Education Minister: PSLE and class sizes stay status quo

Education Minister: PSLE and class sizes stay status quo. Please refer to the transcript of Minister Ong Ye Kung’s  speech in Parliament.

Without rehashing the contents in his speech, the two most relevant points are:

1. 1. 1. PSLE will not be scrapped! He went on to provide several real life alternatives in other countries. Nevertheless, PSLE still “happens to be the most meritocratic, and probably the most fair of all imperfect systems.”In a nutshell, our primary school students in SG still have to struggle with their preparations for PSLE in the foreseeable future.

         And that is what iMatter Learning Centre is about. We are here to help our students make their way through their PSLE journey as painless as possible.

      2. Class size will remain status quo for most schools. In his words, “Let me put MOE’s position on this straight: with good teachers, smaller class sizes help the students. Our teachers can attest to that through first-hand experience. Why then is MOE cautious on the issue of class size? Because how it is implemented makes all the difference.” He went on to cite a few overseas examples which of course prove that class size does not statistically lead to better performance.

         My stand is: sure! With good teachers, smaller class sizes help the students. This is precisely why we believe in small class teaching (no more than 6 students) and more importantly, a good tutor to teach the class. These are the qualities that bring about effective teaching and learning.