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14 December 2007

PERFORMANCE BY ETHNIC GROUP
1997 – 2006

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.         The following performance charts are attached:

a. 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 (1997 – 2006)[1].

b. One chart on the percentage of a primary one (P1) cohort admitted to post-secondary institutions[2].

PERFORMANCE IN PSLE (CHARTS A1 – A5)

Performance by Overall Measure

3.         The overall proportion of students who passed the PSLE remained above 95%.   See Chart A1. 

Performance by Subject

4.         The overall proportion of merged stream students who scored A*-C[3] in English Language and Mother Tongue Language continued to be high, above 95%, while those in Mathematics and Science remained above 80% and 90% respectively.  See Charts A2-A5. (A2, A3, A4, A5)

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

Performance by Overall Measure

5.         The overall proportion of GCE ‘O’ level students with at least 3 ‘O’ level passes remained above 95%. The proportion of students with at least 5 ‘O’ level passes also remained high, at above 80%.  See Charts B1 and B2.

Performance by Subject

6.         There have been steady improvements in the overall pass rates for English Language, exceeding 85%, while pass rates in Mother Tongue Language and Mathematics have seen improvements from the previous year (above 95% and 85% respectively).  See Charts B3 – B5. (B3, B4, B5)   

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

Performance by Overall Measure

7.         The overall percentage of GCE ‘A’ level students who obtained at least 2 ‘A’ and 2 ‘AO’ level passes including General Paper remained above 90%.  See Chart C1. 

Performance by Subject

8.         The overall pass rates in General Paper and Mother Tongue Language continued to be high, at above 90%.  See Charts C2 and C3.

PERCENTAGE OF P1 COHORT ADMITTED TO POST-SECONDARY INSTITUTIONS (CHART D)
9.         The percentage of a P1 cohort admitted to post-secondary institutions[4], including private educational organisations, remained high, at above 90%.  See Chart D.   

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[1] The percentages in these charts are based on school candidates who sat for the respective examinations.
[2] The percentages are based on students who were enrolled in P1 ten years ago.
[3] 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.
[4] Junior colleges, Centralised Institute, Polytechnics, ITE, LASALLE College of the Arts, Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts (NAFA) and other private educational organisations.