Educational structure in Singapore

Ministry of education looks after the education system in Singapore. Government controls the administration and development of state schools as well as well as private schools. Although the there are distinct differences between public and private school in various aspects such as scope of government aid, funding, admission policy, level of autonomy in the syllabus, tuition fees on the students. Some children who are suffering from disabilities go to special education schools. These are usually run by Voluntary Welfare Organizations i.e. VWOs. Ministry of Education takes care of the funding. In Singapore, English is the first language and more or less fifty percent of children learn English language at their preschool age.

Singapore education structure is very systematic. Kindergartens provide education up to three years and that’s called pre-school. Three to five is the usual age. These three years are normally called nursery, kindergarten 1 and kindergarten 2. At these level children learn how to read and write. They also learn two languages i.e. English and mother tongue. Next to this comes the primary education. The age of the pupil is usually six and this is a four year foundation stage. Two years orientation stage is also included in the stint. Next comes the foundation stage where formal schooling starts. The formal schooling i.e. 1-4 classes provide basics in English, mother tongue including Malay, Chinese, Tamil, etc. Among subjects Mathematics, Moral education, Civics, music, social studies, health related education, physical education arts and crafts, etc. are taught during class 1 to class 6.

Orientation stage comes next. The final exam in school level is Primary School Leaving Examination. This examination is held at the end of primary in class 6 which decides whether the student is able to pass primary school or not. Secondary education starts after passing Primary School Leaving examination. There are different streams such as special, express, normal, etc. In normal education there are two segments namely academic and technical.