PSLE Revamp

Assalamualaikum wr wb.

So the government has decided NOT to reduce the weightage of the MT component in the PSLE marking. Doesn’t anyone find it weird that this was even considered in the first place. The justification given to the idea was to allow those who were not linguistically-inclined to be able to compete for a place in better schools despite their proficiency (or lack thereof) in their MT to prevent a brain-drain in the future.

As soon as such claims were made, alarm bells started ringing in my head. Why was this policy introduced all of a sudden? Did they only realise this problem after more than 20 years of the bilingual policy? Or the cynical me questioned whether it was a ploy to gain supporters for the upcoming elections? No, I don’t work for the Elections Department, neither do I know when the GE would be but hey, I heard the ‘lease’ is ending soon.  Regardless, after upholding the bilingual policy for so long, the move seems to contradict their policy.

Hence it set me thinking. Their concerns are real. That the lack of proficiency in MT would lead to a drop in their PSLE T-Scores hence not being able to get into the creme de la creme of the Singapore secondary schools which might possibly affect where these bright minds would end up later on.

However, what worries me is how this policy masks the ‘truth’ of the existing situation. Sure, the effects of the bilingual policy affects all levels of society and all ‘races’/ethnicity. However, since when were problems that concerned the minority groups could effect change on a policy at the national level. This is simply unfathomable. You don’t have to go far to ascertain this. The issue of Malay educational gap vis-a-vis other races is still seen as a communal issue rather than a national one. (I can go into a long debate about this but I shall refrain from doing so in this post).

Clearly the revamp in PSLE marking was introduced because it affected the majority and not the minority (though I have to agree that language proficiency amongst the Malays and Indians could possibly take its toll after the bilingual policy was introduced, I am more than confident that if this was strictly a minority issue, a policy on the national level would not be effected). Hence, I believe that this revamp was introduced to ensure that the Chinese students would not see their chances of going to a reputable school be ruined by their lack of proficiency in the Chinese language. Some may argue that this policy would be beneficial to all as it helps those that are less proficient in Tamil and Malay to have a better shot at the better secondary schools. Yes, idealistically speaking.

Realistically speaking, the playing ground is never and was never level to begin with. Would the percentage be that significant amongst the minority groups? I highly doubt so. Realistically speaking also, Malays are underachieving in their Mathematics and hence hypothetically, if the revamp was to ensure a better shot at a reputable secondary school then the Mathematics component should be lowered right? Wrong. Why? Because Mathematics is integral. And MT isn’t? Ermmm.. You decide. Clearly the Mathematics component would not be lowered to allow Malay students to increase their PSLE T-Scores because the issue of a lack of proficiency in Mathematics  is a communal issue, not a national one. So who makes up the ‘national’ again? Because clearly, if the government were to reduce the Mathematics weightage, the percentage increase would not be too significant. But if you do that to the MT component, the percentage is noticeable. Why? Because this involves the majority ‘race’. Since they make up the bulk of the community, the numbers are significantly altered if any change is effected. Lest I be labelled as an ultra-Malay, let me first clarify that I have no issues about racial integration or harmony or whatever you choose to call it.

And is it any wonder to all you readers that I am claiming that this policy is more so to suit the Chinese community? Let’s just look at the ‘Speak Mandarin’ campaigns or the worries of Lee Kuan Yew of the lack of proficiency of Mandarin amongst the Chinese which led him to say that the bilingual policy has failed in 2009. Why is he so adamant about preserving the Chinese language? I’m not too sure but I am guessing along the lines of him afraid that the Chinese losing their sense of identity and how he in order to win over the Chinese back in his heydays in the late 1940s-60s toiled over learning Chinese and sees its importance in winning elections. I stand corrected.

Hence, I am thankful that this revamp was not implemented as many see the importance of the MT component. Though the official statement given was that because the government wanted to continue to uphold the bilingual policy, I believe that they are pretty afraid of the backlash had the idea gone through.

My views above was to critically analyze the above issue and shed some light/ alternative perspective on the idea to revamp the PSLE marking system. I believe that this is an issue that concerns the Chinese more than the other races but is masked as a ‘national’ issue which further fortifies my views that there is a conscious attempt at the ‘sinicization’ of the country.

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