The Singapore education system has become so much more stressful and pressuring since this past decade and there are many reasons for this change. The world is progressing in many areas at such a fast rate and hence there is a need for the young population to be trained in such a way that they adopt new skills. Many existing jobs are becoming irrelevant and people are getting trained and re-trained to “evolve” and remain relevant to the changing times.
SO, WHAT ARE THE CHALLENGES THAT STUDENTS ARE FACED WITH?
Students have come to terms with the fact that the education these days are only going to get tougher and hence that mental preparedness is present; which is a good sign. However, schools have to be equipped to deal with the changes and tuition teachers need to change their teaching techniques to mould their students in such a way that they can keep with the fast-paced changes.
Let’s take a look at what exactly bothers students in this day and age…
#1: WORK LOAD
Teachers now strongly believe that their duty is fulfilled as long as they dump their students with lots and lots of question papers to practice but that concept has lost its relevance with the education system today. In fact, what is the point of blindly beavering away without having understood the concepts? Students make the same mistakes over and over again and there is no way that they will bridge the learning gap effectively.
Nowadays every child opts for tuition outside of the school curriculum as well and hence the homework and assignments being given is twice as much. It becomes unmanageable and hence students end up stressing themselves in order to complete all the work given within a particular deadline. The major problem with this is that the quality of the work done suffers because the quantity is much more than what students can manage.
Essentially, students are told to bite off more than what they could chew.
#2: EXTRA-CURRICULLAR ACTIVITIES
Students are to attend their Extra-curricular or in other Co-Curricular Activities (CCA) at least twice a week and with performances or competitions nearing, the training sessions become much more frequent. In Singapore, the education system believes in holistic development and hence CCAs are taken very seriously. The aim is excellent, except it deprives students of a breathing space. With a heap of work to complete and the need to keep up with other commitments, everything piles up and aggravates stress in students.
#3: IT’S GETTING TOUGHER
The syllabus has been modified and altered to such an extent that even teachers have to re-trained to keep up. Not all students have the mental capacity and speed to keep up with all the abstract concepts that are being taught and hence it becomes such a challenge because exams expect so much from students in terms of answering techniques, as well as presentation.
Hence education in Singapore became stressful for students and this cannot be avoided; it has to be tackled. This is the reason why tuition teachers are regarded as saviors because they keep themselves updated and use different techniques to push their students to perform with excellence during examinations.
BOTTOM LINE
It’s not possible to escape these changes but one must learn to adjust and adapt. The best way to avoid stress is to work hard and keep with everything that is being taught in school, as well as to clarify doubts with tutors every now and then because accumulating work will become a huge problem at the end. Never procrastinate or let your problems snowball!