Demand rising for high-ability enrichment classes in Singapore, with students as young as 5

SINGAPORE: When Mr Pang Toh Kang noticed his four-year-old grandson Ezekiel memorising parking lot and bus numbers, he realised the preschooler needed to maximise his learning potential.
Mr Pang began playing number games with the boy as a form of bonding. But soon, even that was not enough for Ezekiel, who whizzed through the multiplication table.
“When he started to ask me more and more questions like why 1 divided by zero is infinity, I decided to look for an experienced coach for him,” recounted Mr Pang, 71.
He then signed Ezekiel up for Math Olympiad enrichment classes at a high-ability enrichment centre in April.
“I think the school will be able to stretch (him) … Honestly, some of the topics that the school is teaching him now are definitely beyond him because he’s only five-plus, but there’s no harm in giving him the exposure,” Mr Pang said.
The retired engineer stressed that his family’s sole intention was to give Ezekiel the chance “to enjoy and explore what he likes”.
“I also check on him almost weekly to make sure that he wants to come back the following week, and he always gives me a positive answer.”
The enrichment centre that Ezekiel attends – Terry Chew Academy, located at Goldhill Plaza Mall in Thomson – began seeing demand two years ago from children as young as five.
Such high-ability enrichment centres told CNA they are seeing a rise in demand annually. Enquiries for courses like the Math Olympiad are increasing by at least 20 per cent every year.
The issue of high-ability classes was recently thrust into the spotlight after Prime Minister Lawrence Wong announced a revamp of the Gifted Education Programme (GEP) on Aug 18.
The GEP, which was introduced in 1984 for intellectually gifted students, will be overhauled and replaced with a new approach for high-ability learners in all primary schools. It will be implemented from this year’s Primary 1 cohort.
As part of the overhaul, school-based programmes for high-ability students will be expanded to about 10 per cent of the cohort, or 3,000 students.
Already, all primary schools have such programmes to develop high-ability pupils with specific strengths and interests in subjects like English, mathematics and science. About 7 per cent of the cohort is part of these programmes.
Some parents have turned to nurturing their child’s interest from a younger age, as the school programmes for higher-ability learners begin only from Primary 4. 
Between last year and this year, Terry Chew Academy saw a spike of 30 to 40 per cent in enquiries for GEP-specific classes – something it does not offer.
“Giftedness is not something that we want to hothouse. Giftedness is just in them; it’s a natural ability. But what we can offer here is that we can enhance their passion,” said the centre’s manager Catherine Chionh.
She noted that a shift towards enquiries from younger students came after a change in education policy.
From 2019 onwards, examinations for Primary 1 and 2 students were abolished.
Parents grew anxious when they realised there were no mid-year or end-of-year tests or exams for their children in Primary 1, Ms Chionh noted.
“When they get anxious, they push their children to more enrichment … They are worried that they can no longer beat the system – like, when you drill your child in a certain way, then they can produce the result, A, A* and things like that,” she added.
Parents also started coming into the centre with the Direct School Admission (DSA) pathway in mind, said Ms Chionh.
“Instead of depending on results, they go by the DSA route. Many of my parents come in and tell me: ‘We want to go to NUS High (School of Math and Science). We want to go into certain schools’,” she added.
Meanwhile, another high-ability enrichment centre, Future Academy, said enquiries for its GEP preparation classes for Primary 2 and 3 have gone up by 15 to 20 per cent since 2021.
Enrolment rose 10 per cent, with some parents asking to sign up their preschoolers as well.
This was partly due to changes in the Primary School Leaving Examination (PSLE) grading system that kicked in that year, said Ms Yvonne Chen, principal tutor at Future Academy.
The old T-score aggregate system was replaced by wider scoring bands known as Achievement Levels, in a move to place less emphasis on exam results.
Ms Chen noted that students could still do relatively well under the old system if they were strong in one subject and weak in another.
“But due to this new system, parents feel it is more stressful, in the sense the student has to perform well in all four subjects,” she said, referring to English, mathematics, science, and mother tongue.
“So the parents want to prepare their child earlier. One of the ways is to get the child into so-called top classes in a top school, which is the GEP programme,” she added.
Both Future Academy and Terry Chew Academy stressed that their higher-ability classes are only suitable when children already have the interest in learning more.
Ms Chen said: “We tell the parents, for K1, K2 or P1, what we believe is – it is more of the time for the students to settle down in primary school, get used to the more formal learning environment and enjoy school. (They should not) worry about studies yet.”
The centre only accepts children from Primary 2 onwards for its GEP preparation classes to prevent stressing them out, she added.
“We believe there should be a balance in terms of academic learning and also their wellbeing, so we don’t want to stress students at a very young age,” she said.