9. Providing Education and Health Services for the people

Education in SG - Policies & Practices
1960s - early 1970s
Educating the masses and building a harmonious and cohesive society

Proving a place in school for every child
1960s - A period of rapid population growth --> Goverment built more school

Building national loyalty
1960s - Parents send their children to school which taught in the language of their race --> Created a barrier to nation building because of absence of a common bond among pupils of different cultures
(thus inducing lack of national loyalty and social cohesion)

Government realised the need to inculate loyalty and national pride --> introduction of daily flah-raising and pledge taking ceremony in schools in 1966
Urgh......

Fostering Social Cohesion
How the government fostered social cohesion:
-Implemented measures that show fairness to all races, eg

• loaned textbooks to needy pupils regardless of which language stream they came from
• ensured that all government schools had the same facilities

-Introduced a common exmination (primary school-PSLE)
-1960 - Created an integrated school system
-Implemented a policy of bilinguallism

Preparing for economic development
1960s - a period of serious uemployment because entrepot trade which SG traditionally relied on was inadequate in creating and sustaining jobs

Manufacturing was seen as the solution --> Goverment equipped the young with relevent skills by introducing technical education in 1969, set up more technical schools and vocational institutes.

Late 1970s-1980s
Streaming - Introduced at primary schools and secondary levels to cater to the different abilities and learning paces of pupils

Streaming at Secondary level - Special, Express and Normal courses

Teaching moral Values - To inculate in pupils a common set of desirable moral values such as social responsibility and loyalty to the country
(Helped to develop SG identity and contribute to survivalism and success of nation a.k.a be a patriot)

Encouraging Creativity (global recession) --> changes had to be made to revive economy and stimulate economic growth