Gifted Education Programme (Singapore)

The Gifted Education Programme (GEP) is a highly selective academic programme in Singapore. Initially designed to identify the 1% of students from each academic year with outstanding intelligence. The tests are base on verbal, mathematical and spatial abilities (as determined by two rounds of tests). Those students will then be transferred from normal classes to the GEP classes, if those students are in a school without those classes, they will be transferred to another school with those classes. Those classes will bring the students to higher levels (such as higher mother tongue, complex mathematics, intensive science and a wider expand of English knowledge/facts). The programme has now been expanded to 1% of the students from each academic year.

The Gifted Education Programme was first implemented in Singapore in 1984 amid some public concern. It was initiated by the Ministry of Education (MOE) in line with its policy under the New Education System to allow each student to learn at his/her own pace. The MOE has a commitment to ensure that the potential of each pupil is recognised, nurtured and developed. It was recognised that there are pupils who are intellectually gifted and that there should be extra help to reach their pontentials. Beginning with two primary schools and two secondary schools it has now expanded to nine primary schools (as in October 2004) and was at its peak before the introduction of the Integrated Programme (IP).

As of 2016, nine primary schools offer GEP.

In 2004, five secondary schools started implementing Integrated Programmes with their affiliated Junior Colleges, but they are officially no longer under the GEP. However, they still have their own programmes within their respective Integrated Programme to cater to these gifted students, who still retain their "gifted" status. Despite all the changes, there have not been any major changes to the programme, and this is basically just a change of name.

While the secondary schools that had implemented the Integrated Programme remained generally unaffected by the move, Victoria School, which continued to offer the GEP, saw a drastic decrease in enrolment.

The Gifted Education Programme came to a close in secondary schools in 2008, now in its place, School-based Gifted Education (SBGE). All of the secondary schools that offer the SBGE are IP schools. There are generally two classes per cohort/year/level for SBGE students, but sometimes there may only be one class per cohort, depending on the size.

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