Meritocracy in Singapore education system

1. Meritocracy in Education
Meritocracy in Education
Lim Jie Ning Clare
Student ID: 10214245
Ms Usha Nair
ENG105 LO2
25 April 2020
Thesis:
Meritocracy was an important guiding principle in Singapore’s education system, however, it
must be improved to ensure that inequality will not hinder the country’s progress

2. Meritocracy in Education
Abstract
In recent years, Singapore has been the focus of many international interest and its education
system has also been known to be a model that is worthy to be emulated and for countries to
learn from. With the country’s success and students’ stellar performances in national tests of
educational achievement, that Singapore can achieve despite being a young country. The
principles and systems that the country as implaced must be successful. Meritocracy has been
a key principle how the country has been governed by since it gained its independence in
1965. This paper will support and study how Meritocracy has benefited the country in
governing its people and the education system.
Key words: Meritocracy, education, economic growth, disadvantaged, inequality

3. Meritocracy in Education
Introduction of Meritocracy
Meritocracy was first coined by British sociologist Michael Young, in 1958, where he
claimed that "merit is equated with intelligence-plus-effort, its possessors are identified at an
early age and selected for appropriate intensive education, and there is an obsession with
quantification, test-scoring, and qualification.". His intention was to present both sides of the
system - the positive, in fighting nepotism and corruption; and the risks, where merited
people would get arrogant and be ruthless in pursuing their own advantage. The most merited
would rule and they were identified according to the formula “effort+ IQ= merits (Young,
1994: xiii). Furthermore, he felt that meritocracy passes on success genetically, given how
completely it is passed on through one’s wealth and culture. In modern society, this governing
principle has allowed low status group members to inspire to improve their social status,
economic class and place in the hierarchy, with the inclination that everyone has a chance of
succeeding if the cultivate the required abilities (Wiederkehr et al., 2015). This research paper
will discuss the reasons how Singapore has adapted the Meritocracy principle in governing
the country, while focusing on Singapore’s education system. The paper will find reasons
which supports Meritocracy being necessary to uphold the country while understanding how
it also affects the country.
Singapore Education System
In five decades, Singapore has transformed itself from a developing country to a modern
industrial economy. The factors that contribute to Singapore’s success, include “the broad
commitment to a nation-building narrative of meritocratic achievement and social
stratification, ethnic pluralism, collective values and social cohesion, a strong, activist state
and economic growth” (Hoogan, 2014). In addition, the education system has also been

4. Meritocracy in Education
imposed since the beginning, where it has been central to building both the economy and the
nation. The keystone of the whole system is the belief of Meritocracy, for students of
different ethnic backgrounds and all ranges of ability, where education is the route to
advancement and that hard work and effort pay off. The belief that achieving high standards
is a function of effort is stoutly embraced in Singapore and extends to the great emphasis put
on raising the quality of the educators. Singapore is exemplary in the professional way that its
teachers view their responsibilities.
The ruling People’s Action Party (PAP) government has developed a wide range of
educational and social policies to advance this goal, with early intervention and multiple
pathways to education and career. Singapore makes sure that every school has a fair share of
the best teachers and assigns their best teachers to the students who are struggling. They have
been especially successful at training their teachers to diagnose student challenges and figure
out how to address those challenges successfully. All these elements of policy have combined
to produce a remarkably well-performing education system. Streaming, which was a key
feature of the Singapore education system, was designed to allow students to progress at their
own pace from primary 5 onwards.
Benefits of meritocracy in Singapore’s education system
Economic Growth
From Singapore’s beginning, education has been central to building both the economy
and the nation. The current education system in system did not emerge perfectly formed, it
had grown through three phases – the “survival”, the “efficiency phase” and the “ability
driven”.

