Lawrence Wong: “Overwhelmingly positive” feedback on secondary school reforms

Singapore — Mr Lawrence Wong, who was appointed Minister for Education on July 25, has commented on the move away from streaming to Full Subject-Based Banding (SBB) in secondary schools.

In a Facebook post on Tuesday (Aug 4), he mentioned a visit to Riverside Secondary School, one of the pilot schools for Full SBB, to see what it has been like so far.

Mr Wong wrote: “Every Sec 1 form class now has students from all backgrounds. They study common subjects like CCE together, and split up for others like English, Maths or Science where they are grouped together according to their subject bands.”

He said that the feedback from students and teachers had been “overwhelmingly positive”.

One of the teachers from the school told Mr Wong that “students stronger in different subjects would extend help to those who were weaker. Everyone could learn at their own pace, without the labels attached, and could bond and gel together as a class”.

Mr Wong said the Full SBB pilot “gives me confidence that we are moving in the right direction with our education reforms”.

Singaporeans can expect that, in the coming years, the changes will be extended to all schools and that the ministry will continue to improve the education system to better support the learning needs of every child.

Those commenting on the post had their own take on the reforms in the education system.

Others offered their thoughts on the PSLE, Special Education and Pre-University levels.

/TISG