MOE does not encourage schools to set papers that are too difficult

Minister of State for Ministry of Education & Ministry of Communications and Information, Ms Sim Ann said that Ministry of Education does not encourage schools to set their papers to be too difficult, giving students unnecessary pressure.

On Tuesday evening, Ms Sim Ann was discussing with listeners on the last episode of a talkshow，《空中访民情》 at 95.8 FM when one of the listeners called in to comment that students are spending a lot of time in tutoring.

The caller asked for Ms Sim Ann’s opinion on the situation where students over-rely on tuition.

Ms Sim Ann answered by saying that the examination papers should not deviate from the class syllabus and if students find that the questions in papers are beyond what they learn in classes, this would create the need for tuition.

Speaking in Mandarin, she said that MOE does not encourage to have the questions set to be too difficult, to spur students to pursue good grades, the difficulty should be comparable with the growth of children and the normal pace of progress.