5. Meritocracy in Education
The “survival” phase was from 1959 to 1978. Prior to Singapore’s independence, only the
affluent were educated. At independence, most of Singapore’s two million people were
illiterate and unskilled. This “survival” period was necessary to expand education as quickly
as possible - where schools were built rapidly, teachers were recruited on a large scale and
schools that were established by different ethnic groups were merged into single education
system. The expansion of universal primary education and universal lower secondary
education was attained and by the end of the “survival-driven” phrase, Singapore had created
a national system of public education. However, the quality of education was poor, out of
every 1 000 pupils entering primary grade one, only 444 reached secondary grade four after
10 years. And of these, only 350 (35% of the cohort) gained three or more passes in O-level
examinations (OECD, 2010).
The “efficiency phase” was from 1979 to 1996, where the education system shifted from the
earlier one-size-fits-all approach to a system that created multiple pathways for students.
Streaming of academic ability was introduced – with the goal of “allowing all students to
achieve their potential while acknowledging that students do not grow academically at the
same pace.” (OECD, 2010). The streaming starts in primary school, where students move on
to different levels of higher education, solely based on their academic results. Students were
sorted to either academic high schools, Polytechnics high schools or Technical institutes
Although streaming was not favoured, it improved and declined the drop-out rates – where by
1989, only 6% of students were leaving school with fewer than 10 years of education. The
number of university and polytechnic places was expanded to increase the pool of scientists
and engineers, while high-quality technical and vocational education was provided.

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The “ability phase”: Thinking Schools, Learning Nation encompassed a wide range of
initiatives over a number of years that were designed to tailor education to the abilities and
interests of students, to provide more flexibility and choice for students and to transform the
structures of education. Career paths and incentives for teachers were revamped and teacher
education upgraded, as described in more detail later. Curricula and assessment changes put
greater emphasis on project work and creative thinking.
Meritocracy could be shown from the start in the “survival”, where it was compulsory for all
to have education, as compared to pre independence were only the rich could be educated.
Meritocracy was also shown where everyone then had an equal opportunity to start, but
where streamed by their academic abilities, which proved to a better solution to provide more
suitable education path for the students, in the subsequent phases. Within five decades, the
small trading port with an unemployment rate of 14% has now become a city-state where
unemployment rate has decreased to 1.9%, while the Singapore’s GDP per capita has become
100 times bigger than the original GDP per capita at $510. In a country bereft of natural
resources, depending solely on its population, such a system has been paramount in achieving
economic progress.
Opportunities for disadvantaged students
The second reason how meritocracy benefits Singapore education system, as it creates more
opportunities for students who are disadvantaged and for students to move horizontally
between streams at the secondary level and beyond.
Despite the nation’s strong economic growth, there are still many less well to do families,
Singapore has developed a system of local town and community councils that identify
families in need and can provide a range of support, including financial assistance.

7. Meritocracy in Education
Furthermore, there is also self-help community group for each of the ethnic communities,
Chinese Development Assistance Council (CDAC), MENDAKI and the Singapore Indian
Development Association (SINDA), where these organisations are funded by members of
each community and support the children in need. The assistance rendered by the groups who
help ease the family burden, so that the children can focus more on their attention on their
studies and even seek for help that they face with their studies. This provides students from
disadvantaged families to be able to do well in the academic, if they are determined to study
hard. Ms Nadrah Sadali, was one of those whose families have benefited from the assistance.
Growing up in a big family, Nadrah would often studied at the void deck for her Housing
Board flat to study, she had to pass worn books from sibling to siblings and her parents would
often have to worry of whether her parents could the school fees. With her sheer diligence
and hardwork, she managed to do well enough through to obtain a degree in Nanyang
Technological University. She added “We reap what we sow, and the system of meritocracy
pushes us along the way”, which is she is also thankful for the scholarship that she received
that took care of her course fees in her final year.
Secondly, it created more flexibility in the system to recognise “late bloomers”. Meritocracy
encompasses the idea that the students are acknowledged based on their merits. However,
another remarkable feature of the Singapore education system is the value, attention and
resources it devotes to lower level achievers, not just high achievers. The Institute for
Technical Education (ITE) provides resources devoted to vocational and technical training
are immense and the vocational and technical system is perhaps the best in the world. This
would allow those that are less academically inclined and those who did not score well in
previous examinations to also have an opportunity to do well, if they are determined to. This

