The sixth Mendaki Symposium held on 30 June focused on the theme of “Rethinking Education”. In his keynote address, Senior Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam highlighted the early academic gaps that appear because of students’ different starting points in life. He elaborated that within the lower socio-economic groups, there was a greater proportion of Malays who started off weak at the beginning of their education and continued to remain weak as they move forward in their schooling.
During the symposium, researchers from the Singapore University of Social Sciences (SUSS) presented their study on 875 Malay/Muslim Primary 6 students. Their findings indicate a strong correlation between low Primary School Leaving Examination (PSLE) scores and weak socio-economic status. Data from the 2020 Singapore Census further suggests that these academic gaps remain unresolved even as these students advance to subsequent levels of learning.
Given that Malays are over-represented in the lower socio-economic groups, the link between PSLE scores and low socio-economic status becomes a more pertinent problem for the community.
Imbalance in resources
The situation is complicated by the current trajectory of Singapore’s educational approach where it no longer hinges solely on the merits or hard work of students alone, but also their parents’ knowledge, resourcefulness and extent of involvement. At an Association of Muslim Professionals (AMP) seminar on education in 2014, National Institute of Education Associate Professor Jason Tan referred to this as “parentocracy”; where parents with financial means were able to provide resources such as tuition to enhance their children’s learning.
Conversely, parents from the lower income brackets tend to lack the resources to augment their children’s learning. Without adequate guidance at home, children from less financially stable families are often ill-prepared for learning. As a result, pupils from more humble backgrounds are identified as weaker students as early as Primary 1. Findings from a past study by the Institute of Policy Studies (IPS) on “Parents’ Perceptions of the Singapore Primary School System”’ does reflect Malay parents’ realisation of the situation as the research highlighted that they scored the highest levels of stress in their inability to help their children with their schoolwork.
Additionally, these students often do not have role models who can advise them on the pathways to educational success. This often affects their ability to make decisions, due to a lack of awareness of the implications that their choices may have on their future.
These early academic gaps widen when students from low-income families continue to underperform and end up in schools that have less access to resources. For instance, schools that cater to higher-achieving students will have resources that expose them to enrichment programmes and out-of-classroom learning activities.
Equality of opportunities versus equity of outcomes
As part of his speech during the launch of Forward Singapore on 28 June, Deputy Prime Minster Lawrence Wong acknowledged that while Singapore’s meritocratic education system has served it well, it unfortunately also has its downsides.
Having been ingrained with the concept of “equality of opportunity”, the notion of ensuring “equity of outcome” tends to be overlooked by the wider community. While they appear to be similar, the two approaches result in vastly different consequences for disadvantaged communities.
The idea of “equality” implies giving everyone the same kind of opportunities to succeed. “Equity”’ acknowledges the different starting points experienced by each child and focuses on re-distributing resources to provide them with the capacity to achieve the same level of attainment.
Understanding this difference is crucial to close academic gaps for students with fewer resources at their disposal.
Need for more social mixing
Efforts have been made to improve social mixing through policies such as the provision of financial aid to ensure affordability of school fees for students from low-income backgrounds and opportunities for interaction through co-curricular activities and values-in-action projects. However, a 2018 report by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) warned that almost half of Singapore’s low-income students are concentrated in the same schools. This is reinforced by findings from an earlier IPS study on “Social Capital in Singapore” in 2017, which suggested the presence of a class divide among Singaporeans and called for more efforts by the government and community to create structures that will encourage social mixing. Essentially, social mixing benefits low-income students by increasing their exposure to positive influences and role models. Similarly, it provides the opportunity for the rest of the student body to understand situations in life to which they would not have been exposed. Therefore, school admission policies must be tweaked further to ensure that the proportion of low-income students are more spread out across all schools in Singapore.
Enhancing parents’ social networks
Research has shown that parents who form ties with other parents will likely become one another’s sources of knowledge. Through social networks, well-connected parents can exchange information and seek advice, which will enhance their child’s learning. Unfortunately, this resource is out of reach for low-income parents, who often have weak social networks. Schools could do more to reach out to these parents and introduce them to social networks comprising other mums and dads, such as their Parent Support Groups (PSG). Understandably, participation requires time and sacrifice, especially from parents who are bound by less flexible work schedules or loaded with caring responsibilities. Necessary provisions could be made by schools to incentivise them, whilst emphasising the importance of commitment to their children’s educational journey.
Recognise all skills
Singapore’s education system rewards students who are “book smart” while overlooking those who excel in “non-academic” fields. This results in the latter being stigmatised. A study commissioned by AMP Singapore highlighted that while Malay students in the Institute of Technical Education (ITE) are often labelled as not academically inclined, many become inspired to be better learners once they are exposed to ITE subjects for which they have developed a passion. A policy implication that arises is for the Ministry of Education to find ways to re-assess its criteria of what delineates an academic subject from a non-academic one. Can schools that offer disciplines such as graphic design, culinary arts, and fashion be appreciated in the same way as mainstream institutions? This will provide recognition to learners who display excellence in all areas critical to the nation’s success.
Research tells us that hard work and talent are not the only determinants of educational success. The challenge is greater for students from humbler backgrounds, including Malay students. More must be done to raise the potential of such youths so that they can contribute to the nation’s future.
The Mendaki Symposium was timely in addressing the theme of “Rethinking Education”. The push now is to leverage the momentum and realise the goals present in its agenda.
Dr Shamsuri Juhari is Research Fellow and Jeanne Tan is Research Assistant, both at the Institute of Policy Studies, National University of Singapore.
Top Photo from Freepik.