School banding and awards led to unethical practices: Ex Principal

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http://www.edvantage.com.sg/edvantage/news/schoolnews/1348462/Schools_to_cater_to_students_of_all_abilities.html

When 24-year-old Tan Ruiwen failed several subjects at Secondary 3, teachers at his school put pressure on him to drop biology - which he did with some reluctance.

"I wanted to drop physics, but they told me to drop biology because it was harder to score in."

They had his O-level grades in mind, but the school was also concerned about its place in the annual school league tables.

The law undergraduate, who completed Sec 4 in 2004, recalls: "The principal would constantly talk about the school's ranking at assembly, saying how we wouldn't be a premier boys school any more if we fell any further."

If the education system in the past 20 years is remembered for one thing, it is the relentless competition between schools to move up the rankings based on exam results.

Retired principal Paramita Bandara, 70, who headed Ang Mo Kio Secondary in the 1990s, says: "It led to unethical practices like making them drop arts subjects and focusing on pure sciences and maths, so that you're assured of an A1."

Other principals say that while banding and awards were meant to help schools, they also constrained them, creating "a cage" of sorts.

Now, schools are being freed.