Press Releases
Tribute to the late Dr Goh Keng Swee by Ms Ho Peng, Director-General of Education
It is with great sadness that the teaching fraternity learnt about the passing of Dr Goh Keng Swee.
Dr Goh was one of the founding fathers of Singapore, and played a pivotal role in the development of our education system. He was our Education Minister from Feb 1979 till May 1980 and from Jun 1981 to Dec 1984.
Dr Goh always believed that the key to Singapore’s success was having an excellent education system. As early as 1973, even before he became Education Minister, Dr Goh was already raising concerns on education in his public speeches. He was not satisfied with the general standards of performance and the problems of students dropping out of or not completing school.
Although not an educator by training, this did not deter him from wanting to improve educational outcomes for all our students. In 1978, he assembled the Education Study Team, which produced the seminal “Goh Report” in 1979. In addition to addressing the dropout rate then, the team also considered bilingual education, streaming, and moral education. Their recommendations laid the strong foundation of many key and successful education policies today.
Teachers owe much of the professionalism today within their fraternity to Dr Goh. He was very much part of our family, and understood what teachers needed to do our job well. Dr Goh believed that an excellent education system could only be built upon a high quality, professional teaching service. He improved teachers’ work conditions and raised pay scales. Many young and promising officers were sent overseas to develop expertise in the various fields of education. The Curriculum Development Institute of Singapore was set up, producing quality instructional materials that helped support teaching and learning. All these endeavours had a long term impact in raising the quality of teaching and learning in Singapore schools.
Dr Goh believed that school leaders needed to be empowered to raise the standards of their schools. In that spirit, he initiated steps to give more autonomy to our school leaders, introducing the School Council to promote greater professionalism and communication within MOE. Seen as a significant innovation during its time, the Council was a leap forward in empowering schools and elevating the status of Principals as professionals. This established the culture for the continual engagement and dialogue between the ministry and school leaders and teachers today. Dr Goh’s vision of a professional teaching force continues to guide us today.
On behalf of MOE and the teaching fraternity, I offer my deepest condolences to the family of the late Dr Goh. We owe him a great debt in laying the foundation of Singapore’s education system today.
Director-General of Education