A concerned parent has written to Mothership.sg questioning the eligibility criteria for students taking Higher Chinese set by St Hilda's Primary school.

The parent raised the example of how one student with an overall grade of 97 marks for Primary 1 Chinese was not allowed to take Higher Chinese at the Primary 2 level. The child's parents were told that an appeal would not be possible when they enquired about the appeal process.

This was because the child did not fall among the top 25% of the cohort for the subject and did not qualify.

Streaming criteria runs counter to new push for wider scoring bands

The parent said it was "ironic that the (s)tudent is part of inaugural nationwide P1 cohort which will come under the new PSLE scoring system that replaces the t-score with wider scoring bands." The parent then quoted Minister for Education (Schools) Ng Chee Meng's remarks that "the way we currently score the PSLE is too precise, and differentiates our students more finely than necessary. We should therefore, in time, move away from such fine distinctions, which are not meaningful, especially at that young age."

The parent also questioned the purpose of streaming students to Higher Chinese classes at such a young age (Primary 2) as opposed to the traditional practice of streaming at a later age. The parent also wondered whether this eligibility criteria is approved by the Ministry of Education (MOE) and whether other schools have adopted such a criteria.

Stricter criteria kills passion?

The parent then questioned if children can be blamed for "losing the joy and motivation to try harder to pursue their talent in Chinese when 97 is not good enough for Higher Chinese" and wondered if the bar will be raised even higher in future.

St Hilda's and MOE's response

In response to Mothership.sg's queries, St Hilda's Primary principal Kew Mee Ying said that the school introduced Higher Chinese at Primary 2 in 2014 and students "who have demonstrated ability and interest, and have met the criteria, can take the HCL curriculum starting from Primary 2, to ensure they are effectively engaged."

Kew also said, "In ensuring that students are learning at a suitable pace so as to nurture a joy of learning and to sustain student’s interest in the language, the school continually reviews students’ readiness. Beyond Primary 2, students will also have opportunities to offer the HCL curriculum if they demonstrate their ability to do so."

Kew added that the school was in contact with the parents of the student and will continue to engage them.

The Straits Times reached out to MOE which said most schools offer Higher Chinese from Primary 5 and it was up to schools to decide the criteria for students taking up Higher Chinese. MOE told ST, ""There is flexibility...for a child to take up or drop Higher Chinese Language at different levels. "Such differentiation in curriculum allows schools to more effectively engage students with varying language abilities."

Netizens' reactions

This issue was first reported by ST and netizens on ST's Facebook page largely took aim at the parents who took this issue to the media. These were the most popular comments:

Top image is entirely unrelated to this article and just for the lulz.

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