SINGAPORE – A new scoring system for the Primary School Leaving Examination (PSLE) will be introduced in 2021, in an attempt to move our school system away from “an excessive focus on academics”. In its place will be “wider scoring bands”, similar to the O-Levels and A-Levels.

The new scoring system, which will affect pupils in Primary 1 this year, was announced by Acting Education Minister (Schools) Ng Chee Meng in Parliament today (April 8) during the Committee of Supply debate.

Mr Ng said that the current PSLE aggregate score, or T-score, was “too precise” and may have created unhealthy competition among children as it is calculated based on how the pupil do relative to their peers.

The new system will no longer score the pupils by comparing them to their peers, and will be a method that is “more reflective of a student’s learning and level of mastery”.

Together with this change, the Ministry of Education (MOE) intends to make adjustments to the Secondary school posting system as well, Mr Ng revealed.

Details of the changes to the PSLE scoring system will be revealed in the next two to three months, he said.

Mr Ng also said that the Direct School Admission (DSA) scheme, which was introduced in 2004 to promote holistic education by giving students the chance to be recognised for “a range of achievements and talents when seeking admission into secondary school”, will be reviewed.

The Straits Times’ education correspondent Sandra Davie recently pointed out that the scheme has been abused by some schools to “chope” academically bright students.

Mr Ng said in Parliament that it is “timely” to see how to “realign the implementation of this scheme with its original policy intent”.

More to be admitted to tertiary institutions based on aptitude

Acting Education Minister (Higher Education and Skills) Ong Ye Kung said in Parliament that polytechnics and universities will be raising the proportion of students admitted based on their “unique strengths and talents”, apart from academic results.

MOE will allow 75 courses, or one-third of the total number of polytechnic courses, to admit up to 50 per cent of their students based on “more holistic aptitude-based assessment”, he said.

Universities will be allowed to admit 15 per cent of their students based on the students’ aptitude. This is up from the current 10 per cent.

A new aptitude-based admission exercise will be put in place for Institute of Technical Education students going to polytechnics, Mr Ong said.

sinsh@sph.com.sg

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The Straits Times

Mossack Fonseca, the Panamanian law firm at the centre of the document leak, has an office in Singapore. It shares office space in the Jit Poh Building at 19 Keppel Road with TPS Corporate Services, a firm that helps clients set up and manage companies in different jusrisdictions, both onshore and offshore.

The chairman of Mossack Fonseca’s Singapore office is Mr Peter Tay, who is also the founder and executive chairman of TPS Corporate Services. Mr Tay’s online profile also indicates that he has been representing Mossack Fonseca in Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia since the 1990s.

He did not respond to a Straits Times request for an interview by press time.

The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), which has access to the leaked files says that globally, Mossack Fonseca has worked with more than 14,000 banks, law firms, company incorporators and other middlemen and intermediaries to set up companies, foundations and trusts for customers.

Panama Papers: Secret accounts of the rich and powerful

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AFP, Reuters, The Star/ANN

ICIJ added that Mossack Fonseca worked with intermediaries in more than 100 countries.

The countries that had the most active intermediaries in terms of the number of offshore company incorporations were Hong Kong (37,675), Switzerland (34,301) and the United Kingdom (32,682). Singapore, where the intermediaries are said to have set up 4,050 offshore companies, was ranked No. 9.

Singapore is also one of the 21 jurisdictions named by ICIJ as a tax haven used by Mossack Fonseca.

The Monetary Authority of Singapore and Ministry of Finance said in a joint statement on Tuesday that “the relevant agencies in Singapore are reviewing the information being reported in connection with the so-called Panama Papers and are doing the necessary checks”.

“If there is evidence of wrong-doing by any individual or entity in Singapore, we will not hesitate to take firm action,” said the spokesmen.

This article was first published on April 8, 2016.
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