On Gifted Education Programme

QUESTION ON GIFTED EDUCATION PROGRAMME

By Denise Phua

Thank you, Speaker. I want to thank the Minister for the courage to look into changing the GEP. It has been a sacred cow for many years in our MOE system. It is also aligned with the Minister's vision, which I fully support, of making education pathways to be more student-centric and to bring out the best in each student.

My question to the Minister is: why not go all the way out to let students pick the subjects in which they can have most passion and ability for, at the highest level that they can pursue and attain? Why is there still a need for labelling a programme as for gifted or not gifted, especially if we have the concept that giftedness could be in academics, sports, arts, leadership and so forth? Why not go all the way and scrap all these labels and let each perform to his or her best, and study to his or her best?

I am just concerned that if we continue to now decentralise the GEP to every school for the top 10%, then, would it be possible that it would get back to the old situation where there is a so-called elite class, and families and students will chase that class, and there is this Express stream possibility and the rest?

My question to the Minister is: why not go all the way, according to his vision that many support?