He is one step closer to his dream, having finished his first year at Ngee Ann Polytechnic for a diploma in nursing.

The 21-year-old represents how Singapore has been able to uplift those who are less academically able through the Institutes of Technical Education.

Making this observation on Thursday, Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew said: 'It's one of the success stories of Singapore to be able to uplift the academically less advantaged 25 per cent and use their other skills - hands on skills and ability to improvise - to give them that added value.'

MM Lee, making his first visit to an ITE campus, noted that the hallmark of a good education system is one that takes into account the fact that not everyone can take the usual academic route.

'What a good educational system has to do is to find out quickly what is it they are good at, maximise it and find a way in which in today's modern IT economy they would be able to make a contribution to society and make a good living.'

Singapore's move to provide a flexible education system began in earnest in the late 1980s, when it had more resources to cater to people who did not fit in the mainstream school system, said Mr Lee.

Today, Singapore has a Sports School, Arts School and NUS High School of Mathematics and Science.

Universities and polytechnics, too, offer different specialities and modes of teaching.

The result is an national education system that is 'more variegated and 'sensitive' to the different strengths of students.

The Minister Mentor made these points after a two-hour tour of the ITE College East in Simei, the first mega-campus to be built in 2005.

Read the full story in Friday's edition of The Straits Times.