SINGAPORE — Almost three years after the changes were first mooted, it was announced on Friday (April 8) that pupils in Primary 1 this year will be the first to be awarded wider grade bands — instead of T-scores under the present system — when they sit for the Primary School Leaving Examination (PSLE) in 2021. 

Tweaks will be made to the Secondary 1 posting system in tandem, Acting Education Minister (Schools) Ng Chee Meng told Parliament during the Ministry of Education’s (MOE) Committee of Supply debate. 

Mr Ng said also that the Direct School Admission (DSA) scheme — which was introduced in 2004 to promote holistic education for students — will be reviewed. Details of the review, which will seek to “realign the implementation of (the scheme) with its original policy intent”, will be announced later. 

Nevertheless, Mr Ng said the guiding principles are to “expand opportunities in more secondary schools” under the scheme and sharpen its focus to “better recognise talents and achievements in specific domains, rather than general academic ability”.

Mr Ng said: “In sum, with changes in the PSLE, DSA and a more variegated secondary school landscape, we will create more opportunities and choices for students at the Secondary 1 posting juncture.” 

Plans to change the PSLE scoring system –  which will make it similar to the ‘O’ and ‘A’ Levels – were first announced by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong during the National Day Rally in 2013. Noting the “tremendous stress” which the all-important exam puts on both students and their families, Mr Lee said the move would “reduce excessive competition to chase that last point – an A* is still an A*”, whether the student score 91 marks or 99 marks.

On Friday, Mr Ng reiterated that the Government wants to “reduce excessive focus on academic results”. He said: “Today, there is a deeply ingrained mindset that the PSLE is a very high-stakes exam.” 

He added that many hold the erroneous view that a child’s PSLE T-score, or aggregate score, determines his or her success and pathway in life.

“What we observe is that a student’s PSLE indicates the progress that a child has made in his or her learning in primary school, but it does not cas t in stone what he or she can achieve in the future (or) in life,” said Mr Ng. “Yet, such mindsets have persisted.”

Over the last few years, the Government has taken several steps to reduce the over-emphasis on academic results. For example, the names of top PSLE scorers have not been made public since 2012. 

“The way that the T-score is calculated may have also created unhealthy competition among our young children,” said Mr Ng. By blunting the scoring system to a large extent, the new system will be “more reflective of a student’s learning and level of mastery”.

“Once a student shows a level of understanding and ability that meets the professionally-set standard, he will receive the grade, regardless of how his peers perform,” Mr Ng said. “This is more educationally meaningful than assessing a student’s performance relative to his peers.”

The Secondary 1 posting system will remain “fair and transparent” and based on academic merit, he said. Nonetheless, with the move to broaden PSLE scoring bands, students will be able to choose a school that is a good fit for them from a wider range of schools of a similar academic profile. “In doing so, students can consider factors such as the school’s distinctive programmes, CCAs (Co-Curricular Activities), and partnerships with the community and industry, and better match these factors with their interests,” he added.

Mr Ng said the MOE will take the next few years to work through these changes carefully. This will also give parents and students enough time and support to understand and adjust to the new system when it kicks in.

On the DSA review, Mr Ng noted that there has been “some unevenness in how different schools select their DSA students”. Still, the scheme has benefitted many students, he said. 

By next year, all secondary schools will each offer two distinctive programmes in various domains, through the Applied Learning Programme and Learning for Life Programme. “With a more diverse and vibrant secondary school landscape, we want to enable more students to benefit from the DSA scheme and tap on the range of programmes our schools offer,” Mr Ng said. 

In response to TODAY’s queries, MOE said that every year, about 2,700 students are successfully admitted to secondary schools under the DSA. 

Under the existing DSA scheme, students are accepted by participating schools, namely “independent, autonomous and schools with distinctive programmes”.

MOE said: “The number of DSA places for different types of schools takes into account the nature of their programmes. We will be reviewing these as part of the review of DSA, recognising the development of schools’ distinctive programmes, to provide students with more choice out of a larger range of schools.”