NATIONAL EDUCATION

1. The National Education Initiative

2. At the Teachers' Day Rally on 8 Sept 96, Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong announced a major initiative to strengthen National Education in our education system, and the setting up of a National Education Committee (NEC) to chart plans to do so.
3. The NEC is chaired by Mr Lim Siong Guan, PS (PMO)/ PS (Education). It comprises representatives from MOE, MINDEF, PMO (Civil Service College), MCD (People's Association) and MITA. These are the agencies with the requisite resources, backgrounds and responsibilities that would facilitate the national education effort in schools.
4. The Committee set up 13 project teams comprising officers from schools, tertiary institutions and MOE HQ and representatives from MITA and PA. These teams were tasked to develop strategies and measures for the implementation of the National Education programme in schools and tertiary institutions.

   Purpose of National Education

5. The purpose of National Education is :

   To develop national cohesion, the instinct for survival and confidence in the future,

   	By fostering a sense of identity, pride and self-respect as Singaporeans;
   	By knowing the Singapore story - how Singapore succeeded against the odds to become a nation;
   	By understanding Singapore's unique challenges, constraints and vulnerabilities, which make us different from other countries; and
   	By instilling the core values of our way of life, and the will to prevail, that ensure our continued success and well-being.

   Approach

6. The approach to NE in schools will be as follows :

   	For National Education to succeed in schools, Principals and teachers must first be convinced of its crucial importance and be committed to the NE effort. NE instincts will be developed and continually reinforced among teachers through a regular dissemination to schools of materials and information related to NE. Commitment to the National Education effort will also depend on schools shaping and taking ownership of their own NE programmes.
   	National Education is part of Total Education. Teachers will have to identify with their mission of providing their pupils not only with skills and knowledge for the future, but with the values and attitudes to be good citizens, conscious of their responsibilities to family, community and country. Every teacher will be involved in National Education, whether through formal subject teaching or ECA and other informal activities.
   	To be effective, National Education must appeal to both heart and mind. It will have to transcend book knowledge and be internalised in the psyche of every pupil. From young, every pupil must learn the facts of how we became a nation, why our constraints and vulnerabilities make us different from other countries and why we must continue to work together and outperform others to succeed in future.
   	National Education would be implemented through both the formal and informal curricula. The emphasis would be on active participation and experiential learning, not just formal lessons, so that pupils will come to regard National Education as an integral and intrinsic part of school life.

   Approach to Reaching Pupils

7. The cultivation of national instincts among pupils will have two prongs - first to develop an awareness of facts, circumstances and opportunities facing Singapore, so that they will be able to make decisions for their future with conviction and realism; and second, to develop a sense of emotional belonging and commitment to the community and nation so that they will stay and fight when the odds are against us. We cannot instill feelings of patriotism directly among pupils, but we can instill pride in the country and its institutions and belief in our way of life. We can also build strong school communities, instilling group instincts and loyalty through the rituals of school life as a starting point for cultivating a sense of belonging and commitment to society.

   How Students Should Think and Feel about Singapore

8. NE would address both knowledge and feelings about Singapore at every level of the education system. A spiral approach, that proceeds from the concrete and elementary to the abstract and more complex, and which consolidates what is learnt at the lower levels to the upper levels, would be adopted. Distinct strategies are required at each stage, reflecting the intellectual and emotional maturity of the student. These distinct strategies can be encapsulated as: Love Singapore (Primary level); Know Singapore (Secondary level); Lead Singapore (Pre-U level). The strategy for ITE and the majority of polytechnic students will be an extension of that taken at the secondary level, with an emphasis on values and attitudes of good citizenship and an understanding of how Singapore's survival and success is necessary for them to make a good living. The strategy for university students will be an extension of that at the JC level. It will aim at developing an understanding of the geopolitics of Singapore's existence and a desire to contribute their talents to keep Singapore going. It would also aim at developing an instinctive commitment to serving the community and society.
9. The key outcomes that we will seek to achieve among students at each level are as follows:

   Children in primary    schools will find it difficult to apprehend abstract concepts and take a wide-angled perspective of history or national issues. The NE programme will engage them emotionally, more than intellectually. It should inculcate correct values and attitudes, develop a sense of bonding among pupils of different races and abilities and pride in Singapore.

