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Minister for Education Chan Chun Sing explained how the government will work on changes in the education sector as Singapore keeps "Singaporean meritocracy" resilient and sustainable.

Speaking in Parliament on Apr. 18, 2023, Chan explained that while meritocracy had served Singapore well, the concept of meritocracy is "under stress worldwide".

He said there are increasing questions on meritocracy, such as whether it is fair, especially over the long term.

"We must recognise that meritocracy, by itself, is not a panacea for all our societal challenges," Chan said.

Pitfalls of meritocracy

Chan pointed out that as society evolves, there cannot be any single, static and narrow metric to define success as it can easily cause society to stagnate and become irrelevant.

In addition, meritocracy has a danger of rewarding success based on fixed, defined, and pre-determined points in life and time.

"Once the determining test is conducted, and the results are known, then it is as if the life trajectories of our people are fixed and become too difficult to change. This cannot be our society," Chan said, pointing out people develop at different paces, and demonstrate abilities at different points in their life.

As such, Chan called for a system of "continuous meritocracy" where no single test or moment in time determines the rest of one's life and extends beyond the education system.

Chan also warned that meritocracy could create an endowment effect in society, as opportunities and rewards are transferred from the previous generation to the next, making meritocracy hard for the less privileged.

The successful may also mix among themselves, creating exclusive social circles, instead of sharing social capital.

"We must not leave this unchecked, or this will progressively stratify society, undermining our cohesion and eroding our higher purpose to draw on the talents and capabilities from all in society instead of a privileged few," he said.

Lastly, Chan mentioned that the danger of meritocracy could lead to the misplaced belief that one's success is attributed entirely to one's talent and hard work, ignoring other factors that could contribute to the person's success.

Keep the Singaporean meritocracy resilient and sustainable

Value people's diverse abilities

Chan shared that the government will move away from evaluating people's diverse abilities by "any single, narrow, and static metric", citing examples of PSLE results, grade point averages and whether one holds a degree or a diploma.

He brought up that with the implementation of Full Subject-Based Banding in 2023, Singapore's education will become "more flexible and provide multiple pathways to cater to different learner profiles".

In addition, there will be more opportunities for Direct School Admission and aptitude-based admissions, allowing more students to pursue studies based on their passion and aptitude instead of purely academic performance.

"We will press on with our efforts to develop 21st century competencies in our students, so that they can thrive amidst constant changes in the world," Chan stated.

He also called on the support of parents to not constantly compare schools and to "welcome schools to have their unique value proposition".

More diverse education pathways

Chan said there would be more diverse education pathways to allow "greater porosity" throughout life, where post-secondary and tertiary pathways will be more flexible to better support students' learning and progression.

Investing throughout people's life

He also stated that people would need to continually upskill and reskill throughout their lives, which the government will support through increased investments in Continuing Education and Training, including the SkillsFuture movement.

In addition, industries need to be active partners in shaping students' interests and skillsets before they enter the workforce and prepare to continually invest time and resources to support workers in upskilling.

"We need this whole-of-society effort to enable our people to stay relevant, and our industries to stay competitive, in an ever more challenging environment."

Hire, train, and reward workers fairly based on skills and competencies

Chan also called for fair reward and remuneration for "heart" and "hand" work, commensurate with the "head" work, citing that society needs all these roles to complement one another to function well.

He shared that the Ministry of Education (MOE) is reviewing the remuneration and career progression pathways in the Special Education sector to strengthen the professional development of Special Needs educators and improve the quality of services to support students with Special Education needs better.

Chan pointed out that other workplaces that involve "hand" and "heart" work, including the essential service sectors, need to take similar steps by hiring, training and rewarding workers fairly based on skills and competencies.

Uplifting the less privileged

Chan also said the principle behind the Government’s policies has always been to uplift the less privileged, but society can still do more.

He warned that we must never degenerate into a system where everyone thinks they deserve more relative to others and lose our social cohesion.

Instil the right values from young

Lastly, Chan emphasised the need to instil the "right values" in Singaporeans from young so that they can grow into individuals who willingly give back to society and create more opportunities for others.

"So even as we celebrate and enjoy the fruits of our own labour, we must not forget to give back to society and others around us,"

He explained that while Singapore's schools already facilitate this sharing of social capital across different schools, the government will further strengthen the school cluster system and encourages everyone to help in these efforts.

Top photo via Chan Chun Sing Facebook page.