Young People who Leave Education System after Major Examinations

5 Assoc Prof Daniel Goh Pei Siong asked the Minister for Education how many young people leave the education system after their PSLE and the "N" and "O" level attainment each year in the past three years and whether the Ministry is tracking their employment and continuing education and training prospects.

The Minister for Education (Mr Ong Ye Kung): Over the years, MOE has implemented many measures to reduce dropouts post-PSLE. These include different education streams to cater to students with different paces of learning at that age, early interventions at lower Primary to help students keep up, and specialised schools, namely Northlight School and Assumption Pathway School, to cater to students who did not qualify for Secondary school courses after PSLE. With all these measures, the proportion of Primary 1 (P1) cohorts who did not progress to Secondary education is practically 0%.

At the Secondary school level, less than 1% of the P1 cohorts did not complete Secondary education, compared to 2% 10 years ago. So, it has been halved. The percentage of P1 cohorts that progresses to post-Secondary education has increased from 90% 10 years ago, to 97% now. So, the school dropout numbers that the Member is asking about is a very small proportion of every cohort. And this is a result of our relentless efforts, together with our education partners, over the years.

For those who still drop out of school, our teachers actively reach out to them. But the reasons for dropping out are often complex and we have to tap on the expertise and networks of agencies, such as MSF, MHA, self-help groups, family service centres and Voluntary Welfare Organisations (VWOs). For example, VWOs will engage the out-of-school youths and their families, and encourage them to participate in group activities to support their return to school and transit to the next stage of education.

As for students who entered the workforce and face employment difficulties, they can tap on support from their alma mater, Workforce Singapore, the CDCs, NTUC's e2i or the self-help groups. We are also expanding the range of opportunities for upgrading and lifelong learning.

MOE does not track students who drop out of schools statistically and longitudinally as a group because different agencies and organisations do come in to provide support at different stages of a person’s life. Further, there is always a dynamic churn within the population: students who drop out after "O" or "N" levels often move on to upgrade and hold good and stable jobs, while well-educated Singaporeans can encounter difficult patches due to industry downturns.

Assoc Prof Daniel Goh Pei Siong (Non-Constituency Member): I thank the Minister. I just have one supplementary question. Because there is now a nationwide SkillsFuture framework in place that provides for comprehensive and continuous education, dropouts might feel that they have no stakeholding in this framework, mainly because they have been kind of labelled as "failures" and are not seen as learners anymore. They might be considered as discouraged learners, so to speak. Is there any scope or any specific programmes within SkillsFuture that can reach out to these groups?

Mr Ong Ye Kung: First, we should really take a firm stand that we should never regard them as failures. Dropping out of school is sometimes owing to family circumstances or personal circumstances beyond their control. Today, our formal education system, whether it is Institute of Technical Education, polytechnic, university, if you drop out for some reason, it will welcome you back.

The Member may notice that, last week, I announced that we will now also take into account their working experience when we assess re-admission. And that, I think, is a very clear signal: “You never drop out. It’s lifelong learning and you are always welcome to come back. And the more you work and treat your work seriously, you actually improve your credentials."

That is the formal education system. But beyond that, for the lifelong learning system, we have training providers from the private sector, industry partners, as well as our Institute of Higher Learnings, all rolling out new shorter courses that people can enrol for. For these courses, one of the principles in their design is open accessibility. You should not have to demonstrate that you have achieved certain academic grades in order to enrol for a lifelong learning programme. So long as you have the heart, the determination to do it, it should welcome you and it is also subsidised.

We very much want to make sure that all Singaporeans, especially young Singaporeans, continue on the lifelong learning journey.