97.6% make it to secondary school
ALTHOUGH a bumper crop of 48,333 Dragon Year-born pupils sat the Primary School Leaving Examination (PSLE) this year, a slightly higher proportion – 63.1% of them – qualified for Express stream this year.
Of the cohort, 23.1% made it to the Normal (Academic) stream and 11.4% for the Normal (Technical) course.
As announced on Tuesday, the Education Ministry did not list the top scorers or the schools they came from.
But The Straits Times understands that the top score this year is 285.
Altogether 47,163 students, or 97.6% of pupils, did well enough to move on to secondary school this year.
There were 2.4% or 1,170 students who did not make it to secondary school – compared to 2.6% last year.
Last year, 62.9% of the Primary 6 pupils were eligible for the Express course where students complete their secondary school in four years.
Education Minister Heng Swee Keat, in a
What matters is that our children grow up to have a love for learning, and to be life-long learners. — HENG SWEE KEAT
Facebook posting hours before PSLE were released, said MOE’s move not to name the top scorers was not aimed at reducing the PSLE stress or to de-emphasise academic merit.
He said it was unhealthy to have such national focus on the PSLE, adding that parents should encourage their children to persevere and pursue learning along appropriate pathways,
“What matters is that our children grow up to have a love for learning, and to be life-long learners.
“It is a marathon, not a sprint,” he said. — The Straits Times / Asia News Network