It is moving the education system some distance away from mere book learning in a number of primary and secondary schools.

Students (including 80,000 foreigners) are going through interesting times. Many are now able to take up study options that will lead to new career opportunities not available before.

From next year, Secondary 3 students in eight schools will be able to take up 3-D animation as a new O-level subject.

“I’ve always been interested in animated films, so I’m very interested to know how to bring all these images to life,” said a 14-year-old.

He hopes to be one of 20 students from Dunman Secondary to break into a film career. It is one of a number of applied subjects that are making their presence felt in the education system.

A quiet evolution is beginning to sweep across Singapore schools on a scale that has even taken parents by surprise.

Two other applied subjects – Enterprise Development and Fundamentals of Electronics – will also be introduced in 2009. Others already in place in other schools are Design and Technology, Food and Nutrition and Principles of Accounts.

The changes, it is hoped, will produce a new tech-savvy, hands-on worker, who knows the basic aspects of high tech or the practical sciences.

These are still pioneering days, but they already have the making of a success story.

Faced with competition from the likes of China and India, the city-state believes its future prosperity lies in training an innovative, tech-savvy workforce that can compete on ideas.

A newspaper reader praised the “Teach Less, Learn More” strategy, which has reshaped education into what it is today – a balance between academic and non-academic pursuits.

For a start, schools are moving into practical studies as an exam subject or a module or elective.

The courses range from filmmaking to designing, from IT to nutrition and cooking, and from music and the arts to professional sports, and a new environment course for children.

School dropouts, who usually end up as lowly-paid, semi-skilled workers, now see new hope in some of these courses, which can lead them towards a non-academic career.

Some may even outshine their peers in the top elite schools in courses like cooking or designing or music composing. “That could make for a level playing field for the 21st Century globalised economy.”

A new type of futuristic schools has started operation in Singapore.

Here blogs take over from blackboards. Other teaching tools are video-conferencing, tablet PCs, pod-casts, 3-D software and interactive whiteboards.

Five “Future Schools” have been selected as pioneers to use innovative teaching methods that harness info-communication.

Tech-savvy Singapore, one of Asia’s most wired nations, will have 15 of these primary and secondary high-tech schools by 2015.

“They will push the frontiers of teaching and learning practices by harnessing this info-com technology at a school-wide level,” the education ministry announced.

Schools will, however, remain focused on the core goals of education, planning lessons around the national curriculum and preparing students for national exams.

Across the island, more students are being exposed to various innovative teaching ideas, including the following: -

- (Innovation) Chua Chu Kang Primary pupils will soon begin to design and study robots as part of its curriculum.

- (Cooking/nutrition) About 20 parent volunteers have taught 2,400 pupils at Fuchun Primary School how to cook a healthy meal for themselves.

- (Business) Some students, aged 14 to 15, are learning business operation by working with a diverse number of major companies, like Nestle and MacDonald, and e-mailing them critiques on how to improve operations.

- (Food science) Other schools are training food innovators to use science in the kitchen to produce new gastronomic products.

Example: Anglo-Chinese School Sec 4 student, Sean Gwee has created skinless mango ravioli, a tropical version of the skinless pea ravioli that was invented by a Spanish chef.

- (Music) The only university-level music school, which started in 2003, the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music, has just passed out its first batch of 44 graduates, half of whom are pursuing further studies in Europe.

- (Arts) In January the first School of Arts opened with a pioneer batch of 139 Sec One and 100 Sec 2 students, teaching subjects like ballet, music and dances. Until now, they’re taught only as electives in school. It joined a Sports School, which started last year.

- (Environment) Four secondary schools have introduced practical lessons on the environment to give children a hands-on knowledge of green issues, including water management, air quality and ways to prevent air pollution.

Despite the changes, critics complain that the system is still too elitist with excessive rote-learning. It has also failed to produce students who are able to articulate their views publicly.

One of Singapore’s most prominent former civil servants, Ngiam Tong Dow, said the government should spread its top students to a wider number of schools to expose them to new mentors and methods of teaching.

By sending all the bright Primary 6 school-leavers to different schools, instead of confining them to a few top schools could prevent ‘group think.’

“It’s very dangerous to hot-house them,” he said, “I think we should spread out our talents...to support a stronger country.”

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

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