Education in Singapore
Education in Singapore
Educational oversight
Minister
Ministry of Edu-
cation
Ng Eng Hen
National education
budget
S$6.966 billion
(2006)
Primary language(s)
English
Curriculum system
Competency-based
curriculum
Literacy (2006)
• Men
• Women
95.4%
%
%
Enrollment
• Primary
• Secondary
• Post-secondary
532225
290261
213063
28901
Attainment
• Secondary diploma
• Post-secondary
diploma
Education in Singapore is managed by the
Ministry of Education (MOE), which controls
the development and administration of state
schools receiving government funding, but
also has an advisory and supervisory role in
respect of private schools. For both private
and state schools, there are variations in the
extent of autonomy in their curriculum, scope
of government aid and funding, tuition bur-
den on the students, and admission policy.[1]
Children with disabilities attend special
education (SPED) schools run by Voluntary
Welfare Organisations (VWOs), which are
partially funded by the Ministry of Education.
Education spending usually makes up about
20 per cent of the annual national budget,
which
subsidises
state
education
and
government-assisted private education for
Singaporean citizens and funds the Edusave
programme, the costs for which are signific-
antly higher for non-citizens.
In 2000 the Compulsory Education Act[2]
codified compulsory education for children of
primary school age, and made it a criminal
offence for parents to fail to enroll their chil-
dren in school and ensure their regular at-
tendance.[3] Exemptions are allowed for
homeschooling or full-time religious institu-
tions, but parents must apply for exemption
from the Ministry of Education and meet a
minimum benchmark.[4]. Special needs chil-
dren are automatically exempted from com-
pulsory education.
In Singapore, English is the first language
learned by half the children by the time they
reach preschool age and becomes
the
primary medium of instruction by the time
they reach primary school. English is the lan-
guage of instruction for mos