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Representation of Students from Lower Socio-economic Backgrounds among Singapore’s Highest-performing Students

Published on: 07 Oct 2026

NewsParliamentary replies

Name and Constituency of Member of Parliament

Assoc Prof Kenneth Goh, Nominated Member of Parliament

Question

To ask the Minister for Education in light of the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2025 finding that 10.7 per cent of Singapore’s socio-economically disadvantaged students reached the top national quarter in science performance (a) whether the Ministry tracks the representation of students from lower socio-economic status among Singapore’s highest-performing students over time; and (b) if so, what trends it has observed.

Response

  1. Based on PISA data, the proportion of Singapore’s students from the lowest-25% social economic status (SES) homes who performed at the highest-25% nationally has remained stable between 2015 and 2025.
  2. PISA defines students who attain the top two proficiency levels1 as Top Performers. Compared to most other top-performing education systems in PISA 2025, Singapore has a higher proportion of Top Performers among students from the lowest-25% SES homes.

  3. Besides the overall mean score, OECD also reports PISA performance based on 6 proficiency levels which describe what students can do in each domain.

Footnotes
  1. Besides the overall mean score, OECD also reports PISA performance based on 6 proficiency levels which describe what students can do in each domain.