Singapores education policies are largely influenced by the need to compete :: Economics

Singapores education policies are largely influenced by the need to compete in a global economy. Do you agree? explain your answer.a) Singapores education policies are largely influenced by the need to compete in a global economy. Do you agree? Explain your answer. 12mI agree to a large extent.Ever since Singapore gained independence in 1965, Singaporeseducation policies has played a crucial role in the economic progressand social changes of the country, and to a greater extent importantly, the raisingof Singapores standing on the global stage, in terms of both economicmight and international recognition.During the early years of independence, Singapores main priority wasto pull up s agrees away from entrepot trade into manufacturing andindustrialisation so as to improve the economy, and at the same timesolve the problem of unemployment. As a force of this move towardsindustrialisation, the Singapore government had to prepare studentsfor entry into the workforce by equipping t hem with the necessaryskills. As such, technical education was introduced for the first timein secondary schools in 1969, where all boys and 50% of the girls hadto take technical subjects such as woodwork and metalwork. Inaddition, technical schools and vocational institutes were set up to nominate training in areas such as electricity, electronics andmetalwork. Existing institutions such as Ngee Ann Technical Collegeand Singapore Polytechnic were expanded to include courses in similarfield of study. The government also encouraged the study of Englishas a first language, as they realised that the English Language heldthe key to better jobs and a better economy as it allowed access towestern knowledge and technology, which during that time was one ofthe most, if not the most, advanced in the world. From this, we cansee that even in the 1960s and 1970s, Singapores education policieswere already tailored to allow Singapore to be able to compete in aglobal economy, by expanding the manu facturing industry by dint of theequipping of the workforce with the necessary skills, and improvingcommunication with the rest of the world through the introduction ofEnglish as a first language, allowing Singapore to take advantage ofWestern technology and knowledge and hence put her in a betterposition on the global stage.The advent of the 21st carbon has brought a whole new set ofchallenges to Singapore, and Singaporeans thus have to learn to bemore resourceful and self-reliant in order to survive, live commodious andprosper in the more competitive global economy. In the past decade,the world has seen rapid growth of the Information Technology (IT)industry - this has resulted in general use of computers and the