Year-end exams for Primary 3 & 4 students in S'pore cancelled

Year-end examinations for Primary 5 students will still proceed under strict SMMs.

Karen Lui | October 07, 2021, 12:44 PM

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Primary 1 to 6 students will be progressively brought back to school for face-to-face lessons from Oct. 11 to ensure physical schooling resumes in a safe manner, the Ministry of Education (MOE) announced on Oct. 7.

This announcement follows the implementation of Home-Based Learning (HBL) for all Primary and Special Education (SPED) schools from Sep. 27 to Oct. 6 that was earlier announced on Sep. 18.

The Ministry of Health (MOH) subsequently extended HBL for these students to Oct. 7.

Phase resumption of face-to-face classes

To ensure the effective implementation of Safe Management Measures (SMMs), MOE will phase the students' return next week:

  • Primary 3 to 6 students returning from Monday, Oct. 11
  • Primary 1 and 2 students to continue with HBL on Monday, Oct. 11, and Tuesday, Oct. 12, and return to school for face-to-face lessons from Wednesday, Oct. 13. SPED schools will be provided with more details on the phased return of students.

Co-Curricular Activities (CCAs) and other after-school activities will continue to be suspended for all levels, including secondary schools, junior colleges and Millennia Institute.

Self-testing before returning to school

Parents of Primary 1 to 5 students will do an Antigen Rapid Test (ART) swab on their children at home on either Oct. 8 or 9 prior to their return to school.

They will then report the results via a link that will be sent to them.

Cancellation of year-end examinations for Primary 3 & 4 students

The year-end examinations for Primary 3 and 4 students will be cancelled in order to allow more time for curriculum recovery due to the disruptions caused by Covid-19.

Schools will draw on information from a range of school-based assessments that were conducted throughout the year to report students' learning progress and provide feedback, and make recommendations on students' subject combination, such as to offer standard or foundation level for specific subjects from start of Primary 5, where necessary.

Year-end examinations for Primary 5 students will still proceed under strict SMMs to allow students and parents to obtain a better understanding of the students' learning progress in relation to the Achievement Level (AL) scoring system, prior to taking the PSLE next year.

School holidays for primary school from Oct. 18 to 22

The PSLE marking exercise will be conducted over four days, from Oct. 18 to 21.

Primary school students will not be required to report to school during this period of marking and no HBL will be conducted, in line with existing practice.

For this particular year, Friday, Oct. 22, which is the day after the PSLE marking exercise, will be declared a school holiday for primary school students.

All primary school students will return to school from Monday, Oct. 25.

Face-to-face tuition classes may resume from Oct. 11

Lessons for students aged 12 and below at tuition and enrichment centres may resume face-to-face classes from Oct. 11, with strict SMMs in place.

However, MOE strongly encourages centres to continue conducting these classes online as much as possible.

Face-to-face classes for students aged 12 and below in Private Education Institutions (PEIs) may also resume from Oct. 11, subject to all prevailing national SMMs.

PEIs with similar student profiles and that conduct similar activities to schools are strongly advised to take reference from measures for schools, and adopt them where possible.

This includes phasing the return of students, and self-testing of students prior to their return to school.

PEIs may also continue to implement HBL for their students where feasible.

MOE will continue to monitor the Covid-19 situation closely and implement additional measures to keep the school environment safe, where necessary.

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