Meritocracy & Minorities

It has often been argued by those vehemently opposed to the meritocratic system in education that the system will result in students of poorer ethnic communities performing weaker in the system. I was in Singapore yesterday (and hence the lack of posts), and they have just released their latest Primary School Leaving Examination (PSLE), similar to our Ujian Penilaian Sekolah Rendah (UPSR).

We all know about how much Singapore has been praised and criticised for its "harsh" meritocratic system. Much to my pleasant surprise, the top three students from this year's examinations are all from minority communities, and two of them are Malay Muslims, who form not more than 14% of the population largely dominated by the Chinese community (77%).

Out of more than 50,000 students who took the examinations, the top 3 pupils in 2006 PSLE are (scores are out of 300):

• Rebecca Margaret Ranee Jeyaraj, 281, Raffles Girls' Primary
• Fadhli Mohamad Ikbal, 280, Tampines Primary
• Nur Atiqah Azhari, 280, Northland Primary

Hence the pertinent question to ask then, is did they achieve what they did because of the meritocratic system or inspite of it? I'd like to argue that they have achieved what they did with the asistance of a quality and meritocratic education system, which will provide each individual, irrespective of race or background to shine. As reported in ChannelNewsAsia:

For 12-year-old Tampines Primary student Muhammad Fadhli Mohamad Ikbal, it is an astonishing dream come true. With 280 points, the school prefect is just 1 point short of the top scorer in Singapore. He said, "I was not really expecting (it). I thought I'll get 260 or something like that. So, I'm going to pursue my ambition to study medicine."

His proud parents say Fadhli managed his time well in spite of his busy schedule, which included representing his school in badminton, chess and Taekwando.

His mother Fawziah Wahab said, "His teachers' dedication, the school giving him exposure like taking part in competitions, representing (the) school in competitions...(this has) helped to motivate him to study even better so that he can make the school proud."

Over at Raffles Girls', the country's top PSLE student was also an all-rounder, playing netball and participating in community involvement projects. Rebecca Margaret Ranee Jeyaraj said, "I studied hard, I pushed myself. I also didn't stress myself out too much, I wasn't too caught up....a day before the PSLE, I slept early to make sure I have a fresh mind the next day, so I could focus more on my work."

The achievement of the two Malay Muslim children are all the more impressive as they both are obviously not from privileged background as they attended neighbourhood schools, and not one of the elite schools like Raffles. And certainly, nobody can take away any credit from them for their achievements in a meritocratic system for which they could only have done it fair and square.

I hate to put politics into posts in this blog, but who are the UMNO heroes who were trying to claim that marginalised in Singapore? Not in the education system, they certainly aren't.