Recipe for Singapore’s economic miracle – governance and education

SINGAPORE – The contrasting landscapes of Singapore and the vast Malaysian Peninsula struck me as I landed here after my Malaysian visit. The state-of-the-art high rise buildings in Singapore’s urbanized skyline attract the traditional tourists, whereas the Malaysian’s palm oil plantation, dense rainforests and jungles with exotic flora and fauna overwhelm the western adventurers. (The Kuala Lumpur International Airport and Petronas Twin Towers were only built after 1998.)

Malaysia and Singapore are the sixth and seventh ASEAN countries our SEA-CLLSD consulted with. Proposed to UNESCO as a Category 2 Center of the Philippines, its purpose is to be a service provider in restructuring the Southeast Asian conventional education into Education for Sustainable Development. Its framework of Lifelong Education starts with preschool using a universally proven scientific system of education that conditions students for self-sufficiency during the first 25 years, the formative period of life.

An economic miracle

The latest video biography of Singapore’s builder, Lee Kuan Yew shows the legendary statesman in tears as he signs the 1965 document that released Singapore from the Federation of Malaysia to become an independent state.

My husband, Max, and I saw Singapore then with its dirty river filled with Chinese sampans and dingy looking rows of shops. The only “civilized” sites were the Raffles Hotel and the exclusive British country club. People lived in Malay fishing kampungs then. With only 4.5 million people as against 25 Malaysians, Singapore is just the tip of the huge Malay peninsula.

Steered by business Mandarins perched in glass skyscrapers, the economic fortunes of this diminutive nation are legendary. The island with no natural resources or agriculture has transformed itself in under 25 years from an “Oriental bazaar” into a fully industrialized nation.

Singapore’s political leaders are directly responsible for the radical socio-economic transformation of the last few decades. After independence was won, Singaporeans were propelled by the People’s Action Party (PAP) along a path paved with Chinese work ethic. For almost 20 years, the average economic growth rate fluttered around 9% – one of the highest rates of constant growth the world has ever seen.

Recipe for boom time

What was the recipe for this miraculous growth? Economic analysts have pointed to the stereotypical traits of the Chinese, who make up 78% of the population: a will to succeed; a sense of community; a respect for authority; and, an undeniable gift for business.

Plenty of other factors contributed to the relentless course, and these were carefully engineered by the PAP: limited labor union power and tough legislation against strikes; strict wage controls; open doors to foreign investments; absence of import and export duties; targeted industrial development; and long-term economic planning – all under the watchful eye of the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), a powerful financial market regulator.

Much influenced by the Japanese model, Singapore also keeps a constant eye on the evolution and status of Hong Kong, emulating its business initiatives while constantly trying to outperform this rival Asian dragon. Following the political change, foreign investors shifted their headquarters between the two economic centers.

Return to UNESCO

In the ’80s before the economic peak of Singapore, the country withdrew from UNESCO together with America and England. After the 2001 New York Twin Tower tragedy, USA and UK rejoined UNESCO. Singapore returned to UNESCO as a Member State in October 2007. On May 28, the Singapore National Commission (NatCom) for UNESCO was officially launched.

I decided to do our CLLSD consultation while attending the launch together with other UNESCO ASEAN Secretary Generals as guests. The grand celebration held at the Suntec Convention Center was joined by 1,500 Singapore teachers who were engaged in a two-day “UNESCO Educators Workshop”.

Unlike the Philippine NatCom, which is attached to the Department of Foreign Affairs, and has 45 experts headed by five committee chairpersons of Education, Communication, Culture, Social & Human Sciences, and Science & Technology, the new Singapore NatCom is linked to the Ministry of Education (MoE). The Singapore NatCom Chair is Dr. Ng Eng Hen (Minister for Education and Second Minister for Defence), while their Secretary General is Ms. Lim Wan Yong (Director of Planning, MoE). It has three sub-commissions: Education chaired by Ms. Chang Hwee Nee (Deputy Secretary for Policy, MoE); Science chaired by Prof. Leo Tan (Professor of Natural Sciences, NIE); while Culture and Information is chaired by Mr. Lock Wai Han (Deputy Secretary, Ministry of Information, Communication and the Arts).

