities, music and dance, educational tours, and sports and games, which will add value and diversity to our children’s education experience and help maximise their potential.

Needy students can apply for financial help under the MOE Financial Assistance Scheme. Recipients of financial assistance under this scheme will receive a 75% subsidy for national examination fees, while those whose families are under the MCYS Public Assistance Scheme will receive 100% subsidy. Schools also have their own school-based financial assistance measures to further assist students. Students who need help to pay for examination fees are advised to approach their schools for assistance.

MOE will continue to review its financial assistance scheme to ensure that it is responsive to the needs of Singaporeans. The Government will ensure that no Singaporean child is denied an education due to financial difficulties.

The posting of pupils to secondary schools is based on merit according to three criteria: pupils’ PSLE results, their choices of schools and the vacancies available in the schools. A pupil who has performed better in the PSLE will have priority over another pupil who has not performed as well. The first pupil will be admitted first, subject to the availability of vacancies in the selected school. The second pupil will then be considered. If there is no more vacancy, the second pupil will be considered for his next choice school, again subject to the vacancies available in that school.

If a pupil fails to get a place in any of his schools of choice because all available vacancies have been taken up by other pupils based on merit, MOE will assist by posting the pupil to another school near his home which still has vacancies.

MOE contacted Mdm Rosmahwati in January 2009 to explain the process and why her son was posted to a school with vacancies nearest to his home and not to any of the schools chosen by him.

Mdm Jamalia’s child was also posted to an available school nearest her home as her child was not successful in getting a place in any of the schools he/she had chosen. We invite Mdm Jamalia to contact us at 6872-2220 or contact@moe.edu.sg, should she have further queries on the posting exercise.

The OM post is open to anyone who possesses the relevant experience in logistics, estate management, safety/emergency planning and discipline matters.

Besides former MINDEF and MHA uniformed officers, we have recruited mid-career professionals with the requisite experience for the job.

We thank Mr Ang for his feedback on our website. We have amended it to reflect clearly our policy to consider anyone with the relevant experience.

The Ministry of Education reviews the syllabuses for all subjects every 6 years to ensure that the contents which our children learn in schools remain current. Principals, teachers and students play an important role in these reviews, as their feedback and suggestions are taken into account in the redevelopment of syllabuses. Changes resulting from these reviews will then be incorporated into the textbooks. Where changes are minor, MOE will work with the publishers to ensure that the amendments are communicated to the schools so that the textbooks can continue to be usable.

MOE makes every effort to ensure that children will not lack the basic resources in their school education. Hence, we will continue to ensure that schools render the fullest support to needy students to purchase their school books. We thank Ms Chan for her feedback.

Lessons in CME and HEd are conducted through group discussions and role-play. Pupils are encouraged to pen their learning and personal reflections via the stories, scenarios and other activities into a journal, the Pupils’ Book. As the syllabuses of CME and HEd focus on experiential learning, there are thus no textbooks for these 2 subjects.

The Pupils’ Book may appear to parents as a 2-in-1 textbook. But it is actually a journal for pupils to document their personal learning journey in these two areas throughout their six years in primary school. Feedback and suggestions from teachers and pupils were actively sought when the Ministry designed the Pupils’ Book for CME and HEd. Many have found the format of the Pupils’ Book a useful platform for meaningful learning for our pupils in these two areas.

We thank Ms Lee-Huan for her feedback.

The Compulsory Education (CE) Act, legislated and implemented in 2003, ensures that Singaporean children are provided a sound education in our national schools.

Nevertheless, exemptions for home-schooling were allowed but with safeguards in place to protect the interest of the student. A PSLE benchmark was set at achievable standards taking their profiles into account and pegged at the bottom 33rd percentile PSLE aggregate score of all merged stream pupils who took the PSLE in that same year. This corresponded to a PSLE score of 191.

This benchmark is necessary to ensure acceptable standards of home-schooling, which can be highly variable as it is often dependent on a single provider. Parents who chose for their children to opt-out of national schools were informed upfront and had agreed to the PSLE benchmarks set for home-schooled children.

