Clarification by Minister, Prime Minister's Office

1.02 pm

The Minister, Prime Minister's Office (Ms Indranee Rajah): Mr Speaker, thank you for allowing me to make this clarification.

At 26 September 2025 Sitting, Ms Denise Phua asked supplementary questions on Singapore's recent drop in the International Institute for Management Development's World Talent ranking. In my response, I had said that Singapore's ranking in terms of our total public expenditure on education as a percentage of gross domestic product had gone from 63rd in 2024 to 65th in 2025. It is actually the other way round. Our ranking had gone up, from 65th in 2024 to 63rd in 2025.

I had also said that the perception-based indicators on whether our primary and secondary and university education meets the needs of a competitive economy, had improved. I would like to clarify that our ranking for these indicators had fallen slightly, but nonetheless remained high. For primary and secondary education, Singapore's ranking had gone from second in 2024 to third in 2025. For university education, it had gone from second in 2024 to seventh in 2025. [Please refer to "Response to Singapore's Drop in 2025 World Talent Ranking", Official Report, 26 September 2025, Vol 96, Issue 6, Oral Answers to Questions section.]

Mr Speaker: Order. Ministerial Statement. Acting Minister for Culture, Community and Youth.