1. At this year's National Day Rally, Prime Minister Lawrence Wong outlined how the Government has strengthened Singapore's education system over the decades to meet the changing needs of our population.
2. In recent years, the Ministry of Education (MOE) has made systemic changes to encourage a mindset shift away from an overemphasis on examinations and grades to holistic and lifelong learning, and to expand pathways and opportunities for our students to develop their strengths and interests. These changes include the introduction of Full Subject-Based Banding, removal of mid-year examinations, and the promotion of lifelong learning through the SkillsFuture Level-Up Programme and the ITE Progression Award.
3. In line with these efforts, Prime Minister Wong has announced initiatives to strengthen support for higher-ability learners, and enhance school infrastructure (Please refer to MOE's Fact Sheet 2 for more information on school infrastructure enhancements).
Broadening our Approach to Support Higher-Ability Learners
4. Introduced in 1984, the Gifted Education Programme (GEP) seeks to nurture intellectually gifted students. Today, around 1% of each cohort is selected for the GEP, and they study at one of nine primary schools offering the programme from Primary 4.
5. While the GEP has generally benefited these students, international research has increasingly shown that intelligence and ability are developed over the course of an individual's life, and can manifest in specific areas (e.g., only in English or Mathematics) or in several areas. This has also been observed in some students, who show passion and strength in specific areas rather than across multiple domains.
6. At the same time, our schools have expanded their capacity to nurture higher-ability learners over the years. All primary schools have programmes beyond the curriculum to develop students with specific strengths and interests (e.g., Excellence 2000 (E2K) Mathematics and Science). At the secondary school level, MOE has shifted from the centrally-run GEP to School-based Gifted Education from 2004, where students can benefit from school-based programmes, while continuing to have opportunities for further specialisation through centralised programmes (e.g., Science Mentorship Programme and Creative Arts Programme).
7. Given the developments in international research in gifted education and our improved capacity to support higher-ability learners, it is timely to refresh our approach to broaden access and opportunities to develop students with a range of higher abilities across all primary schools.
8. From the 2024 Primary 1 cohort, we will discontinue the GEP in its current form and implement the following changes:
- School-based programmes (see paragraph 6) will be extended to more students in all primary schools. Around 10% of the cohort will be able to benefit from these programmes to develop their area of strength and interest, from around 7% today.
- Students will remain in their own schools at upper primary, and no longer need to transfer at Primary 4 into one of the nine primary schools that run the GEP. They will continue learning with friends they have made in lower primary, while still being sufficiently nurtured in their schools.
- Those who benefit from further development can choose to attend after-school modules at designated nearby schools. These modules will be different from the academic curriculum in schools. Similar to the school-based programmes, these modules will be designed to cultivate curiosity and a love for learning, and are not intended to prepare students to do better in examinations. Students who participate in these after-school modules will learn alongside students of similar abilities and interests from other schools. As these modules will cater to students with specific strengths, more students can take these after-school modules, compared to the current GEP cohort.
- Students can be identified to join these school-based programmes and after-school modules at multiple junctures from Primary 4 to 6. This will allow students to be developed as and when they demonstrate readiness and potential, instead of today's approach where students can only join the GEP at a single point in Primary 4.
- The process of selecting higher-ability learners will also be more holistic. We will retain the first stage of the standardised GEP selection test at Primary 3 to help schools identify these learners, but do away with the second stage. Schools can also identify students using supplementary sources of information based on day-to-day observations, teacher recommendations and students' work. This new approach will provide more comprehensive and holistic information about students' abilities and potential over time.
9. MOE will provide further details in due course.