SINGAPORE: The language elective programme (LEP) will be introduced in selected secondary schools for the first time next year, Education Minister Ong Ye Kung announced on Tuesday (May 28).
The programme, first introduced in 1990 at the junior college level, aims to nurture students with a high level of proficiency in mother tongue languages through the study of literature in their mother tongues.
From 2020, the programme will be expanded to 15 secondary schools – nine schools will offer Chinese LEP, three will offer Malay LEP and another three will offer Tamil LEP.
Secondary schools that will offer the language elective programme from 2020. (Table: MOE)
Secondary school students taking the two-year programme will undergo “a series of literary, enrichment and immersion activities” organised by the Ministry of Education (MOE) and their schools. This includes local camps, overseas immersion trips and school-based activities such as “literary lectures”.
The move is part of efforts “to support students in pursuing their passions and interests, and to deepen students’ mastery of mother tongue languages and literature”, MOE said.
All O-Level students enrolled in the programme must sit for the O-Level literature exam in their respective mother tongues, while students from the Integrated Programme must study a school-based mother tongue literature subject.
Through this, MOE said it hopes to nurture a base of students who can progress to either LEP at JC level or mother tongue-related diplomas in polytechnics.
THREE MORE JUNIOR COLLEGES TO GET LEP
The LEP will also be expanded at the junior college level from next year, with two more JCs offering the programme in Malay. A new Tamil LEP will also be introduced in two JCs to increase opportunities for Tamil students who are strong in the language to pursue their passion for and interest in the language, said the ministry.
The Malay LEP will be offered at National Junior College and Raffles Institution, in addition to the three existing JCs to allow more students to benefit from the programme and Tamil LEP will be offered at Anderson Serangoon Junior College and National Junior College, the ministry said.
The expanded list of junior colleges that will offer the language elective programme. (Table: MOE)
All JC students taking the LEP must sit for H2 Language and Literature in their respective mother tongues at the A-Level examinations. Students can also choose to study H3 Language and Literature as a non-examinable subject, and subsequently choose to sit for the H3 A-Level examination.
