Closing Remarks for Launch of Education Conversations Public Engagements by Minister for Education Desmond Lee

1. Thank you for spending the last few hours with us. We invite you to walk this journey with my colleagues and myself. We will keep you engaged, we'll keep connected with you, as we will with all the other people who will join us in the road ahead, as we explore all these various issues with open hearts and open minds.

2. When I gave an interview to the media earlier this year, I said we wanted to look at PSLE, secondary school posting, Direct School Admissions (DSA), Co-Curricular Activities (CCA), Character and Citizenship Education (CCE). But today, if you noticed, we did not want to prescribe in our discussions to those topics, but to keep it broad. Your contributions have been very helpful, and I am energised and encouraged by what I have heard today. I would like to thank all the groups that I have listened in to, and those who have come up to speak to me.

1. As I went around, I heard people challenge each other's views and ideas in a very respectful way, and I saw that some of you also went away with a new perspective.
2. I also heard groups encourage each other to go beyond thinking about their own perspective, and to consider what is good for our children and our society.
3. Our groups talked about a wide range of many topics, as you would have heard from the summary just now. Many topics: PSLE, DSA, class size, Special Educational Needs (SEN) students; teacher workload, CCA, industry internships, skills and more.

3. Some of you have brought up important considerations and tensions that we will need to navigate as we try to moderate the academic arms race and address the many other things that you have told us are important. For example:

1. How do we shift mindsets and behaviours away from over-emphasis on academic grades outcomes, to better focus on developing our students' future-ready skills, competencies and values. As many of you would know grades get people through the door, but it is your values, perspectives, empathy, leadership, ability to be part of a team and your curiosity in life that will see you through life's journey. So, we all know that it is important, but how do we shift the mindset?
2. What will this mean for parents, for our teachers, and for students themselves? For example, when MOE removed mid-year examinations, I heard that parents would send their children to tuition to take exams instead. So, what is intended to create more space for children to learn things through the middle of the year caused some parents to say, well, but at the end of the day, there are exams. So, I then need to find a way to get my children ready for that.
3. Others mentioned that exams can be useful and we need to distinguish between multiple purposes of how exams are for. Take PSLE for example, what is it used for? It is used to access mastery, how much you learnt over the last few years, to post you to the stream for the full subject based-banding, and to determine which secondary school you go to. So, which of the these are the ones that really counts, and which are the ones that create undue academic pressure and stress. I think we can unpack it for ourselves.
4. Since our resources are not unlimited, how do we make best use of them in order to develop our students to their fullest potential, regardless of the school they attend, or their starting point in life? Uplifting students where they need more support, while stretching them in their diverse talents and strengths?

4. I am very encouraged to hear the views that you have raised as participants. Like many of you, we believe that holistic development is not a nice-to-have. It is absolutely essential. Building our children's character and 21st Century Competencies are not extras that come after or as a bonus to academic success. And knowing how to ask the right question through critical thinking, is just as important as knowing how to get the right answer after the question has been defined.

5. Now, these values and skills are critical for our children, and I am also glad to hear some suggestions of how we can achieve this together. Some asked us to review how PSLE scores are used to post students to secondary schools. Others suggested removing DSA, or tweaking it to non-academic aspects only. Others suggested sorting students to secondary schools through pure balloting. One very wise comment by a participant was that no sorting mechanism will make everyone happy.

6. All systems have downsides because however pure the intention may be, we put on the lens that we think we want to see and then try to help our children navigate it, get the best for our children. It is a natural parental instinct and that inadvertently creates pressure.

7. Some of you suggested allocating more time for CCAs or activities for character development, life skills, and 21st Century Competencies. While some participants reminded us that as we do this, not everyone needs to be good at everything, and we should develop each child to his or her own interests and strengths – then operate as a team. I won't be able to do justice to all the interesting ideas that have been raised, or the very thought-provoking tensions that you have highlighted, but I hope you will continue to mull over these issues and share your ideas with us. As I've said, if you are keen, we want to remain connected to you, keep you updated along the way, and get you engaged as we develop some of these ideas further. Ultimately, shaping our education system is a combined effort, it's a collective effort. At MOE, my colleagues and I need your partnership:

1. Parents who emphasise effort and character, not just grades;
2. Employers and industry leader who look at the whole person, not just their academic achievements; and,
3. Community partners who support children and families beyond the classroom.

8. We will continue to engage widely and deeply, there will be many more sessions after this, we want to make sure that we also reach groups who will not normally sign up, or who might not be comfortable engaging in English, or who may be working as we are meeting here. And you have my commitment that we will listen closely and study all these suggestions carefully. And when we are ready, we will provide an update on the conversations and get your views to further distil, refine and improve them.

9. I want to end off with the story of a young lady at my table, Ms Constance Han.

1. Like many youths, Constance faced her share of academic challenges growing up. Her educational journey took her through ITE, Polytechnic and NTU. But as she told us, some of her best learning came from beyond the classroom, through volunteering with Youth Corps Singapore.
2. At one point, a friend encouraged her to "live life more." She came to realise that success should not be measured solely by examination results, but also by the experiences gained, relationships built and lives she touched along the way.
3. Today, Constance continues to pay it forward by mentoring and inspiring other young people through youth development and community service initiatives, including opportunities offered by the National Youth Council.

10. "Living life more". That quote stuck with me. It really is what this is all about. Giving our children the space to discover their passions, talents and interests, build meaningful relationships, and grow into people of good character and purpose.

11. As you go home today, I want to encourage you to carry today's conversations forward. Talk to your children; talk to other parents; talk to your children's teachers. The culture shift that we need, collectively as Singaporeans, away from the education arms race and towards a genuine celebration of every child's strengths, starts with each of us.

12. I want to thank you for being here today. I want to encourage you to keep connected, keep going and keep contributing. Thank you and have a good weekend ahead.