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Singapore’s education reset has started well. Now for the hard part
The GEP overhaul showed deft policy craft. But slaying other education ‘sacred cows’, once deemed untouchable, will be a far tougher battle.
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True excellence – where children are given the runway to achieve their maximum potential – cannot thrive in an ossified system, says the writer.
PHOTO: LIANHE ZAOBAO
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Since Prime Minister Lawrence Wong took office in 2024, one of the animating ideas of his administration has been that Singapore’s meritocracy needs a hard reset – that social mobility has slowed and policy must change to stop privilege from calcifying at the top.
He made this the centrepiece of his inaugural National Day Rally, notably announcing the effective dismantling of the Gifted Education Programme (GEP) in primary schools as the first salvo in rebalancing the education system.
