diana really good, not messing around, asking tough questions

her frustration at ccs not replying her questions directly was palpable

Aint no way 12 years old are now considered babies. Back then maybe but now? I feel like the mental age of the kids these days are beyond their age because of this easily accessible information.

She asked tough questions He evaded them

As an ex teacher, I do agree that banding the kids benefits both the kids and the teacher. And I do see students who struggled in psle being much happier after being posted to a stream that is more suitable for them! I think most parents have a very narrow view of what psle means. It means nothing more than putting a student in a stream suitable for them. With subject banding now, students poor in the English language, for eg, but who are strong in math and science, are still able to take math and science at their appropriate level, which is great! However, it's also true that primary school children now are more stressed as compared to children in the past because their educated parents lived through a different time where getting into the EM3 or NT stream means that your future would be 'doomed' (not true too but it was tougher for sure). Now, there are so many pathways. It doesn't really matter when psle is. Even if they push the exams to when they are 14, the stress will still be there if your perspective and knowledge of psle remain in the 90s.

sadly some people who didn't have to grow up in HDB flats (i.e. those in MGS ACS etc) do not have to work as hard for PSLE because they can get in with much lousier grades that would only put them in neighbourhood secondary schools.

2:48 Completely disagree with Mr Chan's answer. If someome really repeated what he did in today's environment, there is no way one from a humble background can become a Minister, or hold any other leadership post. In the past, one can really succeed in life based on pure merit, as most students had equal footing and there was no culture of tuition. Today, the vast majority of students attend tuition and place massive emphasis on their academics. Even scoring well is not anything to clap about anymore. Rather, what sets someone apart today is their portfolio, and that further causes inequity. Students from good schools will naturally have more opportunities to boost their portfolio and have the necessary resources to gain admission into prestigious universities. A student from a neighbourhood school who does well in their exams cannot gain admission into better schools based on merit anymore as they lack the portfolio neccessary to beat the competition. If truly MOE wants to reduce the inequity faced in today's environment, it must move towards merit based admission for schools/scholarships, while keeping in mind that only quality portfolio should be taken into account, and keeping track of a students' background and schooling life to understand his/her access to portfolio opportunities.

Agree with Minister Chan - Need to get the kid into the appropriate class. And for that you need an exam like the PSLE.

I feel like we would be selling our young people a lie by telling them not to focus on grades, when the civil service literally pegs your salary / gives scholarships according to grades and virtually nothing else.

Stay tune, tomorrow CNA and Minister Ccs gonna take us to RI.

😊🙏 Thank You So Much Minister of Education Chan Chun Sing & CNA Diana Ser for having this illuminating discourse & the nostalgic walking down the Memory Lane of our Primary School episode >>> OMG! Brought back so many bitter sweet memories of our childhood in Primary Schools ... 🙏 Many of our Principles & Teachers & even School Mates have passed on to their next lives over the decades ... The segments of our life journey have Self-Life ... We wish to have the Life Experiences & Insights we accumulated now while we are still in our Primary-6! 🙏🕯🌷🌿🌏✌💜🕊🇸🇬🇲🇾

I think the value of life that parents truly understand and the type of playing that students themselves or society feel right are to be considered whether how the attitude of students towards primary and secondary education. It is also very essential to understand why people are born and growing up with different studying ability, can this be nurtured and improved upon, and how! Are there any beyond diligent in study that can indirectly augment in one’s degree of education. Should students education be prepared whilst they were baby time, or rather how to prepare these babies from acquiring the right attitude and interest of studying etc etc

Can we do a poll on whether parents support the current PSLE system or if they prefer the old one?

9:34 the +/- 1 based on a 4 point band is just add undue stress on top of existing stress to students who had been scoring consistently in that range. This new category seems to tell "Whether dumber or less dumb is still considered dumb. The smart and smarter must be well differentiated. Beyond a certain bar, welcome to Club Elite!". PSLE stays as the first key differentiator.

Huh, why cannot reveal his PSLE score?

How I wished my primary school teacher didn't said.... "I am good for nothing"! That feeling hurts my till today....

There are many people growing up in tough situations who grew up snobbish and aloof and not wanting to associate themselves with the environment they came from. The important factors are their character and value system.

We are a really small country.🙏🏼

diana asked great questions, but CCS seems to be avoiding them...

most or all employers has to use grade to evaluate the employee, how will they know whether they are resilient or not?

