Plans to promote education at junior college level: Lee
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Setting up of private schools that adopt public school curriculum approved
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Singapore has definite plans to promote the City-State as an international centre for basic school education and at the junior college level, says Magdalene Lee, Director, Education services.
Singapore has traditionally been a popular destination for preparatory school students from the [East Asian] region — Indonesia, Malaysia, and more recently, China and South Korea. Its status as a centre for quality education rests very much on the international reputation of its public education system, she said in an interview to The Hindu.
Competition for places is stiff and only places not filled by local students are made available to international students.
The Ministry of Education has approved, in recent years, the setting up of privately funded schools, which adopt the public school curriculum and the national education system but charge full fees.
Study of Mandarin
On whether Singapore intended to promote the study of Mandarin, a potential key to the opportunities of globalisation, among the minorities and foreigners whose native languages are not offered at school here, Ms. Lee said international students enrolled in the public school system, whose native language was non-Chinese, could apply to take up Mandarin as an alternative to their mother tongue.
Outside of the school curriculum, non-Chinese students may also take up Mandarin classes in any of the large number of private institutions and language centres in the City-State, she added.
Education in Singapore
