He was never in the top 10 in his class. In fact, he was always a medium performer. He never attended any tuition class except for three months of Chinese Language in Primary 4 when we thought that he was going to fail the subject! Our assessment then was that it would be very pressurising for him to cope in an environment which comprised the cream of the cohort.
We were going to give up the offer, but after second thoughts, that my child one day would come back to us and blame us for robbing him of an opportunity to be in a special programme, we decided to enrol him. Our consolation was that if he really could not cope, we would transfer him out later. To us, it was not easy for him. His weekends and school holidays were mostly spent trying to complete homework. There was little play time. But whether it was a norm for all primary school kids or because my child was a slow worker, we could not tell.
The GEP program definitely has expanded scope and breadth. Other than for Second Language and Social Studies, there are no textbooks. Learning is more in the form of exploration, excursions, and discovering for yourselves. Often, homework is in the form of projects, puzzles, and quizzes that even us parents had difficulty solving! There is no norm to follow.
The curriculum seems more suited for secondary school students rather than primary school kids. The children write poetry and short stories.
They also learn concepts that are usually covered at secondary school level. We could only hope for the best.
If the child is unable to cope, there are only a couple of tuition centres that can cater to this group of kids. These, in my personal opinion, are too expensive.
And of course, we worried about how he was going to pass his PSLE when the learning scope was so different from the rest of the cohort as ultimately, all the children would be taking the same PSLE.
There will occasionally be a disappointed child who has failed to make it into the school debating team, who narrowly missed qualifying for the National School Games or who has failed his audition to enter the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music. These endeavours would have taken far more time, effort and money to prepare for than the GEP screening test, but disappointment to qualify for a programme which is selective cannot be a reason to challenge or remove its existence. The GEP is certainly not perfect and we should address the negative issues that surround it, but please do not throw the baby out with the bathwater.
Parents hot-housing their children into the GEP is unwise. It is a disfavour to their children, and should be discouraged, but it is certainly not a reason to reassess or remove the GEP. To the students and parents who have benefited from the GEP over the years — let us share our experiences of the programme and not let the public narrative about the programme focus only on doubts about its value and role.
Join ST's Telegram channel here and get the latest breaking news delivered to you. We have been experiencing some problems with subscriber log-ins and apologise for the inconvenience caused. Or, if your child is hoping to be part of a school team, you would need to check if your preferred GEP school offers the activity. For this reason, some parents may prefer a GEP school with an affiliated secondary school.
Read about the benefits of affiliated schools here. If you suspect that your child might have a good chance of being selected for the programme, we encourage you to start your research early — please contact your school of interest directly for the latest and most accurate information.
Novena Google Maps. Bishan Google Maps. GEP selection process is to sieve out the intellectually gifted who might not be the top students driven by exam scores. It is arguable that the GEP is designed to nurture a love for learning, rather than going through the grind of PSLE with hot-housing and constant drill and practice.
There are some students who are gifted in one domain such as mathematics , weak at language subjects, and as a result, obtained a relatively lower PSLE score.
GEP should not be seen as a shortcut to the top secondary schools. Nevertheless, there are many GEP students who obtain direct admission because of their exceptional talent in Mathematics, English, Science and other talent. This is not measured by how high their academic score is but rather how they apply their talents in these fields. As the DSA is a discretionary process carried out by respective secondary schools, it will be good to enquire with the secondary school that you want your child to apply for.
The next blog post focuses on their psychosocial development. We will focus on the joys frustrations students face in the GEP as they interact with one another and the world around them.
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