Schooling, The Singapore Way

What India can adopt from the island nation’s top-notch education system.

- Diya Mathew

When Jahnavi Iyer’s biology teacher at the Yuving Secondary School in Singapore found that Jahnavi and a couple of classmates were curious about the sheep’s anatomy, she gave them a sheep’s heart to dissect. It wasn’t in the syllabus. The teacher took the decision on her own; she had the flexibility and resources to do so. It is an everyday example of Singapore’s approach to school education, arguably one of the best in the world.

“The most commendable part of the Singapore school system is the high level of infrastructure [such as labs and playgrounds] across all schools,” says Jahnavi’s father, Vishwesh Iyer, a communications consultant in Singapore. “This standardisation means that students in all schools, irrespective of their public rankings, enjoy access to the same level of facilities.”

Jahnavi, 16, says the school system is holistic in its approach. “Co-curricular activities are compulsory, allowing each student to develop non-academic skills along with academic ones,” she says. “Many awards are given to appreciate both academic and non-academic talents, thinning the lines of difference and giving equal importance to both.”

This all-round approach to education has not affected Singapore’s reputation as the best test-taking nation in the world.

In 2016, Singapore ranked first in two prominent international tests. One, the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMMS), held every four years for students aged 10 to 14, by the Amsterdam-based International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement. Two, the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), which is dubbed ‘The World Cup for Education’. The PISA is conducted triennially by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) for 15-year-olds in maths, reading and science.