Revamping the Gifted Education Program
During the 2024 National Day Rally, Prime Minister Lawrence Wong mentioned that there will be a revamp of the Gifted Education Program (GEP) that has been around since 1984 (40 years) with the following changes:
1. Instead of placing the student at the 9 top schools, each school will identify their own high-ability students and stretch them according their interests
2. The students can be further stretched via after-school enrichment at regional centers
A few days later, more information was posted on the Straits Times newspaper that the students can opt in as well as opt out at any time for the high-ability program.
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As a parent of 2 students who were in GEP, and went through the whole journey of GEP schools to the Raffles school system to highly-ranked schools in the QS World university rankings, I suppose I can chime in a little on this.
Firstly, I wish to commend the PM for the courage to making such a change to the system that has been in existence for 40 years. I guess he is not a proponent of the mentality of "if it ain't broke, don't fix it". Rather than criticizing this upfront, let's be objective by exploring the pros and cons and what it takes to make this work.
Perhaps then we can make a conclusion if we should support or prepare for its demise. One thing is for sure, the person heading the education ministry is none other than Minister Chan Chun Sing, and it is quite certain that this topic would have been debated extensively before the PM's speech rather than a impulsive announcement.
So what is the GEP system?
The GEP system comprises of the top 1% of student in the 40,000 students at each level in Singapore - the 1% is generally regarded (by experts in education) as geniuses or gifted...although some students (and parents) do question if this is really true. Without fail, this is always mentioned in the GEP Director's speech to parents: "Are you sure? Is my kids really gifted?". The reply that follows is that "we have been doing this for 30+ years. Do trust us when we say we know what we are doing!"
The selection criteria
Primary 3 (9 years of age), the 40,000 students in the school can opt in to sit for the GEP screening test conducted at the school - this is optional but most students go for this since this is done at school during school hour. This is similar to the national exams where all student sits for the same Math and English papers - questions are similar to normal P3 papers. If they pass the screening test, this generally means that they are in the top 10% of the entire of the 40,000 cohort.
Assume there are 250 student at P3 level in the school, the 25 students (10%) or so are then invited to sit for the GEP Selection test, at a different school. This also is optional and usually is located at one of the 9 GEP schools - Nanyang, Nan Hua, Tao Nan, RGPS, Rosyth, etc. - generally regarded at the best schools in Singapore.
The 2nd round GEP selection round consist of 3 papers - Math, English and General Ability. The Math portion consist of mostly Math Olympiad (intermediate to advanced) questions, while the level of the English paper is similar to ones taken by Sec 2 (14-year-old) students - yes, a GEP teacher told me this. As for the General Ability. this is to gauge the IQ similar to the ones in Mensa test.
Interestingly, most successful students who passed the GEP selection find only 1 of the Math/English test "do-able". My son found the Math paper do-able while my daughter is the exact opposite...for her, the English paper is do-able. Very few would find both papers easy. As for the General Ability paper, nearly all the successful GEP students that I spoke to found it easy.
What happens after selection?
The student will each receive an envelope (they nickname this the "Golden Envelope") informing them of their acceptance into the program. Both parents and student will be invited, to NUS High School to attend the briefing by the GEP branch - the location may be different these days. While the Director of GEP branch addresses the parents with overview of GEP plus an extensive Q&A sessions, the students will get to talk to current GEP student to know what life is like.
After the talk, parents and student are given a few days to consider if they are willing to say "yes" by indicating the school of choice in P4. Students will also sign a form to say they will work hard ☺
How is life in GEP?
One thing - my children love the GEP and they were glad to be part of it.
The going is seriously not easy as the kids are seriously pushed to their limits for their academic abilities. One of the first assignment is to write a 800-word essay on social issues like global warming, and or the prevalence of iPad use in younger children; topics that one expects only at secondary school levels.
All GEP students go through Math Olympiad training (yes, entering MO competitions is a must), Higher Chinese and advanced Science (probably 2-3 years ahead of their peers). Because of the rigors of the GEP schoolwork, they quickly find the "smarter ones" to be their study buddies - it's quite obvious who these are from the Olympiad Platinum medal. The kids do grow up fast.
Just like what Angela Duckworth mentioned in her excellent book "GRIT" where she wrote about Lowell High School, there is one trait that distinguish these GEP kids from the normal folks. The special ability is that they can focus on their homework or study for hours, every single day!
It is amazing to me, until today, how my children transformed, as a result of the GEP program, from studying perhaps less than an hour each day to studying as long as 5-8 hours each day in their primary school years. Studying until late at night or doing project work on weekends is the norm rather than exception.
The reason they can do this, is that "everybody is doing this!" This trait continued all the way thru secondary when they got into Raffles Institution (Raffles Girls' School for my daughter). I am assuming that one of the things PM Wong is after is to extend this trait to many more students rather than just the top 1%.
So, how will this change after 2024?
Let's examine in details what the changes will be and what the potential effects are. Please note that these are my opinions only and pure guesswork at this stage. We will find out later as and when the ministry make the announcements.
Each school will identify their own high ability students and stretch them
When my kids moved to Nan Hua to attend the GEP, I recall that the GEP students are joined also by the high-ability (HA) students identified at the school. Their class is known as the TAG class, aka the "talented and gifted". The school did not provide much information where how these were selected. The HA students are in the same class and they go through the same lessons as the GEP students except for certain subjects such as Math. Just need to copy this to the other schools...
The students will be further stretched via after school enrichment at regional centers
As above, both the HA and the GEP students attend the same classes. The only time the classes were split were for certain classes like Math and Social Studies (plus 1-2 others). In the current system, the HA and GEP students split during school lesson. In the new system, the GEP students will do this after school hours. Perhaps the main reason is that:
- There are fewer GEP student in the new system (just 1% of the population)
- Not all teachers are trained in advance Math, Science, etc. They will likely be from the existing batch of teachers trained in the GEP curriculum
Students can opt in as well as opt out at any time for the high-ability program
One general comment heard from many parents is that their kids did not make it into the GEP at the P3 selection test is because they have not "blossomed" at the time. Another comment is that they do not think that GEP is suitable for their kids due to the pressure of "competing" with the other GEP students who were naturally smart (this is only a small percentage - many of the GEP students are there because they can work hard). Well, the new change will put these to the test - student can enter the HA stream at P5 or even at P6. Also, if they are in the system and they wish to opt out, they can do so.
One note on "competition within the GEP": in the current GEP system, there is NO RANKING.
That means that in GEP, nobody really knows who the top students are, or who is the last. Think about it, each student is already at the top 1% - it really does not make sense to increase the competition. So essentially, the students has actually has lower stress. Instead of trying to be better than the other student, they spend their time learning the subject, and improving themselves. It shows - my kids told me that their classmates are very willing to share homework (some even gave them their completed homework to be copied), class notes, etc. Because they make very good friends because the GEP students are much more willing to share everything.
General conclusion
I want to think that the Ministry of Education is still thinking about the system - how they can improve and what other things they can add to make it a good alternative to the GEP that has been in existence for 40 years. But by examining the few things that the GEP revamp has already include, I think they are off to a good start. So yes, contrary to the many who says this is a bad idea, I am supportive and think that it just might work.