The Education Ministry is studying the possibility of letting secondary school students skip their 'O' levels and be admitted to polytechnics directly.
And, from next year, schools can start selecting capable Secondary 4 Normal Academic stream students to skip the 'N' levels examinations and go straight to Secondary 5 for their 'O' levels.
Education Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam revealed this at his Ministry's workplan seminar on Thursday.
Mr Gan Kim Yong, who will be Minister of State for Education from October, will chair a Review Committee tasked to study the feasibility of direct admission to the polytechnics for Secondary 4 students.
The Committee hopes to complete its work in four months.
For Secondary 4 Normal Academic stream students skipping the 'N' level exams, schools will have the flexibility to pick them at the end of Secondary 2 or 3, based on their performance in school.
The Ministry said allowing students to skip the 'N' levels would free up time preparing for the exams, time which could be better spent in enrichment and broadening learning experiences.
Currently, about three-quarters or 70% to 80% of the 10,000 Normal Academic students in each cohort do well enough at the 'N' level exams to proceed to Secondary 5 for the 'O' levels.
From next year, Elective Modules will no longer be restricted to the Normal Technical curriculum, but open to Normal Academic students too.
Also from next year, new 'O' level subjects like Drama, Economics and Computer Studies will be offered by 12 selected schools, including Tanjong Katong Girls' School, Boon Lay Secondary and Commonwealth Secondary.
And as part of the push to "Teach Less, Learn More", teachers and school leaders will get more space and support so that they can focus on improving the quality of interaction with their students both in the classroom and beyond.
For a start, 10 to 20 percent of some subject contents will be cut at the primary and lower secondary levels.
This means curriculum time could be freed up as 'white space' for teachers to customise their teaching.
This will be extended to all subjects eventually.
The Ministry will also get 1,700 more teachers to ease the teaching load.
Mr Tharman said: "Together, our two thrusts - providing greater support for initiatives owned by teachers and leaders in school, and giving our learners greater flexibility and choice - will allow us to create new peaks of excellence in Singapore education.
"Together with the other initiatives we have taken in recent years, they will bring a level of quality, diversity and choice into education - rare for a centrally-funded education system elsewhere in the world.
"Every school must own this drive for quality, diversity and choice in education. Then our school landscape will itself be a mountain range of excellence - not just an Everest, K2 and Kanchenjunga, but an entire Himalayan range, with different shapes and colours, inspiring all our young to follow their passions and climb as far as they can."
Another change is for the polytechnics to take in some students based on a broader measure of merits beyond performance in the GCE 'O' level results.
Under the Joint Polytechnic Special Admissions Exercise (JPSAE), which will be introduced from next year, polytechnics can take in, for a start, these students up to 5 percent of their annual intake.
Aptitudes such as leadership, entrepreneurship, and talents in areas like sports, arts and community service will all be considered.
Currently, the Special Admissions Exercise admits students into specific courses with special course requirements.
The introduction of JPSAE extends the special admission to all courses offered by the polytechnics, and allows for a more diverse range of talents to be considered. - CNA /ch/ir
