Educational System of Singapore

1. EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM
OF
SINGAPOR
E
JAYVAN FERRARIS ASTETE
Discussant

3. Stages Age Curriculum
Nursery – –
Kindergart
en 5 to 6
Primary
School
6 years
Primary 1
to Primary
6
7 to 12
years old
Primary School Curriculum
Takes National Exams at Primary 6 –
Primary School Leaving Examination (PSLE)
Secondary
School
4 to 5 years
Secondary
1 to
Secondary
4/5
13 to
16/17
GCE O-Level Curriculum
Students will be streamed into different
streams: Express, Normal Academic and
Normal Technical depending on their PSLE
score
Takes National Exams at Secondary 4 or
Secondary 5
Takes either the N or O levels
International Curriculum
Students may also enrol themselves into

4. Stages Age Curriculum
Post
Secondary
School
Junior
College
2 years
J1 to J2
17/18 to
19/20
years old
GCE A-Level Curriculum
Students will have to choose to stream into
the Arts or Science stream in their first year.
Students will take National Exams (A-Levels)
at the end of their JC years – J2
International Baccalaureate (IBDP)
There are certain post-secondary schools that
offer Singaporean students to take the IBDP
curriculum instead of the GCE A-Levels.
Polytechnic
3 years
17/18 to
20/21
years old
Students complete their three-year course to
obtain a diploma.
Read also: The Ultimate Guide to all the
Polytechnics in Singapore
University
Students complete their course to obtain a
degree or bachelors.

6.  The six years of primary education is compulsory
and all Singapore citizens living in Singapore must
attend primary school
The compulsory education act is passed to ensure
that every Singaporean child can attain common
knowledge that will provide a strong foundation
for further education.
Singapore also hopes to provide every child with
the common school experiences that will help build
national identity and encourage social cohesion.

7.  The primary school curriculum is focused on
ensuring that children build a strong foundation
in the core subjects, English language,
Mathematics, Science and their Mother Tongue
language. Children will also take up several
additional subjects such as civics and moral
education, physical education, arts and music.

8. SUBJECTS TO BE TAKEN BY STUDENTS
Primary 1 – 2
English Language
Mother Tongue Language
Mathematics
Primary 3 to 6
English Language
Mother Tongue Language
Mathematics
Science

10.  Children will attend secondary school education
based on their academic results for their PSLE. They
will also be streamed into 3 different streams,
Express (E), Normal Academic (NA), Normal
Technical (NT).
 Even though students are sorted into different
bands, the subjects that are taken by the students
are essentially the same if not similar, the only
difference would be the level of difficulty.

11.  English language
 Mother tongue language
 Science
 Double or Triple Pure Science
 Biology, Chemistry, Physics
 Combined Science with Electives
 Combined Science of (Physics and Chemistry or Biology and Chemistry)
 Design and Technology, Art or Home Economics
 Mathematics
 Humanities
 Pure Geography/ History/ Literature with Social Studies or;
 Combined Humanities (Social studies and Geography or History)
CORE SUBJECTS TAKEN BY UPPER SECONDARY
EXPRESS

12.  The lower secondary school students (Secondary 1
and Secondary 2) students will take all the subjects
in their first two years before the streaming exercise
at the end of their secondary 2 years.
 Children will be able to choose the subjects they are
interested in and they are competent to take.
SUBJECTS TAKEN BY LOWER SECONDARY

14.  Students will sit for their GCE O or N level
examinations at the end of their secondary school journey.
They will then decide which path they wish to take
moving forward.
Junior College
 The junior college education path is a 2-year path and
students will sit for the GCE A-Level examinations at the
end of their JC 2.
In junior college, students will also be streamed into the
science or art stream and they will need to take relevant

15. Junior College
The basic subject combination for a JC student would
be:
 Three H2 content-based subjects
One H1 content-based subject
Compulsory H1 subjects
Mother-Tongue Language (MTL)
General Paper
Project Work

16. Polytechnics
 Students will choose a specific course they wish to
study and the course of study is 3 years.
 There are many different courses offered by all the
polytechnics in Singapore and they are classified into
different faculty. Under these faculties, there are
specific courses offered accordingly.

17. Institute of Technical Education
 The ITE is a public education institution in
Singapore that provides secondary school graduates
pre-employment training. The ITE offers Nitec and
Higher Nitec, both of which are 2 years courses to
complete respectively.
 Students from the Normal Technical (NT) stream will enter a
Nitec stream at one of the few ITE colleges in Singapore.
 Whereas a secondary 4 Normal Academic (NA) student can choose to go
Nitec, Higher Nitec or Polytechnic depending on their N level results.

18. Institute of Technical Education
 Upon completion of their ITE education, the
students will move on to polytechnic education (or a
private university) if they wish to continue pursuing
their course of interest.