According to then Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew, the aim of Singaporean education in its early days was to “produce
a good man and a useful citizen”. This first phase of education has been dubbed the “survival-driven” phase. In the
late 1950s, 70% of GDP was from port and warehousing activities. This was not enough to sustain, let alone grow,
the economy which was suffering from high population growth and significant unemployment. The government
decided that there was a need to expand the industrial base and, because of the small size of the domestic market,
to make it export-oriented. It set about trying to attract foreign manufacturers who needed low-skilled labour
(e.g. textiles, garments, wood products), both to provide jobs and to gain expertise.