Basis for Admission of Students into Normal (Technical), Normal (Academic) and Express Streams

7 Mr Louis Ng Kok Kwang asked the Minister for Education (a) how does the Ministry decide what percentage of students are streamed into the Normal (Technical), Normal (Academic), and Express streams each year; and (b) whether the streaming system allows for the possibility that no students enter the Normal (Technical) or Normal (Academic) stream in a given year.

Mr Ong Ye Kung: The Ministry sets qualifying criteria based on PSLE result for the courses to ensure that students accessing each course can cope with its academic rigour and pace of learning. So the proportion of students in Normal (Technical), Normal (Academic), and Express course is dependent on students' performance at the PSLE and their eligibility for the respective courses, and the students' choices when they are eligible for two courses.

The table below shows the placement criteria for each course and option band. The proportion of students in each course varies slightly from year to year. It is possible that in a cohort when more students meet the Express and Normal (Academic) criteria, we may end up having very few Normal (Technical) classes. This remains the case when we move to a new PSLE scoring system in 2021.