Teacher recruitment, more special education places among focus areas for MOE

SINGAPORE – The Ministry of Education (MOE) is reviewing how to reduce the high stakes of exams here, which could include adjusting their difficulty as well as how PSLE results are used in secondary school admissions.

At his first interview with the media since taking on the education portfolio, Minister for Education Desmond Lee said on Jan 26 that his ministry is also

relooking the Primary 1 registration framework

to better support social mixing and improve access to primary schools for pupils from different backgrounds.

Here are four other areas that MOE is working on.

1. Supporting teachers

The ministry is

ramping up its recruitment of teachers

, said Mr Lee. In 2025, it recruited more than 1,300 teachers, up from 950 in 2024. Nearly one-third of those hired in 2025 were mid-career professionals.

To better support professionals from diverse backgrounds joining the teaching fraternity, MOE is reviewing its 16-month Postgraduate Diploma in Education programme together with the National Institute of Education.

While all incoming teachers will continue to take core courses for effective teaching, they will be able to choose elective courses that further support their professional development.

By accommodating the learning needs of both fresh graduates and mid-career entrants, MOE said the enhancements aim to ensure that all new teachers are well-prepared for their roles.

Mr Lee said his ministry has also made some headway in implementing recommendations from an MOE task force set up in 2024 to

reimagine the teaching profession

.

For example, all schools have implemented

various flexible work arrangements

, such as flexible reporting times when teachers have no lessons or duties. Some also allow teachers to work from home on days when they have no classes or duties requiring their presence in school.

The ministry will continue to do more in this area, said Mr Lee.

2. Strengthening bilingualism

MOE will continue to emphasise the importance of bilingualism, said Mr Lee.

A new structured reading programme – MTL SOAR – was rolled out in 2025 for Primary 1 and 2 pupils to have 30 minutes of their mother tongue language (MTL) curriculum time set aside for reading and library activities. The programme will be progressively rolled out to all primary levels by 2029.

The ministry is also studying how it could use education technology, or edtech, as well as contemporary materials and practical activities, to interest children in their mother tongues.

Noting that more families today predominantly use English at home, Mr Lee said mother tongues remain important in helping people understand their cultural roots, while also being extremely practical in an increasingly fractured world.

More students are taking higher mother tongue languages (HMTLs) in schools compared with two decades ago, he noted.

The proportion of Primary 6 pupils taking HMTL at the PSLE rose from 21 per cent in 2005 to 26 per cent in 2025. The O-level HMTL candidature has also increased, from 17 per cent in 2005 to 35 per cent in 2025.

3. Expanding the capacity of special education schools

In tandem with rising autism diagnoses internationally, MOE has seen more applications in recent years for children with autism and intellectual disability, said Mr Lee.

While Singapore has opened four new special education (SPED) schools since 2022, Mr Lee said there is rising demand for SPED school places, and his ministry is working with social service agencies (SSAs) here to expand their capacity.

MOE is therefore developing plans both to expand SPED school capacity and also to attract, retain and develop SPED educators.

“(It is) not just building the facility, creating classrooms and making spaces available; you need to have a whole team of very passionate SPED educators, allied educators and administrators to help SSA partners to support this,” he said.

More details will be shared soon, he added.

4. Lifelong learning

From March 1, the SkillsFuture Mid-Career Training Allowance will be expanded to include part-time training, said Mr Lee.

As

announced by Prime Minister Lawrence Wong at Budget 2025

, Singaporeans aged 40 and above who undergo part-time training while continuing to work will be able to receive a training allowance of $300 a month.

Applications open from Feb 9, and the list of eligible courses can be found on the MySkillsFuture website.

Mr Lee said that about 500,000 Singaporeans in 2025 attended training supported by SkillsFuture Singapore (SSG) – more than one-fifth of the Republic’s local workforce.

This was a 30 per cent increase in the annual participation rate from when SkillsFuture started in 2015, he noted.

More companies are also participating in SSG-supported training. About 24,000 employers did so in 2025, about double the number in 2015.

“This is the clearest signal that they value training, and they see how important it is for their company,” Mr Lee said.