During this phase of education, the focus shifted. The government’s economic strategy was to move Singapore from
a third-league, labour-intensive economy to a second-league, capital and skill-intensive country. So in January
1979, a new education system was introduced. Singapore moved away from its earlier one-size-fits-all approach to
schooling that would create multiple pathways for students in order to reduce the drop-out rate, improve quality and
produce the more technically-skilled labour force needed to achieve the new economic goals. Streaming (tracking)
based on academic ability was introduced, starting in elementary schools, with the goal of “enabling all students
to reach their potential while recognising that all students do not grow academically at the same pace” (Ho Peng,
interview conducted for this report). Students could have more time, for example, to complete different stages of
schooling. The multiple pathways included three types of high school: i) academic high schools, which prepared
students for college; ii) polytechnic high schools that focused on advanced occupational and technical training and
that could also lead to college; and iii) technical institutes that focused on occupational and technical training for
the lowest fifth of students. The Curriculum Development Institute of Singapore was established to produce high-
quality textbooks and instructional materials for the different pathways. While streaming was unpopular when it
was introduced, drop-out rates did, in fact, decline significantly: by 1986, only 6% of students were leaving school
with fewer than 10 years of education.2 The range of efforts to raise standards also yielded results: performance in
the O-level English examinations went from a 60% failure rate to a 90% pass rate by 1984, and by 1995 Singapore
led the world in mathematics and science on TIMSS.