Forum Letter Replies
Selection for the GEP is Fair and Merit-based
We refer to Mdm Teo Suang Sim’s letter “Unfair advantage?” (ST Forum, 15/9) and Mdm Heng Chay Hiang’s letter “Gifted scheme too early to spot talent”(ST Forum, 21/9).
Our GEP pupils do not only come from rich homes or selected schools but from all socio-economic groups and the wide spectrum of society. They are drawn from about 115 of our 177 primary schools (i.e. 65%) and more than half (55%) live in HDB flats.
The tests we use to identify gifted students are internationally-recognised and variants are used in other countries even to identify such children as young as age four or five. For Singapore, we have chosen to identify pupils in Primary Three, at age eight or nine. As is common practice for many countries, pupils’ scores are also adjusted to correct for difference in ages of test-takers.
The GEP tests are designed to identify children with high ability, and coaching for the GEP tests is neither desirable nor effective. Even if a child does get into a gifted programme through intense coaching, he may not be able to cope with the demands of the programme, and would come under unnecessary stress and may eventually lose his self-confidence.
Human capital is Singapore’s most precious resource and we need to develop every child — those with special needs, those talented in sports or the arts; and those who are intellectually gifted. There are a variety of programmes to cater to these different needs, so that pupils are taught at a pace and through a curriculum that is suited to their ability.
Director, Education Programmes Division
Unfair Advantage? (Mdm Teo Suang Sim, ST Forum, 15/9)
My daughter who is in Primary 3 took the gifted education programme screening test last month. As it was before her birthday, she was still eight years old. Also taking the same test were older pupils, those born prior to 2000. Wouldn’t such pupils, some of whom were more than a year older than my daughter’s Primary 3 cohort, enjoy an unfair advantage and find the test comparatively easier? Will the gifted programme pupils comprise more older pupils as the screening test is commonly applied to all Primary 3 pupils? Shouldn’t there be a separate test for older pupils still in Primary 3? The gifted programme has limited places. Wouldn’t more of the younger pupils be at a disadvantage?Gifted Scheme Too Early to Spot Talent (Mdm Heng Chay Hiang, ST Forum, 21/9)
Like Madam Teo Suang Sim (‘Unfair advantage?’, last Tuesday), I have doubts about investing our tax dollars and expensive teachers in young children perceived to be gifted.
A child born later in the year may have trouble understanding certain maths problems in the middle of the year, but find them easy at the end of the year, compared to a child born earlier in the year.
Also, at this tender educational age, girls are generally academically more able than boys in English.
Children from low-income families are most likely to be unable to show their ‘giftedness’ since they may have limited exposure to vocabulary and training in maths at a higher level. So how is the gifted programme relevant to them?
Finally, families that can afford the steep tuition fees, send their children to coaching lessons that promise to take them past the first stage of the two-stage test. So are their children more gifted?
As for Mr David Goh’s letter last Tuesday, ‘Beware of breeding elitism’, my elder son will sit for his Primary School Leaving Examination next month. At first, we were happy to let him continue his secondary school education in the same school. But we changed our minds after other parents advised us to send him to a secondary school that is affiliated to a junior college, or he would have a harder time securing a place in a JC.
Meritocracy in the education system may not work as well now. Years ago, when tuition was not a trend, most students who were naturally gifted academically were likely to do better than the rest in exams, regardless of whether they were from well-to-do or low-income families.
Now, genuinely gifted students whose parents cannot afford external help will not be spotted and developed.