by millionairemind » Wed Apr 21, 2010 9:10 am
Apr 21, 2010
MT weighting could be cut
By Sandra Davie, Senior Writer
THE high weighting given to mother tongue languages in the Primary School Leaving Examination (PSLE) is now under review and could be reduced.
Education Minister Ng Eng Hen says his ministry is studying whether it is educationally sound for mother tongue language performance to count for so much at the Primary 6 level.
'The worry is whether it could exclude someone from progressing in his educational pathway even if he did well in other subjects,' said Dr Ng in an interview with The Straits Times and Lianhe Zaobao.
Mother tongue languages now carry the same weight - 25 per cent - as the three other examinable subjects, English, mathematics and science. The combined aggregate score taken from the grades of the four subjects is used for entry into secondary school.
For years, parents have complained their children who excelled in all other subjects except mother tongue have lost out on a place in top secondary schools. Some have even ended up in the Normal stream for academically weaker pupils.
A mother tongue language review is now under way that will take into account the prior backgrounds of pupils and devise customised approaches. It will be completed by the end of the year.
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