Good exam results across races, but maths scores dip

ACROSS the races, students did well overall in national examinations last year, except in mathematics, which saw a slight dip in grades.

In the Primary School Leaving Examination (PSLE), pupils maintained an overall pass rate of above 95 per cent.

Similarly, the proportion of O-level students with at least three O-level passes was about 95 per cent and the proportion with at least five O- level passes was above 80 per cent, all about the same as the previous year.

Also, Malay pupils continued to shine in Mother Tongue for all levels, performing consistently better than their Chinese and Indian counterparts.

The data, which is released by the Education Ministry (MOE) every year, is designed to provide feedback to the communities on how their children have fared.

One possible problem area going by last year's grades is mathematics, although the ministry and mathematics experts are not too concerned by the statistical blip.

Last year's results showed a 0.7 to 2.1 percentage point dip for all races in the PSLE, while the O- level mathematics paper showed a 0.9 to 3.1 percentage point drop across the races.

Mr Masagos Zulkifli, Senior Parliamentary Secretary of the Education Ministry, told The Straits Times these 'short-term fluctuations are statistically not significant. You're talking about a different cohort every year, taking different exams'.

The dip in performance could be due to a higher proportion of academically-weaker Normal (Academic) students among last year's O-level candidates.

He added that the 2007 performance continued to be better than performance in earlier years.

For Malay pupils, PSLE science grades also dipped from a high of 78.4 per cent passes in 2004, to 76.8 per cent in 2005, 75.3 per cent in 2006, and 73.6 per cent last year.

Schools like Pioneer Secondary continue to place extra emphasis on these core subjects.

Its principal, Mr Satianathan Nadarajah, said: 'Subjects like English, mathematics and science are critical for progress to the next level, be it polytechnics or junior colleges. We will continue to emphasise the importance of these subjects to students.'

Mr Masagos added that MOE will also continue its efforts to level up opportunities for children from the time they enter Primary 1.

Children who need support in numeracy skills undergo the Learning Support Programme for Mathematics (LSM), first rolled out to all primary schools in January last year. This is an early intervention programme aimed at providing additional support to pupils who are weak in maths.