What can employers do to complement the Education Ministry's initiatives to de-emphasise grades?

Have certificates for specific skills acquired, such as webpage design, Python programming, wedding planning and so on, via a public trade test mode, so that institutes do not need answer for success and attrition rates and will only need to provide training.

Allan Tan

Scrap staff ranking and appraisals. They create too much rivalry and a toxic workplace.

Jerome Teo

The Government needs to scrap management associate programmes, which look for graduates with a second class honours degree and above.

Another effective way to root out this bad habit of emphasising grades is to erase all HR records of academic grades. This would allow bonuses, pay raises and promotion considerations to be totally free of the grades of an employee.

Andrew Fann

How about the public service not asking people to fill in their O-level, A-level and university grades (in job applications) for a start?

Terence Huang

Let's not kid ourselves. In Singapore, grades indeed matter no matter what the Education Ministry or ministers say, be it in educational institutions or with employers.

Philip Lim

Do you think that moving "branded schools" to the heartland is a good idea?

Yes, it's a good idea. This will definitely benefit more students who live in HDB estates. And also, we can see whether these "good schools" are truly good at producing "good students" regardless of their locations, or whether they have been relying on good quality students, good facilities and good teachers to help them maintain their good performance all this while.

JF Gary Tom

Alternatively, allocate the students with better results to neighbourhood schools, because it is the students that make the school and not vice versa.

Choong Choon Yean

Rather than move a school, perhaps, swap teachers. Personally, if a student is motivated enough, at home or in school, they can excel. But then again, if they don't do well academically, parents must not lose hope as they may be better in other areas.

Siti Nor'aini A. S.

The issue is that certain special programmes are reserved for elite schools. So no matter how good you are, you're not eligible once you're in a neighbourhood school.

Brian Chen

After they do that, property prices will go up in the new place.

Andy Wee

If the school is already branded, the location it has shifted to will make no difference. People will still know it is a branded school.

Peter Tan