8. Meritocracy in Education
focus on “levelling up”, so that the lowest stream gets very high-quality training,
exemplifying the “many pathways” approach.
Therefore, meritocracy in Singapore education system allows people to drive themselves to
achieve the best that they can, regardless of their class, race or status that they will find
success and stable lives if they are willing to work hard. This creates a social culture which
allows individuals to work beyond their comfort levels and with sigh of opportunities to rise
above one’s socio-economic status.
Counter – Inequality/Elitism
In recent years, Meritocracy seemed to be an issue in Singapore, by causing inequality
between its people. According to Minister in the Prime Minister’s Office Indranee Rajah, “In
an era where growth is driven by the knowledge-based industry in which the well-educated
and exceptionally talented reap more rewards than others, economic and social benefits
quickly accrue to those at the top,” (Baker, J.A & Tiah, C., 2019). Academically outstanding
students are identified very early on in their education careers, they would be streamed into
more demanding curricular streams with prospects for attractive tertiary scholarships and
rewarding careers. This gave parents in Singapore to invest in their children’s education in
hope that their offspring obtain better results and better standards of living that they have
experienced themselves. With subsequent career success, these academically gifted
individuals can provide an even higher quality of education for their own children. In turn,
this investment gives their children more opportunities to excel in their studies.

9. Meritocracy in Education
Secondly, meritocracy in the education system causes elitism. In a documentary, Regardless
of Class, done by the government to examine the issue. The responses from the different
interviewees came to a unified conclusion that there was a clear response that the differences
between the classes were clear. The interview included respondents from younger children, to
secondary students and working adults, where there was a clear difference between how the
high socioeconomic status (SES) from those who were of lower SES. In the interview with
the group of secondary students, who were from the Integrated Programme (IP) and the
Normal streams, the tension and the attitude they had of each other were negative. Those in
the IP would have expectation by their parents and on themselves to expect at least ‘A’s and
to go to university, locally or abroad, while the students and their parents did not pressure
them and did not have much expectation in them achieving great results. (Paulo, D.A & Low,
M.M, 2018). The IP and normal streams are examples of how students are streamed based on
the abilities, and stereotypes are usually given to the people who are of each stream. The
education system in Singapore was in a way “labelling” its students, giving unjust and
inequality to the students.
The downside of meritocracy in the education system that the Singapore government did not
hope would happen, has shown cracks over the years. The people from the upper class could
get rich by putting in hard work, ability and most importantly, knowing the right people, with
education not in the list. This was inevitable as the higher classes are likelier than those from
the lower classes to participate in society by volunteering in labour unions, sports clubs,
professional associations and non-governmental organisations, would be much more than the
lower class could afford to find. A survey showed that 70% of the higher classes felt a strong
sense of belonging, as compared to 46% of the lower classes. According to the Straits Times

10. Meritocracy in Education
opinion editor, “With different and divided classes in Singapore, it would often be a very
unhappy one, full of resentment, full of envy, full of talk about the divide between the best
and the rest, full of criticisms of the elite …”, which would lead to this would cause the
inequality in Singapore to worsen.
Conclusion
As discussed above, meritocracy in the education system has positively impacted Singapore.
With the principal and principals that Singapore has implaced to govern the country, and in
the education system, we could see how it has brought benefits that bring to the country and
disadvantaged families. The two points illustrated how Meritocracy is necessary and has
benefited Singapore to have rapid economic growth with a more capable workforce, while
driving Singaporeans and disadvantaged families to work hard to meet their goals. However,
there are issues that meritocracy causes, mainly inequality. Government’s additional
assistance must be supported by Singaporeans effort together to make the country a fair and
progressive country that provides a safe and fair environment for all.

11. Meritocracy in Education
References
Baker, J.A. & Tiah, C. (July 18, 2019) Meritocracy not to blame; Indranee spells out 4G
team's approach to tackle inequality.
Retrieved from:
https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singa
pore/singapore-social-service-inequality-indra
nee-rajah-nus-11731180
Paulo, D. & Low, M.M. (October, 1, 2018). Class – not race nor religion – is potentially
Singapore's most divisive fault line. Retrieved
from: Channel News Asia
https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/cnain
sider/regardless-class-race-religion-surveysing
apore-income-divide-10774682

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Racial Equality: Meritocratic system gives everyone a chance
https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/racial-equality-meritocratic-system-gives-everyone-a
-chance
Tan, C.Y & Dimmock, C. (2015). Tensions between meritocracy and equity in Singapore.
Education issues in preparing a workforce of
the Knowledge-based economy
Retrieved from:
https://www.headfoundation.org/papers/_2015
_61)_Tensions_between_meritocracy_and_eq
uity_in_Singapore.pdf