Impact of Home-Based Learning and School Closures on Students Applying to Secondary Schools under Direct School Admission

5 Mr Darryl David asked the Minister for Education how will the period of home-based learning and school closures affect students applying to Secondary schools under the Direct School Admission programme.

The Minister for Education (Mr Ong Ye Kung): Despite the COVID-19 situation, the Direct School Admission or DSA exercise this year will proceed. The timeline for just accepting the applications will be broadly similar to previous years, which is middle of May to early June. But there will need to be some adjustments in how schools evaluate the students.

Let me first give some background. Since 2018, we have been making some significant changes to the DSA process and there are three.

First, we moved DSA away from being an evaluation of general academic abilities, and instead, focused on specific talents and aptitudes of students. Second, with that shift, we encouraged more schools to participate with their respective niche talent development programmes, and as a result, we expanded the number of DSA places on offer. Finally, we simplified the application process with a centralised DSA portal that allows more students to access DSA opportunities.

These changes are part of our continuing effort to recognise students’ abilities for admission to Secondary schools, beyond using PSLE exam results. This is an important shift we are making to the entire education system, moving away from the over-emphasis on examinations and grades, and focusing on what matters to our children in the future, which is their curiosity, passion, ability to learn for life and mastery of their chosen crafts.

We will therefore do our best to maintain the same number of DSA placements this year compared to last year, which is about 3,500 placements. In selecting students for DSA, schools will continue to uphold the principles of transparency, objectivity, inclusiveness and student-centricity.

However, the evaluation methods will have to change as we need to observe safe distancing measures. We will not be able to depend on traditional selection methods like trials and auditions. Instead, our schools will implement the following measures.

First, schools will conduct interviews through video-conferencing tools, which our students, teachers are now all very familiar with. To ensure an even playing field with a common setting and equipment for e-interviews, students will go to their own Primary school to participate in the e-interviews. These sessions will take place from early July to middle of September, so a couple of months away. They will be scheduled and spaced out to avoid inter-mingling of students. Schools may also conduct simple e-auditions in a similar way, for arts categories such as singing, dancing or drama.

Second, without selection trials and with the suspension of National School Games, Secondary schools will need to give more recognition to the student’s talent, potential, passion and character through their school track record, and information provided in the students’ online applications. Schools will look out for the student’s demonstrated dedication to a sport and their training attitude, even without a placement in the National School Games. This is not entirely new, but if the circumstances this year force schools to re-evaluate their definition of a good sportsperson, I think it is not a bad outcome at all. Each school will have to decide how it wants to evaluate a student, and apply it consistently and fairly.

Third, our Primary schools will step up efforts to encourage students with ability and potential, especially those from less advantaged family backgrounds, to apply through DSA to suitable schools. This will ensure that students from less advantaged backgrounds have equitable opportunities to access DSA. MOE will announce the details shortly.

Mr Speaker, Sir, let me just make a final comment. COVID-19 has taken away regular classes, and also our tried and tested methods of grading and DSA selection. But instead of stalling our education reforms, it has underscored their importance and provided impetus for us to journey on.

For example, we recognised the importance of digital literacy – we always did – but acceptance of online learning tools and capabilities across schools were uneven, and we therefore needed a fairly lengthy phase-in period that I announced in Parliament during the Committee of Supply (COS). But now having forced everyone into home-based learning, that has helped us overcome that problem almost overnight.

We always wanted to emphasise more on Character and Citizenship Education and especially moral education, and COVID-19 has provided us with many important teaching moments.

Similarly, we have progressively been reducing the over-emphasis on examinations and grades in our current system. Now, COVID-19 is forcing us to adopt more alternate evaluation tools and make greater efforts to exercise judgement on the potential and character of a child.

So, education reforms will therefore continue and so will the DSA exercise, and all the more so this year.

Mr Darryl David (Ang Mo Kio): I thank the Minister for the comprehensive reply. As a school sportsman who spent more time on the field than in the classroom, I have had been a huge fan of DSA. I am glad to know that DSA will continue for this year. I do understand that there will be challenges for different types of students applying under DSA. For example, it might be easier to arrange for e-auditions and e-interviews for those using the arts or drama.

The Minister mentioned something about the students who are participating in sports in lieu of the national sports games or time trials. I am just wondering, Minister, for many of these individual sportsman, especially, the timings of that particular sports would determine sometimes whether or not they are able to qualify for the programme in certain schools.

Would the Minister or the Ministry be able to clarify how will the schools be more transparent, perhaps, ensuring that there are some common guidelines or common practices across all the schools with regard to say accepting students who are swimmers, athletes or tennis players in the absence of objective qualifying times, which would have been the case if there had been national sports games or even national time trials.

Mr Ong Ye Kung: First, for artistic talent, I do not think the community will feel it is easy to go with e-auditions; it is a challenge. But, also, judgement is involved. When you watch an e-audition, you can judge and evaluate how hard have this child been training, how much effort they have put in, how passionate and dedicated they are. There are also no time trials for arts but you just have to make that judgement. It may have to well apply to sports this year, there being no national games; there is no timing.

But this is one of our habits as an education system and as a society as well. We always like to boil everything down to one number and we compare the number, whose number is bigger and smaller and, therefore, you enter. This has the strongest semblance of objectivity, transparency and meritocracy.

But on the other hand, if we want to judge a child and bring the child into DSA at the age of 12 or 13, I think we may have to go beyond timings or grades, and to really also put some weight on the child's dedication, how hard he or she trains, and the schools have those records. So, the Member is right, that schools have to dig a bit deeper this year, given the circumstances; they have to come up with alternate criteria and explain them transparently to students and parents, so that they can apply to DSA.

At the same time, for students and parents, I also need all their understanding that this year, in the absence of National School Games, some of these qualitative attributes will come into play. And do accept that schools, principals and teachers do have to exercise judgement this year. This is in a way how life is.