DIMAPUR — A team of officials from All Nagaland Private Schools' Association (ANPSA), central, undertook an educational tour to Singapore from April 21 to the 27th.
An update from the association stated that team led by its president, Nini Sekhose, visited Knightsbridge House International School, United World College of South East Asia, National Institute of Education, Ministry of Education Heritage Centre, and Star Publishing House.
The team observed that Singapore, despite being a small island republic, has impressively catapulted itself on the stage education. It stated that the founding father, Lee Kuan Yew, who was the Prime Minister for more than 30 years, laid a solid foundation for education and built his tiny republic into one of the world’s economic success stories. It added that education was the main pillar of that success story.
The team stated that academic performance was used as a measure to assess the calibre of an individual, starting from the country’s Prime Minister to the students. The highly impressive education system was credited to the government for its policies and commitment to education.
It stated that the government actively encourages setting up of private schools and mandates private schools to be financially viable to maintain standards. They seemed to focus more on teacher qualifications, outcome and curriculum rather than strictly infrastructure inputs.
The team observed that there was a strong emphasis on Mathematics, Science and STEM education. Their Mathematics curriculum was much tougher with a focus on thinking rather than just mimicking and solving problems already taught.
It stated that the teaching profession is one of the top professions. It added that continuous professional development is encouraged and teachers are valued and respected.
The team also observed that teaching method seemed to depend more on workbooks. The team has discussed among themselves the possibility of incorporating some of the excellent material into the text books in the state. Research, they were told, was the backbone of their text book production.
Meanwhile, the team has expressed gratitude to Nagaland Chief Minister, Neiphiu Rio, for extending financial support to enable them explore the Singaporean education system. It also appreciated Edmund Lin, special education guide, for anchoring and assisting them.