I think CCS should walk the talk and make access to secondary schools fairer. Currently lower income students face much more pressure and a higher threshold to get into the same school as other kids from richer families. Let's say MGS is the best fit for a kid who is from a poorer family because of certain values and CCAs that the school has. Why should a girl living in bukit timah/have parents who went to MGS be able to enter the school with less points than her poorer peers who do not have any affiliation to the primary school? 8 Points for non-affiliated vs 17 points for affiliated schools is a significant difference. So stressful. Until the MOE does something about this unfair advantage, the system will always be in favour of the rich. It's sad that having come from a poor background himself the minister has not brought up this painfully obvious point. Is it because he got lucky and now is one of the elites and well-heeled?

I really like Mr Chan Chun Sing.Did u read my gifted son book :My Journey in Maths. My son told me u are such a humble guy and come from a poor family .U study well and good u progress well.Amen

If companies look beyond grades and schools are meant to prepare children for working environment, wouldn’t it be contrary to have PSLE?

Cannot please everyone.

Diana Ser is such a brilliant person. Score 399 not easy.....her look is very attractive 😍

Can’t wait for the regardless of grades documentary coming out tomorrow 9pm. Honestly, I think those kids who attend external academic enrichments are gonna be so disruptive to the pace in class for my kid who doesn’t attend external academic enrichments. But I know my kids are gonna be the regular normal ones, not gonna compare. Ministers should also stop comparing with their past when almost no students attended external academic enrichments, so yes there was meritocracy in the past, now is moneytocracy and parentocracy.

While I am very much aware of Singapore's current education system, the fact is that any education system has to evolve to fit the needs of the population in it's future form. While meritocracy is all fine and good, especially when it comes to education of our young, it's usually at the expense of their childhood which is something most parents forget exists. If Singapore is serious about giving its children all the best that it can give them then having such disparity in schools is counter-intuitive. I do understand that statistically, and comparatively, there will be factors that set schools apart but, in general, these differences are minor. What isn't minor is the fact that, usually out of monetary advantage, some of these children get a head start. So I ask, is that child there based on merit (like ACS where the yearly fee alone for attending is almost SGD$ 30k) or did their parents money get them there. Should the best students be given the best opportunities or should it be fair across the board? Let's be clear, a talented child will always come out on top regardless of school and I would rather have a child be in a normal school rather than have them in some elitist institution that takes away what makes Singapore Singapore. Let us be also clear that the PSLE is the same exam we took decades ago just in a different form and the honorable minister does make a point about it in regards to keeping up with the Joneses. Does that really have to a happen or are our children simply automatons to our limitless ambition on their behalf?

Actually, the education system is a tripartite relationship, the Government that institutes the system, the Environment which encompass the social, economic and political dimension that shapes our education needs, and then the people who are subscribing to the system and buying in to prop it up. I am witnessing a big desync between then 3 parties as each aspire to pursue KPIs that are non tangential and driven by strongly defended and archaic turf guarding believes. There is then this gross lack of communications with the party which matters most; not the Garmen, not the teachers; not the parents but essentially the students who are sucking up to whatever the "uncollective wisdom" of the elders dictate.

Wait. Why her psle score is 399. What was thr scoring system like before the out of 300 points?

Eh guys, let us all be honest, Minister Mickey tried his best. I think that is more than what we can see in other country politician. btw, just curious how old is Diana?

As we were all experienced in this game and some of us were went to top branded secondary school, however not all of them appreciated the progress and the result. Then they got mental health issues 😂😂, is too late

Nice question from Diana Ser on the AL banding. In her head I bet she knows the answer 😂.

I’m sure this Army General is an expert in war and defense strategies but what does he know about education? Why don’t CNA go interview the teachers and let them tell you how these scholars ministers have screwed up the system and then move on to other posts? Why don’t CNA go find out why the teachers attrition rate is so high and their positions so difficult to fill? Why don’t CNA also interview the students and investigate why more and more are having mental health issues? Singaporeans really have to wake up especially in this election year. There is such a thing as collective karma. This is not some religious thingy but a universal law. Eventually it will come back to haunt you or your kids for what you have or have not done.

- PSLE is redundant in the current form. - Generally there are too many exams with time lost that could be better used for actual learning - Quality of teachers not always good, in particular for English, PE and science subjects - Some teachers rely heavily on the students being tutored - Too long school hours, and on top of it other things to do where efficiency could be debated, example: Values In Action - Learning is seasonal, sometimes they do not much for weeks, and then everything comes in the shortest time - Some teachers use homework for learning, not for deepening/intensifying what had been done in class - Too many pages of papers to fill, a repetitive and boring work, I think writing and creating yourself is more efficient - School activities can be a waste of time with no outcome, no follow up, not learning much - The AL-System is not an improvement - It should not be possible to "buy" you child into a better school.