The Singapore ‘boom towns’ – the NIE and ITE

The Singapore NatCom arranged two “learning journeys” for the ASEAN delegates: The first was to the National Institute of Education (NIE) and the second to the Institute of Technical Education (ITE) College East. The former is a complex of half a dozen huge buildings engaged throughout the year, holding three-month short courses to advance teacher specializations. I met a group of Math teachers whose full-time loads were reduced to give them this generous career development opportunity – FREE.

Here, we were welcomed by Director Lee Sing Kong, together with Asst. Prof. Lim Kam Ming (Sub Dean, Foundation Programmes Office) and Prof. Paul Teng (Dean, Graduate Programmes Office).

NIE, established in 1991, currently has 6,000 full time equivalent students and a staff of about 900 providing all levels of teacher education – FREE – ranging from initial teacher preparation programmes, inclusive of in-service programmes. Its six-month Leaders in Education Programme prepares senior education officers for principalship emphasizing the importance of innovation. Since 2007, Ateneo University president Fr. Ben Nebres has arranged nine public school principals of Quezon City to do this course with their 27 teachers. He described this as part of the DepEd BESRA program during the UNESCO Karunungan Festival last year.

NIE’s Center for Research in Pedagogy and Practice was established in 2002 with funding from the MoE as the largest education research center in the Asia Pacific to develop new and innovative ways of teaching and learning. By 2007, its five-year strategic plan enhanced NIE’s global standing with the help of the International Alliance of Leading Education Institutes made up of seven world-leading education institutions.

ITE’s unique ‘Hands-On, Minds-On, and Hearts-On’ College Education

“Hands-On, Minds-On, and Hearts-On” is the institutional motto of ITE, according to Director & CEO Bruce Poh Geok Huat and Deputy Principal Dr. Ang Kiam Wee (Director, School of Applied & Health Sciences), who welcomed us to ITE, another complex of buildings several stories high encircling a central lobby.

Our group was amazed with the awesome facilities of their nursing course, IT and marketing programs, as well as the very popular beauticians’ training. The nurse aides use six $200,000 dummies that could blink and be teary-eyed. Its chest could be opened up to show the vital organs of the body, and register both the pulse and heart beat. The lectures are conducted using closed-circuit TV (CCT) and transmitted on huge “plasma” televisions. The Hair Design Training Center provided 20 mannequin heads with hair that could be cut or trimmed, while the adjoining room had 20 modern shampoo chairs. With a class of 40 divided, 20 could watch on the “plasma” TV, the ongoing exercise in another venue.

Singapore ITE, an IBM Innovations Awardee in Transforming Government

A global leader in vocational and technical education, ITE won the global IBM Innovations Award in Transforming Government, administered by Harvard University’s Institute for Democratic Governance and Innovation.

A post-secondary education institution, it was established under the MoE in 1992 to create opportunities for school leavers and adult learners to acquire skills, and knowledge for lifelong learning in a global economy. Besides full-time and part-time education, ITE also offers industry-based training, national-level Certification and Standards for industry to enhance the competitiveness of its workforce. Singapore has a small population and thus need to focus on human capacity building.

‘…Giving them a well-founded faith in the country’s future’

“…We cannot offer our next generation any fixed formula for success, or even any set goals in life. They will face new circumstances and problems. They will need to think through and work out their own solutions. But we must equip them with the basic attitudes, values and instinct, which make them Singaporeans.

“This is the common culture that will give them a shared perception of life, and draw them closer together as one people when confronted with serious problems. This will give them a well-founded faith in the country’s future. This is the DNA to be passed from one generation to the next.” (Deputy Prime Minister, now Prime Minister, Mr. Lee Hsien Loong – son of Lee Kuan Yew – speaking at the launch of National Education, 1997.)

(For more information or reaction, please e-mail at [email protected] or pss[email protected])