   At the secondary level, pupils develop instincts based on what they know as well as how they feel. The approach is to ensure that pupils have a broad knowledge base on Singapore - how we have arrived at where we are, the constraints and vulnerabilities we face, and challenges for the future.

   The focus at the ITE would be in enabling students to understand that they would be helping themselves, their families and Singapore by working hard, continually upgrading themselves and helping to ensure a stable social order. They must feel that every citizen has a valued place in Singapore, and want to play their part in defending Singapore.

   The Polytechnic students will be concerned primarily with immediate career options. As with ITE students, the strategy will be to convince them that the country's continued survival and prosperity will depend on the quality of their efforts, and that they will reap the benefits of Singapore's success if they play their part. They must believe that there is opportunity for all based on ability and effort.

   For JC students, NE must instil in them a sense that they can shape their own future in Singapore and, even more importantly, a realisation that upon many of them will lie the responsibility of playing key roles in shaping the Singapore of the future in the years to come. They must be able to reason for themselves why Singapore is, all things considered, the best home. We have to develop in them an appreciation of the demands and complexities of leadership. They will have to know Singapore's past and present and the scenarios for the future before they can make enlightened comments and proposals about what would be good for Singapore.

   University students must recognise that society will look to them for leadership in many spheres, both nationally and at local community level. They cannot meet such expectations responsibly if they are ignorant or naïve about the way countries, societies and humankind behave. They must understand that Singapore exists as an act of human will, and that we will continue to succeed only through the quality of our leadership, the guts and gumption of our people, and our ingenuity in finding solutions to overcome fresh challenges. As the chief beneficiaries of the system, they must also be instilled with a desire to serve the community and those that have done less well in society.

   Reaching Out to Teachers

10. For the NE effort in schools to be a self-sustaining process, the Principal must be the key driver and motivator of the NE programme. The Principal will be aided by an NE Committee in shaping the NE Programme of the school. An NE Coordinator has been appointed in every school to coordinate its efforts and help in disseminating information to teachers.
11. The Civil Service College (CSC) and MOE have conducted intensive seminars for the core education personnel who will develop and lead the implementation of NE programmes and spread the awareness of NE issues to their peers. The seminars have sought to sensitise the participants to the challenges, constraints and vulnerabilities Singapore faces, bringing them into confidence on some of the more sensitive challenges in internal and external security. The first five seminars covering MOE HQ officers, Principals, NE Coordinators from each school and key academic staff from the tertiary institutions have been received positively. The next step would be to train groups of teachers of core subjects for transmitting NE content, beginning with teachers of General Paper and Civics & Moral Education in mid 97.
12. In tandem with forming a core group of NE advocates, an ongoing communication of information and perspectives has been developed to keep all teachers engaged and alert to NE issues. Schools will receive an initial corpus of NE videos produced by CSC    comprising a Historical Series and Life in Singapore series; and monthly videos produced by the National Education Unit, MOE to help teachers interpret events in the context of the NE lessons they offer. 
13. The National Education web site called NEWS (National Education - The World & Singapore) has been set up on the MOE Intranet. It will provide teachers with a base of resource materials. Importantly, it will also provide a channel for schools and teachers to exchange ideas with one another. They can also send their queries on NE issues to the Ministry through the site.
14. The National Education Unit which has been set up in MOE will assist schools by disseminating information and responding to feedback from teachers and Principals.
15. NE will be an integral component of NIE's programmes for trainee teachers, Heads of Department and future Principals. All trainee teachers will undergo a 2-day on-campus seminar which will incorporate certain elements of the PNA (Programme for National Awareness) course. In addition to infusing NE elements in certain content subjects, a 20-hour module will also be introduced for Dip.Ed and BA/BSc students at NIE.

    Review of Formal Curriculum

16. NE will not be carried through any single subject or topic of study but will be infused across the formal curriculum in schools. However certain subjects are more especially suited to the imparting of NE messages. The changes that are being worked out in the formal curriculum are centred on these core subjects, as identified below. These subjects are currently compulsory for all students, except for History and Geography at the upper secondary level.

