Education was one of the topic given a heavy focus by PM Lee in his National Day Rally Speech.
Highlighting the importance of education, PM Lee said that the government will be contributing to the EduSave accounts of all children aged 7 to 16. This includes home schoolers, madrasah and those studying overseas.
Mr Lee highlighted that the school system needs to be recalibrated to put more emphasis on actual learning rather than exam performance. In his speech about education, the PM kept emphasizing the need to have an open system: an open system which allows outstanding students to make it to the top and to open up the system to focus on more than just grades.
He warned that we cannot have a closed group of self-perpetuating elites.
His message was one of changing the focus of the education system, a message which was well reflected in the choice of venue for this year's rally.
One of the major changes announced was that from next year, every primary school will reserve at least 40 places for children with no prior connections. This will give more children the chance to enter the primary school of their choice rather than the previous situation were almost all the spaces could be taken up by children of alumni.
Changes were also announced for the publication of PSLE results. Mr Lee acknowledged the enormous stress related to the PSLE and the level of competition among students and their parents.
Mr Lee said that often, parents ask one another what their child's T-score was. "I dont think this is healthy at age 12" said PM Lee.
To improve on the situation, PM Lee said that wider bands will be used for PSLE Grades to make them more similar to the O and A level grades. This will give more space to educate students holistically.
He emphasized that we want to create more flexibility to nurture children's abilities and interests and that schools should also consider qualities outside of grades such as a student's character, drive and leadership.
“We must recognize people for effort, not backgrounds. Society cannot be based on guanxi (connections). If you succeed under our meritocratic system, you should feel the duty to contribute back to society.”
He also defended the current system saying that the changes being made do not mean that the current system is bad: "We are not taking these steps because our system is bad. On the contrary, we are starting from a good position. The new strategic direction will take us down a different road from the one that has brought us this far." he said.