{"id":126365,"date":"2025-09-07T21:43:08","date_gmt":"2025-09-07T21:43:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/126365\/"},"modified":"2025-09-07T21:43:08","modified_gmt":"2025-09-07T21:43:08","slug":"computing-to-be-offered-as-elective-subject-to-upper-secondary-students-in-spore-from-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/126365\/","title":{"rendered":"Computing to be offered as elective subject to upper secondary students in S\u2019pore from 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"

SINGAPORE – From 2026, all upper secondary students can opt to do computing as an elective subject, in a bid to equip students with increasingly important digital and computational thinking skills. <\/p>\n

Previously offered only to G3 students, or those in the Express course, it will now include G2 students as well.<\/p>\n

Students now take subjects at G1, G2 or G3 levels, which are broadly mapped from the Normal (Technical), Normal (Academic) and Express standards, respectively.<\/p>\n

Mr Ong Kong Hong, the Ministry of Education\u2019s (MOE) divisional director of curriculum planning and development division 1, said: \u201cThe syllabuses seek to develop students\u2019 appreciation of computing as a creative field while raising their awareness of cyber security, emerging technology and the impact of computing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Other life skills, such as inventive thinking, communication, as well as striving for accuracy and thoroughness, will also be honed through the subject, he added. <\/p>\n

The content covered increases in complexity and depth across the three levels. <\/p>\n

G1 computing will replace the computer applications (CPA) subject, which is currently taken by students in the Normal (Technical) course. The subject was discontinued after the 2023 Secondary 1 cohort.<\/p>\n

G1 computing will be similar to CPA, with some revisions in topics. <\/p>\n

About 1,300 students from some 60 schools currently take O-level computing, which will now be known as G3 computing. <\/p>\n

They include about 90 Secondary 3 students who take the subject in school-based centres as part of a pilot in 2025 allowing more students to enrol. <\/p>\n

G2 computing includes new content that would be useful in everyday life and develop deeper computational thinking skills, said Mr Ong. <\/p>\n

\u201cFor example, students will engage in physical computing using microcontrollers to practise computational problem-solving in authentic real-world contexts.\u201d <\/p>\n

G1 computing exposes students to cloud computing and emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI). <\/p>\n

Noor Arissa, a Secondary 3 student from Jurong West Secondary School, discovered computing and coding in 2024 through her school\u2019s Applied Learning Programme, where she learnt to program robots. The programme is meant to help students connect academic knowledge and skills with the real world.<\/p>\n

The 15-year-old decided to do G3 computing, which she describes as \u201cdifferent from her other subjects\u201d. <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Jurong West Secondary student Noor Arissa, 15, with her computing teacher, Madam Angeline Kiew.<\/p>\n

ST PHOTO: NG SOR LUAN<\/p>\n

\u201cOne thing I like about it is how creative you can get… There are many ways to solve one problem, but you need to find out which way is the best,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n

Her computing teacher, Madam Angeline Kiew, said interest in the subject has been strong. About 60 upper secondary students are currently doing G3 computing in the school. <\/p>\n

In a recent survey by her school, more than 60 Secondary 2 students indicated interest in taking G2 computing in 2026. <\/p>\n

Based on the survey results, about 30 students are expected to take G1 computing, and more than 20 would like to do G3 computing in 2026. <\/p>\n

Madam Kiew, who heads educational technology at Jurong West Secondary, said G1 and G2 computing students will pick up computational and basic coding skills using Scratch, a coding platform designed for younger children.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt G2, students will go further, by acquiring data analysis and problem-solving skills,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

At Jurong West Secondary, all students in the G1 posting group will do computing in Secondary 3 from 2026. And those in the G2 and G3 groups will have to pass mathematics to qualify for computing in upper secondary.<\/p>\n

At Ngee Ann Secondary, students will have to score at least 60 for mathematics and attend an interview to assess if they are suitable for the subject at upper secondary.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want to make sure the kids are well set up for success, which is why we do look at a certain level of proficiency in maths, which demonstrates strength in computational thinking,\u201d said Ms Poh Shi Hui, its principal.<\/p>\n

Mr Neo Guang Xian, mathematics subject head at Ngee Ann Secondary, said the computing subject is especially relevant in today\u2019s rapidly changing world.<\/p>\n

The school currently has between 20 and 30 students in Secondary 3 and 4 studying G3 computing.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need to have some form of computational thinking to help us understand how to break down complex problems into smaller parts. Computing gives students the handles to approach smaller problems, where they figure out how to solve them step by step,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Mr Neo Guang Xian (centre) with Secondary 3 students William Teh (left) and Jain Arnav at a computing lesson at Ngee Ann Secondary School.<\/p>\n

ST PHOTO: KUA CHEE SIONG<\/p>\n

He added that the skills learnt in computing are transferable, applicable not just to\u00a0other subjects like mathematics, but in daily scenarios too. <\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of careers involve AI, data analytics and other parts of technology. So if students learn computing at an early age, it gives them early exposure to what\u2019s happening in the current job market,\u201d said Mr Neo.<\/p>\n

His student, William Teh, 15, said that although he initially struggled with coding programs like Python, he now relishes the challenge of solving problems.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m in it for the problem-solving. The more trouble you go through, in the end the more satisfaction it brings you,\u201d said the Secondary 3 student.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SINGAPORE – From 2026, all upper secondary students can opt to do computing as an elective subject, in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":126366,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[64,63,257,105],"class_list":{"0":"post-126365","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-computing","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-computing","11":"tag-technology"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/126365","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=126365"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/126365\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/126366"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=126365"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=126365"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=126365"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}