    Primary Level

    1. Social Studies at Primary 1 to 6 (P1-6) - including the introduction of Social Studies from P1;
    2. Civics and Moral Education (CME) at P1 - 6;

    Secondary Level

    1. History at Secondary 1 to 4/5 (S1-4/5);
    2. Geography at S1-4/5; Civics and Moral Education (CME) at S1-4/5;
    3. Civics and Moral Education (CME) at S1-4/5;
    4. Social Studies at S3-4 - a new subject being proposed;

    Junior College/Centralised Institutes

    1. General Paper at Junior College 1-2;
    2. Civics at Junior College 1-2.
17. National Education will not "add on" to the existing formal curriculum. It would instead mean an increased focus and emphasis on issues pertaining to NE, and the treatment of such issues in a way that makes students understand their relevance to the future. The revised syllabuses will indeed entail a reduction in curriculum content in the subjects specified. This will allow the teachers to engage in more creative teaching methods overall, and help make National Education more meaningful and effective.

    Primary Schools

18. Currently, pupils are taught Social Studies, a subject that introduces them to Singapore's history and its development at Primary 4-6. MOE will introduce Social Studies in the curriculum from Primary 1, either by introducing it as a separate subject, or by weaving Social Studies concepts into existing subjects. The aim of the subject will be to help pupils at P1-3 understand the world around them, beginning with the school and extending to the neighbourhood and society. Both the US and Japan introduce Social Studies from P1, as part of a continuum in their education curriculum that seeks to provide the knowledge and attitudes that they deem essential to good citizenship. While Civics and Moral Education (CME) teaches moral values and correct behaviour, Social Studies will cultivate an understanding of the basic facts of Singapore society and the interdependence of people of different races and occupations. The Social Studies syllabus for P1 - 3 will be implemented in a few years' time.

    Secondary Schools

19. In secondary schools, the History syllabi will be reviewed so that Singapore history ends in 1971, from the current ending at just after 1965 in the lower secondary syllabus and 1963 in the upper secondary syllabus. At the lower secondary syllabus where history is compulsory, the recent history of Singapore will be studied in Secondary 2 instead of Secondary 1 to enable students to better appreciate the issues at stake in the developments leading to Separation. This will be undertaken when a new History syllabus is introduced in three years' time. Interim measures are being put in place in the mean time to ensure that within the existing syllabus, adequate emphasis is given to topics in recent Singapore history including the events leading to Singapore's Independence.
20. The basic framework of the new Geography syllabus will be retained, but it would include more local case studies to allow NE lessons to be learnt at the same time. The CME syllabus for Secondary School students will be revised to give greater emphasis to the values and attitudes required for good citizenship, while ensuring pupils have a good grounding in moral values.
21. A new Social Studies subject would be introduced at Secondary 3-4, aimed at giving students a clear grasp of issues central to Singapore's survival and success - our principles of governance, the strategies we have employed to get to where we are, the role of key national institutions like the SAF, HDB and CPF, and challenges for the future. Knowledge of these issues should be integral to the school curriculum. The approach will be thematic rather than chronological, and would draw on case studies of other countries to help students understand what works and what fails. MOE will devise a way for the new Social Studies subject to be part of a flexible programme of Humanities subjects, so that a compulsory module in Social Studies does not lead to students dropping away from the study of History, Geography or Literature.

    Junior Colleges/ Centralised Institutes

22. General Paper at the Junior Colleges and Centralised Institutes will be an important means of transmitting NE messages by getting students to think independently and rationally about issues and arrive at informed conclusions. MOE will introduce curriculum guidelines for JCs/CIs in GP, so as to ensure that topics relevant to NE are given enough emphasis. While the GP curriculum will aim to foster an ability to think responsibly about issues, the Civics curriculum will seek to develop leadership and commitment among students. All JC students will undergo a "Challenge of Leadership" module in Civics, where they will discuss what is required to do a good job of leading Singapore - an understanding of our past and of what makes Singapore tick, and an appreciation that ideas about the behaviour of countries and peoples must be infused with realism and be free of naivete.

    National Education Test

23. A National Education Test will be devised to be taken by students at the milestone levels of Primary 6 and Sec 4. It will be equivalent to a "highway code" in NE which all students will have to pass to progress to Sec 1 and JC/CI/Poly respectively. The test will take the form of a 'fun' computer quiz where students will be tested on the basic facts about Singapore, which can be taken as many times as is necessary to pass, so that no student will be held back unless he is unwilling to put in the effort.

