Do more to help students with special needs pursue interests

I agree with the points made in the commentary by Professor K Ranga Krishnan, “Teaching and testing our students better” (April 22).

More needs to be done for students with special needs, so they have the opportunities to pursue the subjects that they like to learn, and teachers should help them by advising them.

Students with special needs tend to learn differently from others and schools should teach in a manner that suits their learning needs.

Schools that cater to students with special needs also need to monitor their learning capabilities and tweak lesson plans, so they offer a mixture of easy and challenging exercises for the students to attempt. This will boost the students’ confidence and ability to learn the concepts and apply them when the need arises.

Different students also have different learning abilities and schools should tweak the learning period to better help those who have difficulties coping.

Teaching should never be rushed and doubts students have should be clarified with teachers, so they can better guide the students in their learning.

Also, examinations should be more about testing the students’ level of understanding and less about them memorising model answers without understanding how to solve the problem.

They should be a form of confirmation that the students have understood the topics taught and that they know how to apply them in any context. Many students study only for examinations and they tend to forget the lessons after the examinations.

The education system needs to be more inclusive and I hope it gives every student and teacher the opportunity to manage short-term performance and achieve long-term goals, such that students appreciate the subjects they studied in school.