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Everything About the “Revamp” of GEP As Announced by MOE

2024-08-20 , 3:14 pm

If you watched PM Wong’s National Day Rally 2024 speech, you would already know that the government plans to “revamp” the Gifted Education Programme (GEP).

The GEP, which was first introduced in 1984, aims to nurture higher-ability students. Students identified to be higher-ability learners will transfer into one of nine primary schools offering the GEP at primary four. The GEP-offering school will then see the identified students through their primary four to six education.

However, the GEP system is about to change — from the 2024 primary one cohort, the GEP in its current form will be discontinued. Further details surrounding the “revamp” have also been announced by the Ministry of Education (MOE).

Here’s everything you need to know about the “revamp” of the GEP.

More to Benefit From GEP School-Based Programmes

If you didn’t already know, under the current GEP, all primary schools have extra-curricular school-based programmes to develop higher-ability learners with specific strengths and interests. Specifically, there are programmes for English, Mathematics and Science.

English programmes for higher-ability learners include the “Wits & Words: Inter-school Debate Championship”, a debate competition aiming to build verbally talented students’ oral competencies. For Mathematics and Science, there’s the Excellence 2000 (E2K) Mathematics and Science Programme for students with interest and aptitude for the subjects.

Currently, only around 7% of each cohort is selected to take part in these GEP school-based programmes. However, with the GEP “revamp”, more students will now benefit from these programmes — up to around 10% of the cohort. This works out to around 3,000 students per year.

GEP Students to Remain in Own Schools; No Need to Transfer Schools at Primary 4

Currently, higher-ability learners selected for the GEP have to transfer to one of nine primary schools offering the GEP when they’re in primary four. These nine primary schools include Raffles Girls’ Primary School, Rosyth School, Anglo-Chinese School, Nanyang Primary School, Tao Nan School, Henry Park Primary School, Catholic High School (Primary), St Hilda’s Primary School and Nan Hua Primary School.

In other words, the school names that you always see on the PSLE past year papers that your tuition teacher provides lah.

Now, all primary schools will be equipped to run the GEP, so GEP students can remain in their schools with their friends and teachers.

Additional After-School Modules at Designated Nearby Schools

Aside from the school-based programmes, GEP students can now also expect to see new after-school modules. These after-school modules also have one aim in mind — to cultivate academic curiosity and a love for learning.

In other words, these modules are not to help students score full marks for examinations, but more to champion the spirit of learning.

These after-school modules will be held at designated nearby schools, where students will get to learn alongside others of similar abilities and interests from other schools. So, it’s also a way for students to meet new kakis lah.

The modules will also be catered to students with specific strengths, meaning that more students will be able to take these after-school modules based on the area they’re strong in.

This is a great move, given that some students might be more talented in certain areas than other areas. As Education Minister Chan Chun Sing said: “Some people might be very good at maths. Some people are very good at science. It doesn’t mean that we take the average and therefore teach them according to this average.”

Multiple Junctures to Identify Higher-Ability Learners

Currently, GEP selection only takes place at primary three — students will take a GEP screening test when they’re in primary three. If you pass the test, you’ll be identified to join the GEP when you’re in primary four. If you fail the test, too bad — that was your only opportunity to get into the GEP.

However, even that’s about to change. Students will be identified to join these GEP school-based programmes and after-school modules at multiple junctures throughout primary four to six. This means that even if you aren’t identified to join the GEP in primary three, you still have an opportunity to join the GEP in the future.

This move comes about after research into gifted education has shown that intelligence and ability are developed over the course of an individual’s life. While some demonstrate higher potential earlier in life, others only start to stand out, or “bloom”, when they’re older.

The change means that late-bloomers will have the opportunity to further their learning through the GEP as well, allowing students to develop as and when they demonstrate readiness and potential.

The multiple entry points to the GEP also means that there’s no need to “hothouse” children — filling up their schedules with tuition classes at a very early age to educate them to a higher level than usual — to gain a spot in the GEP.

“I think we pace ourselves, let our children develop at their natural rate, and that will be the best for their long-term development,” the education minister added.

In other words, this move will hopefully help to ease some kiasu parents’ concerns lah.

More Holistic Selection Process

The process of selecting higher-ability learners will also become more holistic.

While the standardised GEP selection test at primary three will be retained to help schools identify higher-ability learners, schools will now also be using supplementary sources of information to identify higher-ability learners.

These supplementary sources of information include day-to-day observations, teacher recommendations and students’ work, which will provide more comprehensive and holistic information about students’ abilities.

So, if you’re a parent reading this and your child isn’t the type that’s good at exams, there’s still room for your child to be selected to join the GEP.

“[I]n the new system, you will have many opportunities to demonstrate your abilities … different dimensions of abilities and different timeframes will inform us in the way we redesign the system,” the education minister added.

Will the GEP “Revamp” Eliminate Concerns Over Elitism?

From lowering barriers to entry to increasing resource availability, the “revamp” of the GEP appears to usher in a new era of education in Singapore where more students, regardless of background or area of talent, will get the opportunity to further develop their abilities. It’s more of a complete removal of the GEP rather than a “revamp”, to be honest.

Out with the old, in with the new, I suppose.

So, will this GEP “revamp” finally eliminate Singaporeans’ concerns over elitism in GEP? The criticism that GEP is rather “elitist” is not new, especially given that only about 45% of pupils who joined the GEP over the last five years lived in HDB flats. Further, according to MOE, children of higher socio-economic status tend to do better academically in education systems globally.

MOE has clarified that the socio-economic background issue was not a primary (pun not intended) consideration in its “revamp” of the GEP. However, it appears that the new changes to the GEP will indeed help to mitigate the “elitism” effect of the GEP since more will have the opportunity to secure a spot in the GEP.

So, what’s your take on the changes to the GEP? Is it for the better?