Education initiatives announced by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong during the National Day Rally on Sunday night signalled that changes will be made to the Primary 1 admissions and the PSLE scoring system in the near future.

Perhaps sensing the disquiet among parents growing louder in relation to this announcement, Education Minister Heng Swee Keat posted on his Facebook page saying that the changes were proposed after very careful study over the past two years with inputs from more than 22,000 educators and members of the public.

Mr Heng advised students and their families not to worry about these changes. He said the PSLE scoring would take some years to implement and will not affect the immediate batches of students.

However, education concerns prompted soul-searching in the discussion forums in KiasuParents.com, where forum participants openly trade advice and responses.

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One parent wrote:

"No matter how "branded" the school, you should not make your kid wake up at 530 a.m. daily to commute to school. I think that is morally wrong and a total failure on the parents who impose such stress on their own kid. As such, I feel distances from school should still count at every single phase. [quip float="pqright"]Parents who have fallen short in their lives should not impose their aspirations on their kids[/quip] in a manner that is detrimental to their well being and growth and add extra hardship. I can only pity the poor children who come from such families."

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Another parent wrote:

"[quip float="pqleft"]PM Lee was spot on when he said nowadays PSLE involves the whole family.[/quip] This is the clearest indication that the PSLE is now beyond the level of most of our 11 to 12-year-olds. During our time, most of us had no guidance from parents and did not undergo tuition."

"The level of PSLE now is not a measure of a student's capability, but a measure of how much help and support he has received."

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The harshest critic by far:

"I really don't understand why Singapore's education syllabus has to be so difficult. Sometimes I wonder if it's just so we can boast that our kids are "smarter" than those in other countries. Yes, they may be "smarter", probably a couple of years ahead of their Western peers, but as it stands right now, they have to be, otherwise the train chugs along without them and they get left behind."

"IMHO, [quip float="pqright"]the true test of a 'good' education system is not one where kids are pumped full of ultra difficult maths questions[/quip] that even educated adults struggle with. It is one where kids don't need tuition to understand the work and to do well. If most kids need external help on top of school in order to do well in exams, then what is the point? That should signal that something is very wrong with the system."

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This sort of feedback is not new but little is known about how the Ministry of Education processes such feedback.

And if the Education Ministry is swayed by such views, more should be done to address this reality of an increasingly overwhelming education environment so as to help alleviate the stress faced by parents across the board.

Top photo from Flickr