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Sunday, January 24, 2010

Education in Singapore

Children attend secondary school for the first 4 levels, followed by either junior college for 2 year courses or centralised institutes for 3-year courses.
Based on results of the Primary School Leaving Examination (PSLE), Singapore's students undergo secondary education in either the Special(Abolished in 2008), Express, Normal streams or the Integrated Programme which was implemented in 2004. Both the Special and Express are 4-year courses leading up to a Singapore-Cambridge General Certificate of Education (GCE) 'Ordinary' - 'O' level examination. The difference between Special and Express is that the former takes higher Mother Tongue, which can be used as a first language in exams instead of the subject "mother tongue" that Express students take. However if some Express students can cope with higher Mother Tongue, they are allowed to used it as a first language in exams too.
The Normal stream is a four-year course leading up to a Singapore-Cambridge GCE "Normal" - "N" level examination, with the possibility of a 5th year followed by a Singapore-Cambridge GCE "Ordinary" - "O" level examination. It is split into "Normal (Academic)" and "Normal (Technical)" where in the latter students take subjects that are technical in nature, such as Design and Technology.
After the second year of a secondary school course, students are typically streamed into a wide range of course combinations, making the total number of subject they have to sit for in "O" level six to ten subjects. This includes science (Physics, Biology and Chemistry), humanities (Elective Geography/History, Pure Geography/History, Social Studies, Literature, etc.) and additional mathematics subject at a higher level, or "combined" subject modules.
Some schools have done away with the O level examination, and pupils only sit for the A level examination or the International Baccalaureate at the end of their sixth year (known as Year 6 or Junior College 2).
Co-curricular activities have become compulsory at the Secondary level, where all pupils must participate in at least one core CCA, and participation is graded together with other things like Leadership throughout the four years of Secondary education, in a scoring system. Competitions are organised so that students can have an objective towards to work, and in the case of musical groups, showcase talents.

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