The Ministry of Education (MOE) is improving courses over time at the universities, polytechnics and the Institute of Technical Education, to ensure that what students learn are relevant to the workplace.
"It's very important for us to make sure that ... they learn something valuable, they learn something that they are interested in," said Mr Heng.
"And the most important thing that we must teach our students is this love for lifelong learning. When they have that - when they have the foundation for it - they would be able to do well in future."
Mr Heng was responding to a remark by grassroots leader Eric Ho who had said that it was not good enough to have a polytechnic diploma today.
Responding to a question by another resident on school programmes which cut into family time, Mr Heng said that while many parents may feel co-curricular activities (CCAs) are a waste of time, CCAs are "a very important part of our holistic education".
"Children learn many important life skills through CCA - they learn how to work together with each other, they learn how to develop themselves outside of books, they learn about teamwork, they learn social, emotional skills."Mr Heng cited sports as an example. Through it, students learn about sportsmanship, hard work, determination and discipline, while in science research projects, students learn about critical thinking.
While these skills may not allow students to score better in examinations, the skills will remain with students for life, he said.
In response to a comment that schools are too structured, Mr Heng said that while the MOE has a structured national syllabus and assessment, in recent years it has also adopted programmes to stimulate creativity and thinking skills.
"The unstructured element allows us to learn a lot," said Mr Heng, who added that schools here are moving more towards inquiry-based learning, where students ask questions as part of the learning process.
On students being overworked, he said the MOE has a policy to ensure homework is appropriate, that schools pace out assignments and that the homework is useful for reinforcing learning.
He told residents of his meeting with a parents' association two weeks ago when he was in Canada, where he learnt that to enrol in a private school, every parent had to sign a form stating that their child would spend two hours on homework every day.
Ultimately, good communication and better partnerships between parents and schools is important, Mr Heng said.
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