If I were the Minister of Education - From a university student

Last week, I had the opportunity to share some of my thoughts with the folks at MOE in their regular outreach sessions to understand sentiments from different stakeholders in education! Kudos to the team for the proactive outreach! During the session, we had a discussion over contemporary issues surrounding the education system in Singapore from social mixing to future readiness. As the session ended, I thought it will be fun to do a thought experiment about the policies or actions I will take if I were the Minister of Education. Not just that, hopefully through my own sharing, I can also encourage more youths to share their own perspectives of how they would improve the education system if they were the Minister of Education. So without further ado, these are the 3 things I will do if I am the Minister of Education!

1) Building a sandbox for youth-initiated projects

It is impossible on a systemic level for MOE to attend to every single issue within the system, and our youth should be empowered to be change agents on educational issues that they are passionate about. While there has been some success in catalysing this youth-led ground-up movement, most of these organisations may still be contained within schools as interest groups and for those who manage to garner a following beyond their own school, they often lack support to continue their good work within education.

There are so many youth organisations like Access (trying to champion social mobility in education), Crater (trying to bring real-world organisations & learning into schools), Teleschope (trying to help students with post-secondary choices), TaCo SG (trying to help students gain a brief understanding of university options through taster courses) just to name a few doing great work in plugging certain gaps within the educational system. These organisations will definitely benefit from a stronger collaboration with the Ministry to pilot and test certain solutions within local schools to further enhance their impact on the work they do.

Having a sandbox for passionate changemakers within education can help the Ministry to identify unmet needs and work closely with these organisations to sharpen their solutions to create a deeper impact in the education system. Furthermore, most of these organisations are run by students themselves, this will also give them a sense of ownership that they can be a part of the solution in making the education system better for all!

2) Increasing inter-school students interactions

As I recounted my own educational experience on social mixing, I was surprised that I only interacted with another student from another race when I was 17 years old in JC. Discounting my kindergarten years, that's about 10 years with little or no interaction with someone from another race. While this is different for various students in different schools, a more intentional approach in bringing students from various backgrounds together especially during their formative years can be helpful to foster empathy and shape their perspectives about society.

To this end, I propose grouping schools together as a cluster, and students from these schools can get a chance to participate and work with other students on cluster-wide events or projects. Just like how schools are already grouped into clusters which enable collaborations between teachers from these schools, we can do the same for the students as well. A cluster committee of teachers or MOE HQ representatives can spearhead the development of activities or events that encourages student collaboration and engagement among schools. Social mixing should not be left to chance, and we should engineer those opportunities for all students to experience the diversity they live in.

3) Help students build a narrative around their non-academic abilities

Much has been said and done around trying to get students to be less obsessed about chasing the top grade, from the new grading system in PSLE to removing mid-year examinations for certain secondary levels. Perhaps another way to look at this issue is to help students recognize their non-academic abilities and how those qualities contribute to their future. Helping students to build a narrative around their non-academic abilities like values and soft skills that they have demonstrated during their educational journey can enable them to see their value beyond the letter grade. This can be done by helping every student create a portfolio of their non-academic abilities which they can bring with them throughout their educational journey. Teachers can also use this portfolio to guide students on their personal development and growth.

With more tertiary institutions and even employers starting to look beyond grades in their admission or hiring process, this portfolio of their non-academic abilities can become a tangible showcase of their non-academic development. It's important to help students build their own unique narrative around their non-academic abilities so that their identity is not just tied to academic achievements alone. While, changing mindset around this issue takes a whole-of-village approach, hopefully, this becomes the first signal to all students to see success beyond good grades.

In conclusion,

These are 3 things I would do if I am the Minister of Education from my own unique perspective and experience within our education system. Let us continue the conversation on how we can improve the education system, comment below with the 3 things you will do as a Minister of Education! So what would you do if you are the minister of education?

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