The Importance Of Education In Singapore

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Recommended: Cultural diversity addressed in the classroom

“The underlying strategy to build a first-world economy is to create a first-rate education system,” shares former Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew (1999) in his National Day Rally speech. As a small country in Asia with limited natural resources, Singapore government’s plan to turn their economy from labor-based economy into a knowledge-based economy has been a success. The government focused on improving the education system and aimed to become Asia’s education hub (Lee, 1999). Today, Singapore is one of the wealthiest countries in the world and its economy is considered one of the greatest, ranking second after Switzerland and surpassing that of the US’ and UK’s (World Economic Forum, 2013). Singapore’s education system is also highly regarded by other countries and its universities, specifically National University of Singapore (NUS), Nanyang Technological University (NTU) and Singapore Management University (SMU), have partnered with top universities around the world; thus attracting foreign students to pursue their studies in Singapore (Lee, 1999).
Because of the government’s vision of becoming a successful country and education hub in Asia, it has aimed to provide a good English-speaking environment. The government believes that in order to communicate with the world, Singaporeans must know how to speak Standard English (Lee, 1999, p. 1). It will also give them a big advantage over competitors (ibid, p. 1). Former Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew (1999) emphasized in his speech that in order to achieve these, the Singaporean community, especially the young generation, must learn Standard English while adults are advised to discourage the young generation from using Singlish. Though Lee Kuan Yew (1999) also acknowledged that Singlish...

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...able to recognize Singapore as a culturally diverse country through Singlish. It is a uniting factor for students and teachers in classrooms. It presents a unique flavor that awes the international community. And it preserves a unique heritage that Singaporeans identify themselves with. Through Singlish, Singaporeans are able to present a part of their identity.
I believe that in a world where English is the lingua franca, having a unique variation of the language is as important as being able to communicate with other people because it gives the speaker the chance to differentiate his self or herself that is uniquely his or her own. Identity is an important aspect of life. Through language, we are able to communicate with other people. And having the ability to communicate with other people while portraying one’s identity is a gift. Singaporeans should cherish it.

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