25 Nov 2000

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N25-02-004 Vol 6

04900

25 Nov 2000

Total Education Encompasses Life Sciences

1. As part of our total education effort, MOE will be putting in place a number of measures to enhance the learning of the Life Sciences in schools. The changes will be implemented progressively from 2001.

Rising Importance of the Life Sciences

2. The Life Sciences has been recognised to be playing an increasingly important role in the future. The Economic Development Board, for example, sees the Life Sciences industry becoming an important part of our industrial landscape, alongside electronics, chemicals and engineering. The Government has of late put much emphasis and money behind research and development and investments in the Life Sciences. 3. Beyond economics, advances in the Life Sciences will bring with them attendant ethical, legal and social issues. Our citizens must have the necessary knowledge and tools to understand these developments and to make decisions that affect themselves and their communities.

Policy Objectives

4. In both the areas of supporting economic development and developing societal understanding, education will play an important role. Based on these considerations, MOE has drawn up the following 2-tiered policy objectives to equip all our students with appropriate degrees of knowledge and skills in the Life Sciences: a. For the general student population: To enable students to have an interest in and understanding of the human body, the environment and other life forms, so as to expand their knowledge and minds and make considered decisions with respect to their physical self, community and environment; and b. For students interested in a Life Sciences or related career: To equip students with in-depth knowledge and skills in Life Sciences in preparation for higher education or continual education, so that they can pursue a career in the Life Sciences or apply Life Sciences knowledge to other fields, thereby contributing to the developments of our economy and Singapore as an education hub.

5. MOE is taking a holistic approach to Life Sciences education. While the base of Life Sciences is Biology, it is the injection of ideas, techniques and concepts from other disciplines that will enhance the applications and further the discoveries in Life Sciences. Our school system will continue to emphasise our traditional strengths in Mathematics and the physical sciences. In addition, we will build links between these subjects and Biology to give our students a fuller understanding of the Life Sciences. Our English literacy and IT skills are also important factors that have attracted Life Science companies here and we will continue to strengthen them in our schools.

Implementation Framework

6. To achieve our policy objectives, MOE will reinforce our current efforts, as well as implement additional measures progressively from 2001. These are in 5 areas:

a. Curriculum revision;

b. Integration of the disciplines;

c. Provision of equipment and teaching materials;

d. Enabling more students to study biology in the long term; and

e. Enthusing students.

Conclusion

7. Our students will have a plethora of opportunities to pick up relevant skills and knowledge in the Life Sciences. At the same time, as innovations in the Life Sciences will continue to draw on the techniques from and integration with the physical sciences, engineering, IT and Mathematics, we will continue to hone our traditional strengths in these areas. The combination of our strengths in the physical sciences with our emphasis on the Life Sciences will create new opportunities in education, research, economic activities and, ultimately, a better quality of life.