The Gifted Education Programme

The Gifted Education Programme (GEP) is offered to the top 1% of the entire cohort, and students have to go through two rounds of challenging tests at the end of their year in Primary 3. Those chosen will be given choices to be enlisted into the top primary schools offering the Gifted Education Programme. The GEP explores the student’s capabilities by increasing and enhancing the education syllabus, stressing on the student’s abilities to learn and absorb everything. The GEP can be seen as an “elite” programme, where only those who can cope and have the ability are chosen. I am in favour of the GEP; however, there are complaints that are raised, of why only certain students get the privilege of an enhanced curriculum, and also of why curriculum is so stressing.

The GEP is an almost-experimental programme, enhancing the education of the intellectually more gifted. Eventually, this programme will provide future leaders and professionals through better educational resource, facilities and syllabus. The GEP serves to nurture future leaders to their full potential, by taxing them with extra work, this way, they will learn to handle increased workload faster than other students do, as well as learn to handle high level education too. Rather than just academic-based learning, the GEP stresses on creativity, values as well as project-based learning.

Many parents, as well as students complain about why the curriculum and workload is far heavier than that of the main-stream. I feel that if they were not prepared to suffer for the sake of learning, then they should not have chose to enter the GEP, and even worse still, it was the programme’s fault for choosing them. The GEP is all about enhanced learning, and without suffering, how can effective learning take place? Many parents of main-streamers argue that only the selected ones have benefits like enhanced curriculum, whereas main-streamers are deprived of such an opportunity. Firstly, the chosen GEP students have been streamed in such a way that they are the ones capable of handling such a workload, hence GEP should be viewed as an add-on if one is capable enough. Secondly, Singapore’s education system is very effective and also very enhanced, and because of that, many other countries, like the United States of America, model their education system like ours. Our math standard is among one of the top in the world, and many countries envy us. Thus, Singapore’s education is already at a very high-level, and GEP is just an extra add-on for those who can cope with it.

The GEP as well as its students have been criticized and labelled as “elitists”; this has even been in the headlines before. The issue of this enhanced curriculum has been raised many times, and GEP students are viewed as arrogant and snobbish people who “think they are very smart”. Being a “product” of the GEP, all these feel very familiar to me. As if being labelled a “nerd” is not enough, main-streamers continue to put GEP students as the centre of prejudice, making crude comments about them, for example, claiming that GEP students only know how to study and do not spend time for recreation and sports. Though many GEP students choose academic-based co-curricular activities, there are also GEP students who are keen in sports; hence the stereotype does not stand true. I feel that the reason why main-streamers make such comments is because they feel that they are left out of the enhanced education system, but what they fail to realise, is that Singapore’s education system is very enhanced and holistic too.

The GEP, however, inculcates arrogance in their students, albeit subliminally. GEP students themselves think that they stand out from the rest in terms of intelligence quota, as well as academic results. Such display of pride is not only unacceptable, but will lead to the downfall of those who succumb to it. I believe that GEP students should feel a sense of patriotic pride for the GEP, as the GEP has offered them countless opportunities to learn more and experience more, and not to feel a sense of selfish pride.

Although the GEP does bring about some repercussions, I feel that the advantages that come with it outweighs the disadvantages, thus I am in favour of the GEP as it nurtures young minds to think like adults, and also, it helps to cultivate future leaders amongst them.