Assessment of Academic Merit for Edusave Awards in Absence of Exams for Lower Primary School Students
Ministry of EducationSpeakers
Summary
This question concerns the assessment of academic merit for Edusave Awards for lower primary students who do not sit for formal examinations. Member of Parliament Mr Patrick Tay Teck Guan asked about evaluation methods for 2021, particularly for levels where year-end assessments were cancelled. Minister for Education Chan Chun Sing explained that for Primary 3 and 4, eligibility was based on school-based assessments already conducted earlier that year. Criteria for Primary 5 and 6 remained unchanged, while awards for Primary 1 and 2 are based on conduct and consistent learning dispositions. These dispositions include curiosity and resilience, following the 2019 policy to remove weighted assessments and examinations for the earliest primary school years.
Transcript
47 Mr Patrick Tay Teck Guan asked the Minister for Education with no formal exams for several levels of Primary school children, especially those in the lower Primary in 2021, how does the Ministry effectively assess the academic merit for the different categories of the Edusave Awards.
Mr Chan Chun Sing: The Edusave academic awards recognise and encourage students' hard work, good performance and improvements in their studies.
There are different types of Edusave academic awards. The academic criteria for the Edusave Merit Bursary (for Primary 3 to 6), Good Progress Award (for Primary 4 to 6) and Edusave Scholarships (for Primary 5 and 6) are based on students' performance in school-based assessments.
In 2021, the year-end examinations were cancelled for Primary 3 and 4 students to provide more time for teaching and learning due to disruptions from COVID-19. Students' eligibility for the Edusave awards was thus determined by their overall performance in school-based assessments that had already been conducted, such as weighted assessments and mid-year examinations.
For Primary 5 and 6 students, as their year-end examinations were unaffected, the computation of their eligibility for the Edusave Scholarships, Edusave Merit Bursary and Good Progress Award remained unchanged.
For Primary 1 and 2 students, MOE has removed all weighted assessments and examinations since 2019. The selection of students for the P1 and P2 Edusave Merit Bursary and P2 and P3 Good Progress Award is based on good conduct and consistent demonstration of good learning dispositions such as curiosity and resilience.