Daily Lessons from Life 23 September 2014 - 23 schools to be recognised

"23 schools to be recognised - CNA 23 September 2014

SINGAPORE: The Ministry of Education (MOE) announced on Monday (Sep 22) that 23 schools will be recognised for their efforts in giving students a well-rounded education at the Ministry's Work Plan Seminar, which takes place on Tuesday.

Bukit Batok Seconday School, Si Ling Secondary School, and Yio Chu Kang Seconday School will receive the highest accolade - the Lee Hsien Loong Award for Innovations in the Normal Course.
This is because they demonstrated innovation in teaching and learning, school management and organisation as well as student development, the MOE said. This has led to significant benefits in the all-round development of their students in the Normal (Academic) and Normal (Technical) Courses.
For example, Yio Chu Kang Secondary School has incorporated dance, drama and robotics classes into its curriculum for the majority of normal stream students.

The other 20 schools will be recognised for Best Practices in five key areas - Character and Citizenship Education, Teaching and Learning, Student All-Round Development, Staff Well-Being and Development, and Partnership. MOE said the schools' best practices have led to good education outcomes for their students."

I am glad to read about this news report.

Lessons for me are:

1. we need to publicise what the other schools are doing and succeeding apart from the so-called 'named schools'!;

2. to break the obsession and lock of the 'named schools', this need to be done on an annual basis for perpetuity or until parents are CONVINCED that the vision of: 'Every School is a Good School' is NOT an empty promise by Minister Heng or the government's next Minister of Education! Hopefully it is NOT an individual KPI thingy but a national project!;

3. this amidst the controversial hot topic of recent times - graduate vs. non-graduate for a successful career - cannot be more opportune! We KNOW the only chance the kids are NOT going to be university-obsessed is when their PARENTS are not university-obsessed! At least in Singapore for the next 10-15 years since parents sponsored the kids' education most of the time.

When parents see that non-branded schools can do well and non-branded schools' kids can do well. They will come around. Maybe...