The oil crisis of 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).