Chairman, I beg to move, "That the total sum to be allocated for Head K of the Estimates be reduced by $100".

Chairman, I applaud MOE for the many changes it has made to better our education system. For such a time as this, when disruptions come fast and furious, we have no time to waste to ensure that our education system will indeed deliver the self-directed, self-motivated lifelong learners we need for not just a good economy, but also for a caring and inclusive society.

What would our education system look like if we were designing it from scratch? What are the sacred cows that should be examined, modified or slain, if no longer relevant?

I wish to talk about five cows today, namely, Streaming, Gifted Education Programme, Competitions, PSLE and Tuition.

First one, on Streaming. Jack Neo, in his 2002 movie, "I Not Stupid", one of the highest grossing local films, revolved around the lives of three students in the then EM3 academic stream, showing the ill effects of labelling. Then, the negative effects of streaming were affirmed again by a 2018 social experiment video "Regardless of Class" hosted by Senior Minister of State, Dr Janil Puthucheary. In it, youths from the Integrated Programme, Normal (Academic) and Normal (Technical) streams shared frankly, sometimes painfully, how they perceived each other due to the labelling.

Sir, doing away with streaming does not equate to putting everyone in the same class for every subject, ignoring the need for each to learn at their own pace and own method. Far from it. One good solution is Subject-based Banding and MOE has done it and shown good results from it.

This is not the first time that MOE has done away with streaming and labelling. In 2004, MOE decided to merge the EM1 and EM2 steams and in 2008, announced that the EM3 academic stream will be scrapped. I therefore recommend that streaming be abolished and replaced by Subject-based Banding for both academics and non-academics subjects.

Next, the second sacred cow – Gifted Education Programme (GEP). I think it should be scrapped if Subject-based Banding can be introduced. What is the point if academically gifted children only mix amongst themselves or with the academically strongest? Why do we not provide natural settings to let them interact and appreciate each other and other people, unlike themselves? GEP should be abolished and students who excel in specific subjects or learn differently can be clustered in subject-banded academic programmes that suit them. For other subjects such as PE, CCA, let the GEP candidates mix with their peers. It will make them better leaders and better human beings.

The third sacred cow I ask for examination is the MOE's "best teacher/best student/best school" Competitions. In the spirit of raising and celebrating as much excellence as possible, MOE should review the underlying principles and workings of the "Best Teacher", "Best School" and "Best Student" type of recognition schemes. If we are aiming for every school indeed to be a good school in its own right and for as many excellent educators as possible, then these schemes should be reviewed. For instance, there are so many great educators out there – more than 30,000 of them, and selecting one or a few of them as the best is not only a challenging task. It does not do justice to the good work of MOE. So, let us take reference from models such as the Malcolm-Baldridge Quality Assuarance Schemes, which does not put a cap to the number of winners; but is a system that welcome as many as possible who can meet the bar of excellence.

Next, on the PSLE – the fourth sacred cow, which was delivered in 1960. The PSLE has been around since 1960. Sir, views even amongst educators, including school leaders, continue to be split over whether it should remain. Even with the latest removal of exams in Primary 1 and 2 and some transitional years, parents and others in society are not blind to the fact that there is still a high-stakes exam at the end of six years of the Primary school education. So, there are good reasons why we should seriously pilot a 10-year through train system from Primary 1 and slain the PSLE sacred cow: (i) it removes the unnecessary step of prematurely sorting children through a high-stakes exam at the age of 12, many of whom are still developing; and (ii) removing PSLE frees up substantive PSLE preparation time which are often hot-housing time to crunch a few selected academic subjects such as English, Math, Science which do not reflect a holistic education.

Abolishing PSLE will provide real space to provide students to become the curious, agile and more self-directed learners that the future economy needs. Removing PSLE will also release some of the self-inflicted pressure and stress in students, families and teachers who have to choose between educating, learning or teaching to the test. Removing PSLE will also remove a reason to feed the ever-growing tuition industry.

Sir, I disagree with Ministry's stand that PSLE is important to "gauge how students have done". There are other ways of conducting formative and summative assessments at any age, in any intervals. Government can carry out the change in a safe manner; by allowing for a cluster of pilot schools with an opt-in option for those who believe that it is time for an alternate system. We can refer to the best such as the Yun-Ku school set up by AliBaba founder Jack Ma.

Finally, on Tuition. MOE should not ignore this elephant in the room and resign to this shadow $1 billion education industry. The tuition industry is more nimble and responsive to the needs of its customer base and MOE can learn from them. MOE has started its own online learning platform to increase the access of good learning resources to all but new online on-demand tutoring platforms have already started in the tuition industry. I believe that if MOE puts its heart to it, it can find ways by which it can take on the tuition industry and remove the excesses of the over-reliance of tuition, especially for students who do not need it.

I, therefore, seek Ministry’s consideration to examine, to diagnose and to consider slaying the five sacred cows I have mentioned today – Streaming, GEP, Competitions, PSLE and Tuition.