From next year, Secondary 1 students in the Normal (Academic) and Normal (Technical) stream at 12 secondary schools will be able to take certain subjects at a higher level if they had done well for it at the Primary School Leaving Examination (PSLE).

This latest move, said the Ministry of Education (MOE) on Thursday, is aimed at giving more flexibility in terms of the subjects offered at lower secondary levels, to "better cater to the strengths of students in different subjects".

Currently, only Normal stream students in the upper secondary level are allowed to take subjects at a higher level. The ministry hopes to implement this flexibility in subject offering in all secondary schools by 2018. Students who score an A or A* grade in a certain subject at PSLE will be able to take the subject at the Express level in secondary school, regardless of whether they are in the N(A) or N(T) streams.

The 12 secondary schools involved in the pilot next year are: Ang Mo Kio Secondary, Bedok Green Secondary, CHIJ St. Joseph's Convent, CHIJ St. Theresa's Convent, Jurong Secondary, Jurong West Secondary, Pei Hwa Secondary, Ping Yi Secondary, Presbyterian High, Queenstown Secondary, St. Patrick's and Unity Secondary.

For N(T) students who had taken subjects at the foundation level in Primary 6, they will be allowed to take the subjects at the N(A) level if they had scored a B, C, or 1 grade for them at PSLE. This criteria will be reviewed based on the outcomes of this pilot.