This year, 19 of the 26 home-schoolers who sat for the PSLE met the benchmark. 7 home-schoolers did not and had scores ranging from the bottom 1 percent to the 29th percentile. The request by parents to lower the benchmark does not serve the interest of these students. Instead, parents should consider enrolling them in our national schools to avail themselves of the full opportunities and resources that our schools provide. They should preferably do this as early as possible.

MOE will help facilitate admission to Secondary One for home-schoolers who have met the benchmarks. Those who wish to attend a national primary school to repeat the PSLE in 2009 can also seek MOE’s help for admission to Primary Six or lower.

Since independence, Singapore has adopted English as our language of use for business and government. As a result, we have gained a competitive edge as English is the lingua franca on the Internet and in a globalised world.

We have attained a level of proficiency in English among our young and the general public. However, it would be wrong to assume that this competency is a given, if standards are not adhered to. As linguists have pointed out, the language environment in Singapore is complex, due to the use of multiple and very different languages. The Ministry of Education’s experience in schools is that the use of Singlish will confuse students and hinder their progress in developing competency in the English language. If children hear Singlish, they will learn Singlish. Students immersed in Singlish encounter many difficulties in learning and speaking standard English. Furthermore, non-standard usage in speech often transfers to writing. While some students who are proficient in English can switch between standard English and Singlish, this is not true for all students. It is therefore educationally sound to teach standard English.

The Speak Good English Movement (SGEM) promotes standard English. People who speak good English should continue to do so, to serve as role models and help our young learn standard English.

Singaporeans, especially our young, must be able to communicate in English with clarity and impact, not just with fellow Singaporeans but with English speakers all over the world. This is especially important because we are a small nation, and cannot expect others to understand Singlish. While Singlish may be a fascinating academic topic for linguists to write papers about, Singapore has no interest in becoming a curious zoo specimen to be dissected and described by scholars. Singaporeans’ overriding interest is to master a useful language which will maximise our competitive advantage, and that means concentrating on standard English rather than Singlish.

Ms Liu is wrong to assert that the Primary School Leaving Examination (PSLE) has “evolved into an exam that divides the haves and have-nots among our 12-year-olds”. The top 5% of students in the PSLE do not come only from a few schools with rich parents. In fact, they come from more than 95% of our primary schools and across all socio-economic groups. In addition, over 2,000 students from 155 schools (or about 90% of our primary schools) successfully obtained a place in participating secondary schools this year under the Direct School Admissions (DSA) exercise, based on their talents in different fields. These students likewise came from various socio-economic groups. The criteria each school uses for the selection of students under the DSA are made public on their websites.

In our schools, all students have access to enrichment activities, such as art, music and sports programmes, or overseas training, exposure trips and competitions. Our school-based co-curricular programmes provide opportunities for all students to develop themselves in art, music, and sports. Additional funding is also provided to help students, especially those from less well-off families, go on overseas exchanges.

MOE strives to enable all students, regardless of their family background and circumstances, to achieve their full potential.

Under Compulsory Education, students who are exempted from studying in our national schools, are exempted on the basis that they are adequately prepared in terms of acquiring core knowledge to equip them for further education and the world of work. Hence, they are required to take the PSLE.

The PSLE benchmarks for designated schools (madrasahs and San Yu Adventist School) and home-schooling students were developed taking into account the profile of the students who wish to be exempted from Compulsory Education. The implementation of Compulsory Education, including the setting of benchmarks, was decided after extensive public consultation and taking into consideration inputs from individuals and groups.

The benchmarks for San Yu Adventist and home-schoolers were pegged at the 33rd percentile PSLE aggregate score of all merged stream pupils who took the PSLE in that same year. The respective benchmarks and the need to meet these benchmarks from 2008 were communicated to the designated schools and home-schoolers since 2003.

