SINGAPORE'S EDUCATION ranks among the top as the best education in the World. She has done well in educating the young, specifically in Math and Science. Having participated in international competitions, Singapore Primary 4 and Secondary 2 students emerged champions for Mathematics and Science competitions. In 2011, National University of Singapore was ranked 34th university in the Times-Higher-Education-World-Ranking, also the best university in Southeast Asia. The world-class education may portray Singapore to be managing well in education but in reality, is Singapore's education really as good as it seems? Does it not have flaws? She may have done well increasing the knowledge of the young generation but what about the creativity, the morals and other aspects? I personally feel that Singapore deserves being called "world-class education hub" for it has fulfilled most of the criteria of being one.

Critics argue that Singapore's education stifles creativity. This is especially seen from the monotonous regimes and structure of primary, secondary and for some tertiary education. Singaporeans are clothed in their pre-designed standard uniform and have to attend school from early morning to late afternoon and during lesson time, they input the knowledge that the teachers are teaching and "vomit" this knowledge out during their examinations. Many do not understand the main purpose behind learning it and are just memorizing for the sake of memorizing. Unlike liberal arts education that encourage creativity and presentation, Singapore's education involves mainly sitting down and listening to teachers. In terms of interaction and presentation, it is a far cry from liberal arts education. Wearing of fashion clothing is banned for primary, secondary and Junior Colleges. Instead of raising a population of creative individuals, Singapore's education system seems have raised mechanical robots instead. This is however not true because Singapore have programmes in place to stimulate creative thinking and interactions. A few examples are Co-Curricular Activities, Aesthetic Programmes, Be-Yourself Day, Project Work. During such activities, they get to exercise their creativity and leadership when working with others. So while Singapore nurtures intellectual individuals, she ensures that they have the element of creativity as well.

Singapore has a good education system as meritocracy is key. The education system rewards Singaporean who puts in hard work. This makes it fair by putting all Singaporeans on a levelled competitive field. It pushes other people to fight for their own desired outcome. It is much better than favouring the rich since everyone now has equal opportunities to succeed in life. Singapore companies look at applicants education certificates before choosing or not to employ them. So if one wants to succeed, it is up to him the amount of effort that he put in.

Also, Singapore provides a failure-proof education structure where one cannot fail through his years of education. This ensures economic equality among citizens and gives second-chance to those who initially fail to succeed. This failure-proof structure is brought about by the idea of retaining. If a student fails to meet requirement for promotion, he does not immediately get kicked out of the school or get sent for national examinations unprepared with weak foundations. Instead, he goes through one or a few more years of the same level education until he is strong in it and competitive enough to attend the national examinations. So if one fails to get into a Junior College or Polytechnic due to not being able to meet the minimum points requirements, he might still be sent to an ITE. Either three college ensure that one gets a certificate out of it and with this certificate, he is able to apply for jobs. Those who are more capable may advance to taking up degree courses in university. Even if one fails to get into JC, Poly and ITE, he may either choose to retain and brush up on his studies or take another attempt at the national examination by being a private candidate.

Singapore is indeed a "world-class education hub" that produces students with exceptional results topping the world. Through the structure of education ensuring avenues of interactions, it ensures that creativity is not stifled at the expense of intellectual learning. Singapore provides a meritocratic system that gives all equal success opportunities and ensures that there are fall-backs along the path of a student's education.