    Schedule for the Implementation of NE in the Formal Curriculum

24. The revised syllabi at primary and secondary levels will be phased in from the year 2000. The new Social Studies subject at Sec 3 and 4 will be implementable from 2001. The proposed Civics syllabus for Junior Colleges will be implemented from 1999, and the guidelines for GP by 1998.
25. Interim measures will be implemented to improve the teaching of NE in the existing curriculum while new syllabuses and textbooks are being developed. MOE will provide teachers with supplementary resources and brief them on how existing schemes of work could be modified to give greater emphasis to topics relevant to NE.

    Inculcating NE through Informal School Activities

26. The informal curriculum is integral to NE across all levels and streams, and will be used to foster camaraderie and bonding among pupils of different races and academic abilities and develop a sense of belonging to the community. Values and attitudes acquired through experiential learning are likely to sink deeper than those learnt in the classroom.
27. Implementation of the informal curriculum in schools will begin immediately. Principals will decide how they should shape their informal NE curriculum. Schools have been provided a compendium of ideas to help them shape their own programmes. Certain activities have been designated as 'core activities' for all schools to practise, although they will still decide how they wish to go about it. The aim of these core activities is for all pupils to go through certain common experiences.
28. While the en masse activities would be more appropriate for primary and lower secondary school pupils, upper secondary and junior college students are likely to appreciate more demanding, smaller scale activities like talks, projects, seminars and debates. As the focus is on developing leadership qualities in JC students, they can also be roped in for organising activities like excursions for primary and secondary students. As the singing of national songs is a natural means of conveying feelings, this mass activity will be practised in all schools.
29. Team ECAs are an important means of building up group awareness and camaraderie. From upper primary to secondary four, students will be made to participate in at least one team activity / uniformed group. We will also encourage all schools to implement the "house" system as a means of strengthening team spirit among students of different ability groups and races. It would also offer leadership positions to older students, including the less academically able. The "house" system will not be confined to sports and games, but be extended to other ECA activities like civics quizzes, " school cleaning", art competitions, song competitions, etc.

    Commemoration of Key Historical Events

30. The commemoration of certain defining events in our history is essential to the informal NE curriculum. Certain events and the images they evoke must be entrenched in the consciousness of each successive generation. The key events which every school will be required to observe, although with an intensity and form that can vary from year to year, are as follows:

    (a) Total Defence Day (15 Feb) --- marking the day in 1942 when Singapore fell to the Japanese. The commemoration will serve to remind that everyone has a part to play in the Total Defence of Singapore.

    (b) Racial Harmony Day (21 Jul) --- marking the day in 1964 when racial riots broke out in Singapore. The commemoration would signify that efforts at racial understanding and tolerance must not slacken.

    ( c) National Day (9 Aug) --- a national theme will be given to schools each year to give focus to their celebration of Singapore's independence.

31. A calendar of other events in Singapore's social, economic and political development - eg the Bukit Ho Swee Fire, Hijacking of SQ 117, the last time we had water rationing - will also be provided to schools to observe in ways they deem appropriate.

    Visits to Key Installations

32. We will mount a programme to enable students to visit key public installations and economic facilities. Such visits will help engender a sense of pride in Singapore and confidence about the future. Students will learn through such visits how Singapore has overcome its constraints by human will and ingenuity. Schools will have to recognise these visits as an integral part of education during term time, so that visits are spread out throughout the year.

    Community Service

33. Community service will be a mainstay of the informal curriculum across all levels, with the objective of building social cohesion and civic responsibility. At the lower primary level, the service could be rendered within the school community. From the upper primary level upward it will be extended to the wider community. Community service will not be confined to helping welfare institutions. We will allow schools to "adopt" community projects and facilities, eg parks or even a section of a park, and have their involvement visually recognised.

    Support from Parents and the Community in Cultivating National Instincts

34. Support is necessary from parents and the community at large so that values and precepts imbibed in school are reinforced outside, or at very least not undermined. The media and grassroots organisations will have to play major roles in achieving this.

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION