More upper secondary students can take computing as elective subject from 2026

Upper secondary students at the G1 and G2 levels (previously Normal (Technical) and Normal (Academic) streams respectively) will be able to take computing as an elective subject from 2026.

This is in addition to G3 (previously Express stream) students, who are currently already offered the subject.

The change is intended to "allow more students to further develop their interest and competencies in computing education, and to acquire increasingly important digital and computational thinking skills in today’s technology-driven world," said the Ministry of Education's (MOE) divisional director of curriculum planning and development, Division 1, Ong Kong Hong.

The subject will also impart important soft skills "that will benefit them for life", such as inventive thinking, perseverance, collaboration, communication, accuracy and thoroughness, Ong added, in an MOE statement to Mothership.

Change in name

Currently, about 1,300 G3 students from 60 schools take computing at the O-level examinations.

Of these students, about 90 Secondary Three students take G3 computing in school-based centres as part of a pilot to extend the opportunity to more students to study the subject.

This subject will be renamed G3 computing, but have the same curriculum.

G1 computing will replace the previous computer applications (CPA) subject, of which the Normal (Technical) Secondary One cohort in 2023 were the last batch of students.

G1 computing will introduce cloud computing, which involves accessing computing services on the internet via cloud servers, as well as rising technologies like AI, Ong said.

He expects that most schools that currently offer CPA will offer G1 computing from 2026.

G2 computing will be a new course, which will include a practical curriculum that can be used in everyday life and help develop computational thinking skills, Ong added.

"Students will engage in physical computing using microcontrollers to practise computational problem-solving in authentic real-world contexts," he said.

No criteria to enrol

Schools will be able to offer G1 and G2 computing to their students, tailored to students' needs, school-based foci and available resources.

All G1 students will have to take computing in Secondary Three from 2026.

While there are no pre-requisites to offer G1, G2 or G3 computing, schools may develop their own criteria to allow students to enrol, Ong told Mothership.

At Jurong West Secondary School, for instance, G2 and G3 students will need to pass mathematics in their lower secondary examinations in order to quality for computing in upper secondary, The Straits Times reported.

Meanwhile, at Ngee Ann Secondary School, students will need to attain at least a 60 per cent score for mathematics, and pass an interview, to be able to take computing at the upper secondary level.

Teachers who are currently already teaching CPA or computing will continue to teach these subjects, but upgrading courses will also be made available for them before the changes take effect.

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