Education

Preparing Singaporeans for the future

In a complex and fast-changing world, every Singaporean, young and old, needs to acquire the skills, attributes, and competencies to remain relevant and thrive in the years ahead.

Early years

Attending quality preschool gives our children a strong foundation for life. This is why, in the last decade, the Government has invested significantly in the early childhood sector to enhance access to affordable and quality preschools. To meet the increasing demand for full-day preschool, the number of full-day preschool places was increased to over 200,000 in 2023.

• In 2024, over 65% of preschoolers attended government-supported preschools, comprising Anchor Operator (AOP) preschools, Partner Operator (POP) preschools, and Ministry of Education (MOE) Kindergartens. We are on track for 80% of preschoolers to have a place in a government-supported preschool by around 2025. Improving the preschool enrolment rate of children from lower-income families remains a key priority, and we have introduced further measures to support these families in recent years. This included priority preschool enrolment in AOP preschools and MOE Kindergartens, as well as outreach by ComLink+ family coaches.

• Preschool education has become more affordable. Full-day childcare monthly fee caps for AOP and POP preschools were lowered in 2023 and will be further lowered in 2025.

From December 2024, all families with a monthly household income of $6,000 and below will qualify for full childcare subsidies for their income tier, benefitting up to 17,000 additional children. Coupled with basic and means-tested subsidies, the monthly out-of-pocket expenses for most families will be reduced to between $3 and $441 from 1 January 2025.

Schooling years

In 2023, 97% of students from the latest Primary 1 cohort progressed to post-secondary programmes. For students from the lowest socio-economic status quintile, this was 94%.

We are expanding pathways and opportunities for students to pursue their strengths and interests, and be better prepared for the future.

• Full Subject-Based Banding in secondary schools was fully implemented from the start of 2024, enabling students to learn at a level that best suits their strengths. Post-secondary institutions will also admit learners with a wider range of academic profiles, while ensuring that they have the fundamentals to thrive in their chosen pathway.

• The curricular structure for ITE was enhanced to allow students to achieve a Higher National ITE Certificate in three years instead of four. As at April 2024, 50% of ITE’s courses have been restructured, benefitting about 9,000 students. ITE is on track to transition all courses to the enhanced structure by 2026.

• In March 2023, a Partnerships Engagement Office (PEO) was set up in MOE to connect schools with industry partners, providing opportunities for our students to develop 21^st Century Competencies (21CC). As at June 2024, PEO has engaged over 150 industry partners, with plans to attract more.

Feature Story: St. Patrick’s School’s partnership with Raffles Hotel

Raffles Hotel partnered St. Patrick’s School to expose its students to work in the hospitality sector and to develop 21CC. Since October 2023, Secondary Three students have participated and gained exposure to areas such as customer service, housekeeping, and food and beverage service. Beyond work exposure, the students learnt to be proactive, to embrace opportunities for learning, and the importance of effective communication and teamwork.

Our students have more opportunities to be recognised for different talents and achievements, and for their development of 21CC and life skills.

• More students were admitted to secondary schools through Direct School Admission, from 3,500 in 2019 to 4,400 in 2023. Local Autonomous Universities (AU) also increased aptitude-based admissions to take into consideration non-academic achievements. Around 62% of the AU intake cohort in Academic Year 2023 were admitted through aptitude-based admissions.

• More students will be recognised for developing 21CC through the Edusave awards. The EAGLES and Edusave Skills Award have been expanded from 2024, so that 21,000 more students can be eligible every year, in addition to the previous 28,000 awardees per year.

Despite disruptions from the COVID-19 pandemic, our students continued to perform well in the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development's (OECD) Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA). Our students emerged top in Reading, Mathematics, Science, and Creative Thinking, in 2022.

We will further strengthen efforts for our educators’ personal and professional development, to support our students’ learning and well-being. However, the PISA results also showed that more can be done to support our children and strengthen their familial ties at home. Compared to their peers in OECD countries, our students perceived their family as less supportive, with only half indicating that their parents took interest in what they learn or talked to them about problems faced at school at least once a week. We will continue to provide parents with resources to cultivate and strengthen support for their children. We will also continue to partner Parent Support Groups, community organisations, and other agencies to bolster parent-child relationships.

Lifelong learning

We are doing more to support Singaporeans in acquiring new skills and sharpening existing ones throughout their career.

• We enhanced the national SkillsFuture movement to support Singaporeans as they take ownership of their lifelong learning.

  • Training participation rate for the labour force increased from 35% in 2015, when SkillsFuture was launched, to close to 44% in 2023. 98% of trainees surveyed in the 2023 Training Quality and Outcomes Management Survey indicated they could perform their work better after training.

  • In 2023, mid-career Singaporeans aged 40 and above formed around 39% of trainees supported under SkillsFuture. They received subsidies that covered up to an additional 20% of course fees (above the 50% to 70% baseline course fee funding) in recognition of the higher opportunity cost faced in undertaking training. From 1 May 2024, under the SkillsFuture Level-Up Programme, they received a SkillsFuture Credit top-up of $4,000 to further defray training fees for programmes with better employability outcomes.

• We introduced the ITE Progression Award in March 2024 to support ITE graduates in upskilling earlier in their careers and securing better progression prospects in their chosen professions.

Read more: Quality Jobs | Economy and Labour Market

Embrace learning beyond grades

Our education approach will continue to evolve to help Singaporeans embrace learning beyond grades. We will continue to work with parents, the community, and industry partners to support our next generation in being future-ready.