Mr Rocknathan queried if the review of examination scripts should be conducted by an independent party. The Singapore Examination and Assessment Board (SEAB) follows an established code of practice to ensure that the marking and review processes are rigorously conducted. This code of practice is in line with the practice of other examination boards.

Mr Rocknathan also queried on the secondary school placement for home-schooling students. As the Secondary One Posting Exercise is a placement exercise for students from our national primary schools who are progressing to our national secondary schools, home-schoolers and students from the designated schools are not included in the exercise. For these students, sitting for the PSLE is the means to ascertain that they have been adequately prepared in the core academic subjects. Home-schoolers and students from the designated schools are welcomed to enrol in our national schools. Instead of going through the Secondary One Posting Exercise, they can approach the schools that they wish to be enrolled in directly or seek MOE’s facilitation for admission.

We thank Mr Rocknathan for his feedback and encourage him to approach MOE directly for further information or clarification.

Pupils with physical or learning disabilities which may adversely affect their performance in the national examinations may request special consideration / arrangements during the school and national examinations or exemption from certain components.

Our schools consider parents‘ requests for special considerations during school and national examinations sympathetically and on a case-by-case basis, and would be guided by the medical reports tendered in support of the requests. Schools would also align their practice with what the Singapore Examinations and Assessment Board (SEAB) would have granted for the national examinations.

In Mdm Lee’s case, the school concerned has provided the necessary support for her daughter on a daily basis as well as granted special provisions during her school examinations. As there might have been some miscommunication on the issue, the school has since clarified the matter with Mdm Lee. This has enhanced mutual understanding and expectations on the issue. The school will continue to engage the parents in support of the pupil’s development and growth.

The Social Development Unit is working with the polytechnics and universities to introduce relationship programmes as an elective. The aim is to teach appropriate relationship and family values, and equip them with skills in relating to others. The programme has been generally well-received and students have found this helpful in their personal development. As announced in the Marriage and Parenthood Package, SDU will be exploring with MOE to extend this to JCs and the Institute of Technical Education. If introduced there, students are free to opt out should they wish to.

We thank Mr Selby for his feedback. If Mr Selby has further concerns or need for clarification on the above, he may wish to write to SDU via email at mcys_sdu@mcys.gov.sg.

Meritocracy is one of Singapore’s fundamental values and critical success factors. Every Singaporean, regardless of family background and circumstances, should have full opportunities to realise his potential. But we should not confuse meritocracy where each succeeds based on his abilities with affirmative action which seeks to equalise outcomes.

All government scholarships, including those from the Public Service Commission (PSC), are awarded strictly on merit. We encourage students from all family backgrounds to apply. There is no quota, so when two candidates are equally deserving, we never have to discriminate in favour of the student from a poorer background—we give the award to both.

About half of PSC scholars live in private property, but this is not because the system is unfair or un-meritocratic. One major reason is because they are likely to have able parents who have benefited from our meritocratic system. Successful parents then have children who are also likely to be able. This happens in every society, whether because of nature or nurture.

We will do our utmost to give students from less privileged backgrounds as equal a start in life as possible. That is why we invest so much in education, not just in the top schools and universities, but also in all our neighbourhood schools, the ITE and Polytechnics. We want every child to have the maximum chance of succeeding.

We have many bursaries and financial assistance schemes, from kindergarten all the way to university. Needy students also receive help to buy computers, attend enrichment programmes and go on overseas exchange programmes.

These schemes have helped many students to move up and do well. No deserving student is denied entry into a top school for lack of money. In short, we seek to level up everyone, not to pull down the successful. In this, we have done far better than many developing or developed countries.

One of Singapore’s strengths is that a good number of our most able students, including those from well-off families, see purpose in public service and take up government scholarships. Our challenge is ensuring that outstanding students continue to do so in spite of the many attractive alternatives open to young people today. It would be Singapore’s loss, and contrary to our fundamental values, to penalise students for their parents’ success, and deny capable students scholarships simply because they come from well-off families.