While class- or School-based integration is not guaranteed by "putting students of different learning abilities and socio-economic statuses in the same classroom" (TODAY, Mar. 4), Singapore has to confront an inequality and social divide problem which extends beyond the school. In fact, it could be argued that primary and secondary schools - by bringing together students of varied demographic and socio-economic backgrounds, to some extent - already offer one of the country's most important sites for social interactions. The policy focus, in this vein, should shift from streaming within secondary schools to distinctions across schools, to greater engagement between students of different schools and institutes of higher learning, as well as to increased porosity across these educational pathways. Continue reading →