Chapter 9

Education in Switzerland (do we really have to learn this?)

The Swiss education system

Structure of the education system
Run by 26 independent governed cantons

-Each canton plans and decides on the type of schools to build, how long pupils must study, what they should learn, what teaching materials to use

-Primary and lower secondary education is compulsory.

-All schools have to meet the standards required by the Federal government

-Vocational training

• 7 out of 10 pupils opt for vocational training

Ensures a steady supply of well trained young workers and technicians and a strong workforce of skilled craftsmen.

• Apprentice is highly valued

Preparing pupils for the cantonal way fo life
Switzerland is divided into 26 cantons or states. The people elect their own cantonal government and vote on matter like education, public and local taxes.

Education in Switzerland VS S'pore - Similarities

• Strong emphasis on education-seen as the key to continues successs and development
• Similar needs of instilling loyalty to country, appreciation for one's own ethnic culture, understanding of the culture of others.
• Strong focus on imparting life-long skills

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

Public Housing in Singapore

The Government set up the Housing and Development Board [HDB] which will be responsible for public housing.

Problems faced & solutions to them:

Widespread Poverty; Rapid population growth and Growth of slums and squatters in the city area; Bukit Ho Swee Fire
-To tackle the grave problem, of housing shortage the HDB set up the First Five-Year Building Scheme so as to build as many affordable housing as possible within the shortest period of time.

Congestion in city area
-The land Aquisition Act was also implemented so that the government could acquire land from land owners and compensate them. Self-contained towns are built with facilities to meet the basic needs of the citizens so as to reduce preferance for housing within the city area.

Limited Land
-Because Singapore has limited land, land use is maximised by building high-rise and high-density flats.

Lack of Sense of Pride and Belonging
The government encourages home ownership of the citizens by implementing policies by allowing citizens to pay for the flats in monthly instalments and later, by allowing them to make use of their CPF savings to pay for their flats. This gives singaporean a stake in the country, thus inculcating a sense of pride and belonging for the nation.

Lack of Social Cohesion
To bring the different races together, the policy of ethnic quota was introduced to limit a proportion of each race in each neighbourhood. Community centres are built and precinct concepts are also designed for each self-contained town so as to interaction among the different racial groups.

To promote interaction among the different income groups, a mix of smaller and larger flats are built in every new town so as to reduce the social discrimination and encourage communication.

To promote community spirit, RCs, Town Councils are set up to have a better understanding of various community problems and ways to solve them, fostering stronger community ties.

Thriving economy causes middle income groups to be unable to qualify for HDB flats
As the standard of living increases due to the thriving economy that increased the affluency of the citizens, the HDB raised the maximum income for home ownership several times to cater to the Middle-income groups. HUDC was formed to provide housing for the middle income group.

Desire to own private property at affordable prices
The Executive Condominium Housing Scheme was implemented whereby executive condominiums are located in HDB estates to meet the needs of the people to have a higher standard of living.

Singles have increased; and they want to own HDB flats too
HDB now allows singles of at least 35 years of age to buy resale houses with the aid of their CPF housing grants.

Ageing population-more Senior Citizens wans to live on their own but in close touch with children
Studio apartments for the senior citizens are built within existing estates with non-slip floorings and pull-cords to meet the needs of the Senior Citizens.

The need to renew older estates
The Estate Renewal Strategy was implemented to prevent old estates from deteriorating so as to keep the outlook of the town nice as always.