20 March 2019
While Singaporeans have largely welcomed the latest move to scrap streaming and improve social mixing in Singapore’s schools, some have voiced concerns that the Integrated Programme (IP) schools have been spared these changes.
There are 17 IP schools, including Raffles Institution and Anglo-Chinese School (Independent). The IP schools, as well as a handful of other MOE schools such as Crescent Girls’ School and Anglican High School, take in only Express stream students.
National Institute of Education lecturer Jason Tan said parents believe that the peer influence in IP schools will benefit their children. By contrast, these parents may also believe that Normal stream students are a bad influence on their own child’s behaviour and motivation.
Dr Intan Azura Mokhtar, who sits on the Government Parliamentary Committee for Education, said that ideally, all schools should be fully integrated and do not make distinctions among students of different abilities.
A secondary school teacher, who declined to be named, said: “A lot of parents have concerns about peer influence, but they have never thought that their children must be taught to mix with the right people in any environment they are in.”