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Heng Swee Keat: Technology will never be the master of education  

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Editor

19 October 2018 14:06 WIB

Heng Swee Keat, Singaporeean Education Minister. SeongJoon Cho/Bloomberg via Getty Images

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - When the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) last May ranked Singapore as the nation with the top education system, based on mathematics and science test scores of 15-year-old students outperforming the UK, US, Japan And Australia the strategy behind Singapore's success became the focus of world attention. Just 60 years ago, this island-state of 3.5 million people had one of the highest levels of illiteracy.

Tempo interviewed Singaporeean Education Minister Heng Swee Keat, 54, in early June, to find out more. "I might not quite agree with the results (of the tests)," he said. He said there were many ways to measure success. "I tell my colleagues, we must never be complacent, never be arrogant. There are many things that we continue to learn from people around the world," Heng said.

In the early days, education in Singapore was focussed on literacy and numeracy: basic skills for a simple economy. In the years since independence, Singapore's economy and society soared and diversified, challanging the education system to keep up with the rapid growth. There was an urgent need to match graduates' skills with industry needs backed by a strong vocational and technical education system. But it was not an easy path by any means.

One of the difficulties was changing the public's mindset, which considered vocational education as 'disposable' and schools for 'underprivileged citizens'. Chong Leong Fatt, deputy principal of the Institute of Technical Education (ITE) admitted that at the beginning, in 1992, it was difficult to find parents who would voluntarily send their children to ITE.

Heng, a graduate of both the universities of Cambridge and Harvard, was appointed education minister in 2011. It was the culmination of a long career in government. Notably, Heng served as the former Principle Private Secretary to Senior Minister Lee Kuan Yew. In 2001, he was assigned to the Permanent Secretary at the Trade and Industry Ministry. He was director of the Monetary Authority of Singapore from 2005 to 2011, when he was awarded the Asia-Pacific Central Bank Governor of the Year by UK-based The Banker magazine in 2011.

Heng is chairman of the SG50 Steering Committee to celebrate the country's 50 years anniversary. He took time out from his busy schedule last June to meet with Hermien Y. Kleden from Tempo and a number of editors from ASEAN countries for a special interview. Excerpts:

According to international surveys, Singapore's education system is among the most advanced in the world. What was the strategy behind this success?

These things don't happen overnight. From the time we gained independence, we have been fortunate in that all parents and the government put education as the number one priority. Resources were devoted to education even when the country had very little government resources. We feel so strongly that this is the only way in a country that has no natural resources to make progress.

What are the priorities in developing a strong, high-quality education system?

I will answer you with an example. A few months back, I talked to the education minister of a large-economy country. I asked the minister: "What is your number one priority?" The minister replied: "To build world-class universities."

Do you agree with that statement?

Learning from our own history and the history of other countries that have built education systems, I thought, well, I actually would have done it very differently. The most important piece in the first phase is elementary education. In fact, for the returns of any state investment in education, elementary education is the highest. And if we are able to raise the literacy and numeracy level of an entire population, the effects will be multiplied across the entire society.

How so?

Because a literate society where 100 percent of students go to school is very different from just having a few bright students who go to a very good university.

And that was how the country started.

That was actually how we started. The initial focus was primary education, very simple schools, very simple methods, but they work. At the same time we were careful that the education system must meet the needs of our society and our economy. So as our economy and our society changed over the years, the education system also evolved and changed.

Why does Singapore put so much effort into skills learning? 

In fact we call it 'Skills-Future'. The term 'skills': sometimes it's misunderstood as just for vocational jobs. In our schools, one of our big efforts is the 21st Century skills, including critical-thinking skills, IT, preventive thinking, communication skills, and so on. Whether you are a plumber trying to unblock a blocked drain, or you are a surgeon trying to unblock a clogged artery, they both require a lot of skills.

How do you ensure the skills provided in your technical education system meet Singapore's industry needs?

What was done at ITE (Institute of Technical Education, Singapore) was to have very close links with industry needs. Graduates from ITE have industrial training to equip them for jobs. Whatever is learned and not used, will soon be forgotten. Students can become frustrated if they learn all these things and then have no income. So there was a very close link between the two. In the days of ITE's predecessors, the industry needs were a lot simpler. But as our resources and economy grew, we had more government resources to continue to invest: better facilities, better training methods.

You mean the country's education system must be connected to the needs of society, economy and industry?

One thing we always tried to make sure: the education system is connected to our broader society and the broader economy. Because we cannot run away, we cannot delink it from the aspirations of our people and society, and the opportunities in the economy. (*)

Read the full interview in this week's edition of Tempo English Magazine



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