In Singapore, children will no more be ranked on the basis of the scores they receive in exams. According to a new move by the Education Minister Ong Ye Kung, the government has decided to abolish student ranking system for primary and secondary school children.

In a bid to encourage children the schools will no more show the student's position in their report books. On September 29, The Ministry of Education (MOE) said that the change will let students focus more on his or her learning progress. It will thus discourage them from comparisons and being overly concerned about their performances.

Here are the details that will be dropped from report cards:

  • Class and level mean

  • Minimum and maximum marks

  • Underlining and/or colouring of failing marks

  • Pass/fail for the end-of-year result

  • Mean subject grades

  • Overall total marks

  • L1R5 (English plus five relevant subjects), L1R4, EMB3 (English, maths, best three subjects) and EMB1 for lower secondary levels

The education ministry in a statement said, "The change is to allow each student to focus on his or her learning progress and discourage them from being overly concerned about comparisons."

Abiding by the new rules, all examinations for  Primary 1 and 2 pupils will also be removed. Reportedly, MOE said that the teachers will encourage learning through discussion, homework and quizzes. Teachers will use "qualitative descriptors" instead of marks and grades to evaluate students' performance.

Addressing around 1,700 school leaders, Ong said, "I know that ‘coming in first or second’, in class or level, has traditionally been a proud recognition of a student’s achievement. But removing these indicators is for a good reason, so that the child understands from young that learning is not a competition, but a self-discipline they need to master for life."

He further said, "Notwithstanding, the report book should still contain some form of yardstick and information to allow students to judge their relative performance, and evaluate their strengths and weaknesses." For older students in primary and secondary schools, marks will be rounded off and given as a whole number. During parent-teacher meetings, parents will receive information about the child's progress in school.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Oct 09, 2018 05:11 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).