IN HIS letter, Mr George Rocknathan ("Home-schooled PSLE pupils' problems", my paper, Nov 26) asked about the benchmarks for home-schooled pupils, the review of examination papers and secondary-school placement for homes-chooled pupils.

Under the Compulsory Education Act, pupils who are exempted from studying in our national schools are exempted on the basis that they are adequately prepared, in terms of acquiring core knowledge, for further education and for participating in the world of work. Hence, they are required to take the PSLE.

The PSLE benchmarks for designated schools (madrasahs and San Yu Adventist School) and home-schooled pupils were developed by taking into account the profile of the pupils who wish to be exempted from compulsory education.

The implementation of compulsory education, including the setting of benchmarks, was decided after extensive public consultation. Inputs from individuals and groups were also considered.

The benchmarks for San Yu Adventist pupils and homeschoolers are pegged at the 33rd percentile of the aggregate score achieved by all merged-stream pupils who take the PSLE in the same year.

The respective benchmarks, and the need to meet these benchmarks from this year onwards, have been communicated to the designated schools and home-schoolers since 2003.

Mr Rocknathan asked if the review of examination scripts should be conducted by an independent party.

The Singapore Examination and Assessment Board follows an established code of practice to ensure that its marking and review processes are rigorously conducted. This code of practice is in line with the practices of other examination boards.

Mr Rocknathan also asked about secondary-school placements for home-schooled students.

As the Secondary One Posting Exercise is a placement exercise for pupils who are progressing to our national secondary schools, home-schoolers and pupils from the designated schools are not included in the exercise.

For these pupils, sitting for the PSLE is the means of ascertaining that they are adequately prepared in the core academic subjects.

Home-schoolers and students from the designated schools are welcome to enrol in our national schools.

Instead of going through the Secondary One Posting Exercise, they can approach the schools directly, or seek help from the Ministry of Education (MOE) to facilitate the admission.

We thank Mr Rocknathan for his feedback and encourage him to approach MOE directly for further information or clarification.

Mr Tan Teck An
Head, Compulsory Education
Ministry of Education

Mr Raymond Lim
Director, Corporate Services
Singapore Examination
and Assessment Board

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