A PANEL looking into enhancing primary education here has completed a nearly three-month-long series of feedback sessions with the public and will submit a final report to the Education Minister in March.

The final session, led by Senior Minister of State for Education Grace Fu, was held yesterday evening through an online chat with 27 members of the public. Proposed changes to primary education, announced last September, included switching to a single session, moving towards recruiting only graduates as teachers by 2015, and enhancing academic and co-curricular activities.

Those who took part in the discussion raised issues like doing away with exams in lower primary levels, maintaining standards in the Education Ministry's current large recruitment drive and ensuring that non-graduates are not passed over for jobs.

Speaking to reporters after the session, Ms Fu said the committee will release a preliminary report of their findings by the end of the month.

This article was first published in The Straits Times on January 07, 2009.