Ministry of Education (Singapore)

Ministry of Education
Logo of the MOE
Agency overview
Formed 1960
Jurisdiction Government of Singapore
Headquarters 1, North Buona Vista Drive, Singapore 138675
Employees 56,700[1]
Annual budget Increase$9.66 billion SGD (2010)[1]
Ministers responsible
Agency executives
  • Chan Lai Fung, Permanent Secretary (Education)
  • Lai Chung Han, 2nd Permanent Secretary (Education)
  • Wong Siew Hoong, Director-General of Education
  • Lai Wei Lin, Deputy Secretary (Policy)
  • Lim Boon Wee, Deputy Secretary (Services)
  • Ng Cher Pong, Deputy Secretary (SkillsFuture)
Child agencies
Website www.moe.gov.sg
Ministry of Education headquarters at Buona Vista
Stakeholders and initiatives chart for SkillsFuture.

The Ministry of Education (Abbreviation: MOE; Malay: Kementerian Pendidikan; Chinese: 教育部; Tamil: கல்வி அமைச்சு) is a ministry of the Government of Singapore that directs the formulation and implementation of policies related to education in Singapore. It is currently headed by Minister Ong Ye Kung who oversees education from Primary 1 to tertiary institutions.

Budget

The Government of Singapore invests heavily in education to equip citizens with the necessary knowledge and skills to compete in the global marketplace.[2] Singapore currently spends around 1/5 of its national budget on education.[3] To boost its economic standing, the Government of Singapore created a mandate that most Singaporeans learn English. As a result, the country rose from one of the most impoverished Asian countries to one with the strongest economies and highest standards of living.[4]

Statutory boards

The ministry currently oversees 10 statutory boards:

In 2016, a new statutory board under the Ministry of Education (MOE), SkillsFuture Singapore (SSG), was formed to drive and coordinate the implementation of SkillsFuture. It took over some of the functions currently performed by the Singapore Workforce Development Agency (WDA) and absorbed the Council for Private Education (CPE).

SkillsFuture

The SkillsFuture initiative was introduced in 2016 to support Singapore’s next stage of economic advancement by providing lifelong learning and skills development opportunities for Singaporeans.[5] SkillsFuture aims at unlocking the full potential of all Singaporeans, regardless of background.[6] The program contains several key initiatives, such as SkillsFuture Credit and SkillsFuture Earn and Lean. SkillsFuture caters to many stakeholders, with initiatives centered on students, adult learners, employers, and training providers.[7]

There are four key objectives of the SkillsFuture initiative:

  1. Helping individuals make well-informed choices in education, training and careers.
  2. Developing an integrated, high-quality system of education and training that responds to constantly evolving industry needs.
  3. Promoting employer recognition and career development based on skills and mastery.
  4. Fostering a culture that supports and celebrates lifelong learning.[8]

Every Singapore citizen from the age of 25 is given S$500 (approximately $370) by the Singapore government for the SkillsFuture Credit to invest in their personal learning.[9] This sum can be used for continuing education courses in local tertiary institutions, as well as short courses provided by training providers and MOOC providers such as Udemy, Coursera, and edX.

By the end of 2017, the SkillsFuture Credit has been utilized by over 285,000 Singaporeans.[10] There were more than 18,000 SkillsFuture credit-approved courses available at that time.[11] As of 2016, there were also a total of 40 Earn and Learn Programmes.[12]

Autonomous Universities

There are six autonomous universities in Singapore.[13][14]

Unions

Civil servants employed by the Ministry of Education are organised into several Unions, including the Singapore Teachers' Union, Singapore Chinese Teachers' Union, Singapore Malay Teachers' Union and Singapore Tamil Teachers' Union for Education Officers; and the Amalgamated Union of Public Employees for the non-Education Officers. All these unions are affiliates of the National Trades Union Congress.

Minister for Education

Years in Office Minister
1959 – 1963Yong Nyuk Lin
1963 –1970Ong Pang Boon
1972 – 1975Lee Chiaw Meng
1975Toh Chin Chye
1975 – 1979Chua Sian Chin
1979 – 1984Goh Keng Swee
1985 – 1992Tony Tan
1992 – 1997Lee Yock Suan
1997 – 2003Teo Chee Hean
2003 – 2008Tharman Shanmugaratnam
2008 – 2011Ng Eng Hen
2011 – 2015Heng Swee Keat
2015 – 2018Ng Chee Meng (Schools) &
Ong Ye Kung (Higher Education and Skills)
2018 - presentOng Ye Kung

Sources

 This article incorporates text from a free content work. Licensed under CC BY-SA License statement: Lifelong Learning in Transformation: Promising Practices in Southeast Asia, 1-62, Yorozu, Rika, UNESCO. UNESCO. To learn how to add open license text to Wikipedia articles, please see Wikipedia:Adding open license text to Wikipedia. For information on reusing text from Wikipedia, please see the terms of use.

References

  1. 1 2 "Head K: Ministry of Education" (PDF). Budget 2010: Revenue and Expenditure Estimates. Ministry of Finance. February 2010. Retrieved 2010-09-14.
  2. ↑ Yorozu, Rika (2017). "Lifelong Learning in Transformation: Promising practices in Southeast Asia" (PDF). UNESCO. No. 4: 16 – via UNESCO.
  3. ↑ Mara, Wil (2016). Singapore. New York: Scholastic. p. 90. ISBN 978-0-531-23297-2.
  4. ↑ Mara, Wil (2016). Singapore. New York: Scholastic. p. 71. ISBN 978-0-531-23297-2.
  5. ↑ Yorozu, Rika (2017). "Lifelong Learning in Transformation: Promising practices in Southeast Asia" (PDF). UNESCO. No. 4: 50 – via UNESCO.
  6. ↑ Yorozu, Rika (2017). "Lifelong Learning in Transformation: Promising Practices in Southeast Asia" (PDF). UIL PUBLICATIONS SERIES ON LIFELONG LEARNING POLICIES AND STRATEGIES. No.4: 17 – via UNESCO.
  7. ↑ Yorozu, Rika (2017). "Lifelong Learning in Transformation: Promising Practices in Southeast Asia" (PDF). UIL PUBLICATIONS SERIES ON LIFELONG LEARNING POLICIES AND STRATEGIES. No.4: 17 – via UNESCO.
  8. ↑ Yorozu, Rika (2017). "Lifelong Learning in Transformation: Promising practices in Southeast Asia" (PDF). UNESCO. No. 4: 50 – via UNESCO.
  9. ↑ Seow, Joanna (2017-05-19). "The ST Guide To... Using your SkillsFuture Credit". The Straits Times. Retrieved 2018-08-28.
  10. ↑ Seow, Joanna (2018-02-01). "285,000 Singaporeans have used SkillsFuture Credit, with more doing so in 2017". The Straits Times. Retrieved 2018-08-28.
  11. ↑ Yorozu, Rika (2017). "Lifelong Learning in transformation: Promising practices in Southeast Asia" (PDF). UNESCO. No. 4: 52 – via UNESCO.
  12. ↑ Yorozu, Rika (2017). "Lifelong Learning in transformation: Promising practices in Southeast Asia" (PDF). UNESCO. No. 4: 52 – via UNESCO.
  13. ↑ Times, The Straits (March 3, 2015). "How Singapore's six public universities differ". The Straits Times. Retrieved March 14, 2016.
  14. ↑ "Post-secondary". Ministry of Education, Singapore. Ministry of Education, Singapore. Retrieved June 23, 2017.


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