Offering Second or Third Language Subjects to Schools Which Are Not Assessable for Academic Credit

Assoc Prof Jamus Jerome Lim asked the Minister for Education whether there are any plans to offer second or third language subjects in primary and secondary schools, which will not be assessable for academic credit, but rather focused on functional literacy.

Primary and secondary schools conduct Conversational Chinese and Malay programmes as enrichment for students. They are non-examinable and focus on language use in everyday situations.

At the secondary level, in addition to third language offerings at the Ministry of Education (MOE) Language Centre, a modular foreign languages programme is being piloted. It allows students to learn French or German at their own pace and up to different proficiency levels. MOE will study the findings from the pilot to see if this programme should be scaled up.

In another pilot, digital resources will be made available progressively next year on the Singapore Student Learning Space for students to learn conversational Vietnamese.

Beyond these provisions, students who are interested to learn other languages as enrichment can access a wide repertoire of resources available online for self-directed learning.