CCS's evasion skills very good

What makes him think examinations are the right tools to "right site" students? Some poorer families may be in a situation where the child could not get into the ideal environment for learning, thus falling behind in grades, not because he/she innately learns slower. Other factors like interest for the topics are consideration outside of one's learning capabilities. While the thoughts for examination are not wrong, he must understand there will be other factors in play trying to right site students, no student will want to belong to the lower tiers of their results, making them feel discouraged and not able to be proud of themselves.

Wow, his head is buried in 1980 when he was young. The world has moved on. You can’t build our education system around the simple world of 1980.

We all have different abilities in the various subjects taught in schools. The Singapore school class system put kids into classes according to their average scores, which may not be the ideal. My 3 children (all didn’t do well in the Chinese language) made it to the “bottom” or near bottom classes. They were growing up stigmatised unfortunately amongst their peers. All 3 of them were taken out of the Singapore school system and placed in the UK where they were in groups of pupils placed according to subject choice. Hence in that system, they thrived. They graduated 2 from the Imperial College London, one from Cambridge University. 2 engineers , one medical doctor. Should they have been left in the Singapore School system , I have grave doubts that they may have even entered universities since they were so discouraged with their education. We need an over haul of our school system .

A minister that can't differenciate in between cotton and sheep. To be a Minister of education is really hillarious. Imagine a minister going around shouting "Kee Chiu" like a spoil rowdy small boy in an election to be a minister. Running out of words....

2:53 Instead of " of course", he said " it is not impossible" .....

The fact she said the e room is a small flat before he replied there were 6 people living in there. Goes to show that houses are indeed small. And its only getting smaller. Whoever said hdb house is big and enough honestly wasnt saying the truth. 😭😭😭

PSLE has some secondary school level questions but this exam is for primary school students and they are not taught in school on such topics. I remembered there is even a question asking the weight of a coin! How many do you know the weight of coins? Will you weight a coin or a note? Very sad that the PSLE board are full of people who want to show their super ego and made super out of league questions.

Are we cancelling PSLE? Is this where it is heading?

why is minister Chan Chun Sing's score a secret?

many kids do well as in 100 out of 100K?

7:26 NUS SMU are companies who look for grades blatantly and obviously, this funnels to the hiring/hr stages, doesnt mean they have a small percentage of student who enrol due to other acheivements means you fulfil "people beyond grades", whether someone is resilient or creative, well by free labour ie. internship. 8:26 who said when they are weaker they want to be in a weaker class abilities same/different, it is literally the relatively between one person and other 9:04 sorry you really need to elaborate on this???? "siting them in the correct environment" what do you mean why this and who gets to decide what is the correct environment????? so if a weak student goes to SCH X v SCH Y the resources in both schools are different? so why the difference? what is the difference YSCH has more programs and X SCH has less? and this is the argument for "correct environment"?? are there the same number of programs in each school? are the programmes made available to all student but just at different levels of difficulty or mastery??? or is there a reduction of programs for a perceived though that the extra time is spent on improving grades, in the "correct environment" ie, all the students are about the same score/marks which in teern likely means similar abilities, can they help out each other????

Well said! Exam and tests are about how well you know yourself and not comparing with others.

speak about government sectors, which has always been judging and only employ scholars and people with good grades. Start employing people without good grades who are silient and have other good skill sets before you answering the question if good grades are the only important options for their future.

Chan doesn't seem as receptive or willing to open up in this special.

Telling people not to compare when the system is skewed towards elite schools with rich alumni is like telling people to be happy with their simple stations in life. Did he look at the cut off points for top secondary schools that favours affliated primary schools so blatantly? The cut off points are far apart for affliated vs non affiliated schools. Basically if u live in Bukit Timah, has a parent alumni, and got into a ‘good’ primary school, u can work less hard, plus u have all the tuition and all that help. Telling other kids not to compare is telling us to ignore a blatant 2-tier system. It may not have mattered when our dear education minister was in primary school because the disparity between schools were not as pronounced.

His logic with regards to postponing PSLE is faulty. He mentions posting the exams would mean postponing providing the appropriate environment for the level of talent and ability of our children. But these days, most secondary schools are now accepting Posting Groups 1 to 3, or varied abilities. As well, the MOE is emphasizing proximity & convenience over targetting brand name secondary schools. Hence, his logic and justification for maintaining PSLE at Grade 6 is simply invalid in the current environment. The tremendous stress we place on our 12 year olds simply doesnt make sense.

