Secondary School Streaming

Dr Intan Azura Mokhtar asked the Minister for Education whether the Ministry will (a) review streaming at the Secondary school level and consider removing the current academic streams (Express, Normal Academic and Normal Technical); and (b) put in place the flexibility for students to do either academic or vocational subjects, or a combination of both, similar to that at the Primary school level where students do either standard or foundation subjects, or a combination of both.

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MOE regularly reviews and refines our approaches towards customising learning for our students so as to support our students to achieve their fullest potential. MOE will continue to do so.

The different academic streams are designed with different curriculum and pedagogies, to cater to our students’ different learning pace, learning aptitudes and learning styles. This allows our schools to provide the appropriate support to all students to build a strong foundation for lifelong learning. Students are allowed to transfer between streams, and such transfers are assessed by schools on a case-by-case basis.

In addition, within each stream, students have the flexibility to take subjects that are pegged at a higher level from their stream if their schools assess that this is in their best interest. For example, about 4,500 (or 35%) of Secondary 4 N(A) students offered one or more subjects at the GCE "O" Level in 2011. Some Secondary 4 N(T) students also take up to two subjects at the N(A) level. So, what Dr Intan is suggesting is already taking place to some extent. Nevertheless, we are studying how we can provide even greater flexibility to students.

More importantly, we will continue to ensure that each pathway can lead to opportunities for subsequent academic or skills upgrading.

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