They did it by genetically modifying a plant using a green fluorescent marker gene from jellyfish, so that it “lights up” when it is stressed as a result of dehydration.

Then university researchers found a way to hug or touch someone on the Internet, sending the sensations across cyberspace. Researcher James Teh, 24, said it was to help people communicate with pets and children wherever they might be.

And two third-year National University of Singapore students, Gabriel Tan and Wendy Chua, invented a washing machine that requires neither water nor detergents.

The invention by the two Industrial Design undergrads uses negative ions, compressed air and deodorants to clean clothes.

The atmospheric air and negative ions – a natural cleansing agent – help it fight dirt and bacteria with nature’s own weapon.

These achievements, announced in the past six months, were indications of a policy gone right.

About a decade ago when the global economy began to turn against it, Singapore decided on a strategic change to its education system that is now showing up as a bright spark on the horizon.

The revamp involved inculcating in its students creativity and more diversified skills by abandoning the old straitjacketed, rote learning and encouraging critical thinking and hands-on projects.

It seems to be working well given the short time. The education restructuring sounds easier said than done. It needed at least one or two decades because a whole new breed of graduate teachers and principals is needed, many of them trained abroad.

The policy is beginning to show results in the form of increasing polytechnic and university inventions.

Last October, Nanyang Technological University developed shoes that could detect and kick up before triggering the detonation mechanism of hidden mines. And two Singaporeans invented a liquid ceramic coating that makes bulletproof vests lighter and stronger.

Until now, education has not always been associated with creativity. The bad part of the system is that half of Singapore’s workforce has less than secondary education, a tragedy for a nation forced to move into a higher-skilled economy.

Another critical area is the streaming of Primary Three pupils and again in secondary schools when children are moved into slow or fast lanes.

Critics say it’s not fair to late developers to brand them as backward throughout their student life.

Another disliked policy is grading of schools (no longer emphasised), which helped create arrogance in some premium institutions.

“The streaming is the biggest failure,” was one comment. It creates tremendous pressure on pupils from the pre-teen years.

It has resulted in a pressure-cooker society, making many children dislike Mondays. The media calls the illness “school refusal”.

Pupils have complained of stomachaches, headaches, nausea, fever and dizziness, according to a KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital research. Surveys of nine- to 12 year-olds have found that one in three consider that life is not worth living because of the fear of academic failure. The good news is that eight out of 10 of Singaporean annual cohort of about 42,000 students now end up with a tertiary education, including 21% with university degrees.

The changes are still unfolding. Last week, the Education Ministry announced that secondary school students would, from next year, be offered elective courses like game design or online entrepreneurship.

They will be available as O-level subjects from 2008 and their grades would be assessed for admission into a junior college or a polytechnic.

In the next five years, up to 10 specialised institutions will be set up in Singapore, some offering graduate and postgraduate programmes, including degrees in applied and creative disciplines.

Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong called it a sea-change in the university landscape.

All these efforts will decide Singapore’s future as a global city and a high-tech service hub. It has always regarded its people as its national asset. The education budget is second only to that of defence.

Before he stepped down as US Federal Reserve Chairman, Alan Greenspan said the real threat to America’s standard of living wasn’t jobs leaving for Asia; it was the drop in US educational standards.

“What will ultimately determine standard of living of this country is the skill of the people,” Greenspan told the senate committee. “We do something wrong, which obviously people in Singapore, Hong Kong, Korea and Japan do far better.

“Teaching in these strange exotic places seems for some reason to be far better than we can do it.”

Over the next 15 years, 3.3 million US service jobs and US$136bil in annual wages will move to India, the Philippines, China and Malaysia, among others, according to a study by Forrester Research Inc.

Not everyone, however, considers the education system an unqualified success. Some point to an unbearably heavy workload.

“Honestly I pity children in Singapore. You cannot run away from the fact that if you don’t do well in school, your life will go downhill,” exclaimed a parent.

Another wrote, “I saw my nieces losing sleep and near to nervous breakdown due to the Primary School Leaving Exam, and for what? After Sec 4, they will come out to be bee workers in some companies, much of their studies quite useless.”

Some concerned parents have cited the stress of bringing up children as a reason for migrating to more relaxed countries like Australia.

But others who are working abroad insist on sending their children to study in a Singapore-run school – so as not to lose out in life.

o Seah Chiang Nee is a veteran journalist and editor of the information website littlespeck.com

                                                      Home