All these about "banding", "all schools are good schools" are distraction from what is truly important in the education arena. Aside from values, education is critically important in preparing its citizens for the working world, to contribute back to the economy and attain that "Singaporean dream". In that aspect, MOE has failed terribly. Look at how Singapore imports FTs to cover employments in IT jobs & you will know MOE lacked farsight, and relied on importing foreign talents to quickly cover-up their mistakes. MOE's focus on biotech in the 1990s did NOT pay off. It was the tech and AI sector that took the world by storm. Their mistake & unwillingness to steer the ship towards a new direction is a costly mistake to the Singaporeans. In the end, what we observe now are FTs replacing locals in the high-paying jobs while locals end up taking low-value jobs. This is something that has been majorly swept under the carpet.

Streaming is stressful and is putting the system ahead of the students. Why does everybody have to be assigned to the environemnt that fits the students, we can afford to let students grow in a higher level even if they need more time. Put student desires ahead of system needs

can score 399 in PSLE?

She said “During your time”? Same era what. He uncle you aunty now. Should be “during our time” lah.

Would our government take the lead and employ candidates without reviewing a person's grade in PSLE? i guess the answer is still, No. =D

Diana, you’re just one to two years younger than him leh. Don’t keh siao donno last time got elite schools anot.

ok. Sat, 6.7.2024

When I review this documentary , I do not believe that the Minister is actually solving the issue. He is not answering the questions Diana posed. If the new system doesn't solve it, why change it ? The current job market , university enrolment and also the civil service hires and pay accordingly to grade. Why would the Scandinavian have a later testing and yet the society is generally doing well ? Would we come to the conclusion that all the ministers would say that their kids are at a neighbourhood school , no tuition or academic supplemental classes would become CEOs later in life or have high positions in corporate settings ? His kids currently stay in a terrace housing, would his kids are paced correctly according to him ?

So many people in the comments complaining about getting into a good sec sch but go see which employer gives a fk about ur sec sch. If someone's portfolio is so empty by the time they're looking for a full time job that they have to write their sec sch in their resume, theyre fked.

ya, certs dun tell the grades. just look at PHD.

diana sayibg facts im 12 im too young:P

Is'nt he the one who said cotton come from sheep? Now become education minister!!!

The AL system just make it more stressful, his argument is more invalid. The top bands are more narrow now which means that each point is more valuable, isn't that more stressful? lol

i think he's dodging diana's questions on the new band. she's asking what used to be an A us now spread among 1,2 & 3. its not about the 1mark. The schools are not making it easy. if u have 4×6, its a total of 24. where can the students go? And about the parents he's also not answering. He is badically still saying parents are main stressor. If he cannot understand and answer properly, i do not see why he is at this position which dictates so many people's future !!! It's frustratibg to hear the indifferent answers. This is pure madness to me.

7:18 i mean minister is either in a singapore of his own or he is being disingenuous.. everyone looks at grades my dear

how to score 399 for PSLE 😁that'd be better than CCS

many oppigs kpkb just dont send your kid to school solve the problem

Right sited wrong sited … same as branding the kids isn’t it? Sounds different but same same…. Executive Jobs in civil service min requirement is second upper and above in my time .. I doubt that has changed

Enough said, PSLE needs to be scrapped because there are ways to site the children according to their abilities other than through the PSLE system

suddenly age 20 years not easy job

A PSLE top scorer interviewing another PSLE top scorer, as expected, there ain't relevant question to truthful answer. The struggles of the children who are in the middle 60% and their parents will never be understood by these top 10% people, or if they are even genuinely interested to understand.

Diana never do NS lah. Not used to the typical army general BS and meaningless motherhood statements

Humble beginnings but now? Siah sway, kee chiew, bash thru, do first talk later?

This guy will destroy the future of our kid. We will have a future of bonker kid. The mental health of our nation is going to increase drastically. .

I hope media can make him more appealing to voters.😅 But dont give PS lah. 🤭🏳️ No lah just kidding. I am neutral😅

StevenChia real perfect for CNA interview.. this lady cannot beat him

cotton come from where?

Stop the politically right answers

waste time video. Nothing to ask nothing to do no matter what system just want to make noise. Like that also CNA also can get high salary?

first

How can Diana score 399? 😂

bootlick pap is better than grades

Why never ask him about the cce that happens to be pro israel?

design the system for pap to groom new members.

A very humble minister.

Ah.... The Sheep Minister...surly he is A Shepherd and NOT a minister. The highest paid Shepherd in The WORLD...😂😂😂🤭🤭🤭

Gross. After the CCE issue, CCS is unforgiveable!

Diana: Yeah... I tell you mine, you tell me yours. I scored 399. Ccs: I mean, i can get you the numbers but let me say this, what is the point behind the question? 🤔

Nah, still not gonna vote for you

I support streaming, but not at age of 12. 16 should be better.

He lost the PM post because his family is not elite background. 😢😢😢