22 Nov 2004

PERFORMANCE BY ETHNIC GROUP
1994 - 2003

1.      The Ministry of Education releases data on the performance of the major ethnic groups annually. The objective is to provide feedback to the communities on how their children fared in the national examinations.

2.      Attached are three sets of charts showing the performance of the various ethnic groups in the PSLE, GCE ‘O’ and ‘A’ Level Examinations for the past ten years (1994-2003). (The percentages in these charts are based on school candidates who sat for the respective examinations.) Also attached is a chart on the percentage of a primary one (P1) cohort admitted to post-secondary institutions. For this chart, the percentages are based on pupils who were first enrolled in P1 ten years ago.

PERFORMANCE IN PSLE (CHARTS A1-A5)

3.      The overall proportion of PSLE pupils who were eligible for secondary school increased by one percentage point to 97% in 2003 compared to the previous year. See Chart A1. (For this chart, the percentages are based on pupils in all streams.)

4.      The overall proportion of pupils who scored A*-C¹ in English Language and Mother Tongue Language has remained high above 97%, while those in Mathematics and Science are above 80% and 90% respectively. See Charts A2-A5.

PERFORMANCE IN GCE 'O' LEVEL (CHARTS B1-B5)

5.      The overall proportion of GCE ‘O’ level pupils with at least 3 ‘O’ level and 5 ‘O’ level passes has been on an upward trend reaching 95% and 82% respectively in 2003. See Charts B1 and B2.

6.      The overall English Language pass rate has shown steady improvement to reach 84% in 2003. The overall pass rate in Mother Tongue Language has also been moving up, reaching 97% in 2003, while that in Mathematics has remained stable at 87%. See Charts B3-B5.

PERFORMANCE IN GCE 'A' LEVEL (CHARTS C1-C3)

7.      In 2003, the overall percentage of GCE ‘A’ level pupils who obtained at least 2 ‘A’ and 2 ‘AO’ level passes including General Paper rose by 1.5 percentage points compared to the previous year to reach 91%. See Chart C1.

8.      The overall pass rate in General Paper and Mother Tongue Language improved to 92% and 98% respectively in 2003, an increase of one percentage point compared to the previous year for both. See Charts C2 and C3.

PERCENTAGE OF P1 COHORT ADMITTED TO POST-SECONDARY INSTITUTIONS (PRE-U, POLYTECHNIC AND ITE) (CHART D)

9. Over the years, the overall percentage of a P1 cohort admitted to post-secondary institutions viz. junior colleges, centralised institutes, polytechnics and ITE has been on an upward trend, exceeding 80% since 2001. See Chart D.

10. At the primary level, the performance of all ethnic groups, in terms of eligibility for secondary schools, has improved.

11. At the secondary level, a higher proportion from all ethnic groups has achieved 3 ‘O’ level and 5 ‘O’ level passes.

[1] These grades are chosen so that the results can be compared to those in the past. Prior to 1993, the pass grades at PSLE were A* - C.