IIM Bangalore Alumni Association event, "Schooling in Singapore"
As part of the IIM Bangalore Alumni Association, Singapore Chapter's efforts to make the association more relevant to its members, we planned and organised a series of events that had a direct impact on the lives of the IIMB expat community based in Singapore. In April we organised an event "Immigration and Citizenship Planning - Singapore PR/Citizenship" with lawyers from Withers. Continuing in the same spirit we had a beautiful session titled "Schooling in Singapore" (VIDEO LINK) with some very diverse beyond the horizon perspectives for parents of school going children. There was a tonne of questions from the audience and the panellists were kind to take time and answer them (PANELLIST RESPONSE TO AUDIENCE QUESTIONS).
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| Bernice giving the welcome note |
Renuka Vaidyanathan, an IIMB alumni of the 1988 batch and founder of BeingSattvaa moderated the session. She started with an acknowledgement that she was an unabashed fan of Singapore’s meritocratic schooling system. Renuka felt that this system was an enduring legacy of Singapore's founding PM, Lee Kuan Yew who adopted and later adapted the British colonial system and tweaked it to account for the higher capabilities of the Singapore children.
She then mused over the Einstein quote, "Imagination is more important than knowledge" and wondered if the unrelenting quest for knowledge had stifled imagination. Renuka acknowledged that the Singaporean education had a bit of Kiasu streak (a Hokkien word that means “selfish attitude arising from a fear of missing out on something”).
Hock Huat, founder of Gifted & Talented Education Group felt that the people generally preferred local schools despite the availability of many alternate options. He further explained that the electoral predicaments of the Government would make it challenging for foreigners, to get P1 admissions in local schools but felt that P2/P3 admission for foreigners is possible but requires efforts to package the child’s special talents to the school.
Mr Huat then shared how problems with his own child led him to found the Gifted & Talented Education Group. Mr Huat then briefly described the Singapore’s Gifted Education Program, under which around 300 students from P3 level are selected and their progress is monitored by MOE directly. He believes that the smart kids need early discovery, early intervention and nurturing; else these kids often tend to perform worse than the average Joe.
While he felt that parents should support and make strong demands on their children, he strongly recommended against living for them as it will lead to suffocation for all. Quoting Angela Duckworth’s book Grit, Mr Huat said that it is not your Gift of intelligence and other abilities but your hunger, passion and ability to persevere and ability to take shit as fertilizer and grow that will determine your ultimate success in today’s world.
Ramya Nageswaran, founder of BridgeAble and shareholders of NPS International school bought in the perspective of an Indian expat parent and shared her Husband’s strong desire to inculcate the Indian work ethics and ethos in their children. She also shared the story of how NPS International School was set up in Singapore and how her kids were among its first 17 students. Later her daughter developed a strong interest in Drama and shifted to UWCSEA as drama was not available as an elective in NPS. Ramya felt that the choice of International Vs Local school was very child specific and those with an academic bent of mind may prefer the local/ Indian schools, while those wanting to pursue other non-academic interests may find more opportunities in the international schools setting. Additionally, she mentioned that international schools might appeal to those with mobile careers, as it will ease the burden of transition for children.
Alec Jiggins, Principal of EtonHouse, Orchard Road Campus started with an emphatic comment against standardized testing. He explained that standardized testing had its origin in the selection of Mandarins for the ancient Chinese bureaucracy. The standardized testing applied to modern education does the job of reducing children to a number. Alec felt that schooling is one of the most important decisions you would make for your child and it’s a decision that would remain with your child for the rest of her/his life. He felt that there are no right answers and cognitive biases play a big role in your choice. Given his own traumatic experience in the British system, Alec expressed a preference for student-centric systems and places that emphasize on student’s rights. While choosing the school for your child he recommended using three filters: the logical filter (Academic results, infrastructure, programs etc), the heart filter (How do you feel about the school and do you have a connection with the people in the school and comfortable about the fact that your child will spend the next few years with the people you just met at school) and gut filter. Sharing an anecdote about good schools he mentioned that one of the best schools he visited was just a shed in the Himalayas and the teachers had an amazing relationship with their students and those children walked miles across the mountains to get to that school.
Galyna Kogut, a researcher from NIE, NTU shared anecdotes from her own journey as a parent and highlighted the dichotomy between the desire to provide a holistic education to your children and market expectations. She made the beautiful point that the education system is aware of its limitation but any drastic change like doing away with the PSLE examination will be disruptive and have its own ramifications. She concluded by saying that a parent’s job doesn’t end after sending their kids to the best school in town, but they need to participate and get involved with the schools to deliver the best outcome for their children.
There was a good discussion on the subject of streaming. Hock Huat made the point that Human Capital being Singapore’s only natural resource it is imperative to identify and nurture talent. Ramya shared her impression that this is an example of the academically driven nature of the Singapore education system. Alec felt that streaming worked to a certain degree, but the best education systems in the world (eg Finland) tended to individualize & personalize rather than standardize. He strongly felt that education should help each child realize their potential without putting a label on them. Galyna added that your child not making to the top 5 percentile of a standardized test is not the end of the world.
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| The award-winning photographer |
Regarding the sense of entitlement amongst many school children, Alec highlighted that school is only one part of the equation and if a child is growing up with an entitled mindset then its also because the parent is giving the child that mindset. Ramya pointed out that peer pressure amongst children is very real and shared an anecdote of her child’s classmates with a private jet. She suggested an awareness of your children’s friends and whom they are spending their times with; She also recommended playing a part in choosing your children’s friends. Hock Huat highlighted the role of charity and the need to train them to be net givers to the society as a counter to the creation of the entitlement feeling.
Regarding enrichment classes and Alec highlighted that research suggests that homework has no or little value for the betterment of Children. He felt that it would be better for kids to go home and enquire and engage with the world around and be kids rather than sit down and do a couple of hours of maths. However, he acknowledged the importance of SATs and felt that specific areas of weakness could be addressed through extra tuitions. Renuka the moderator, highlighted that her kids never took tuitions because she believed in children having a life beyond schools. Hock Huat felt that if the child is enjoying the sessions and is motivated to learn and excel and you as a parent could afford them then there is no harm in pursuing these enrichment programs.
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