However, the quality of education was not very high. In the early 1970s, out of every 1 000 pupils entering primary
grade one, only 444 reached secondary grade four after 10 years. And of these, only 350 (35% of the cohort) gained
three or more passes in O-level examinations. A significant report by Dutch economic advisor Dr Albert Winsemius
estimated that every year between 1970 and 1975, Singapore would be short of 500 engineers and 1 000 technical
workers and would have a severe shortage of people with management skills (Lee, et al., 2008). The oil crisisof 1973 and the increasing competition from other Asian countries for low-skilled, labour-intensive industry led
to a growing realisation that Singapore’s comparative advantage was eroding and that it needed to evolve to a
higher-skill economy. However, a large number of policy changes and changes of ministers for education caused
confusion. Teacher morale was low and there was considerable attrition. Although there were attempts to expand
vocational education, it had low status and was viewed as a dumping ground. In 1979, a watershed education
report highlighted the high dropout rates and low standards and ushered in the next phase of reform (Goh, 1979).