Singapore’s endemic approach to education: Re-envisioning schools and learning

The COVID-19 pandemic continues to impact lives worldwide, long beyond its initial wave of infection and emergency responses. Alongside health concerns are impacts to education pertaining not just to learning loss but also to paradigm shifts and other social and psychological effects. These include long-term shifts to curriculum and pedagogy, disproportionate effects on vulnerable populations, and ripple effects on mental health and wellness. Policymakers are prompted to rethink perspectives in education to accommodate the aftermath of the pandemic. This chapter will address Singapore’s endemic approach to public health and education, a couple of years after the start of the pandemic. The nature of our chapter is to share the Singaporean experience, which represents an Asian perspective that is someone unique in its context. Singapore continues to draw from the principles of science and social responsibility, which were the bedrock of its effective response efforts in early pandemic times. This resulted in high vaccination rates and strong research and development efforts to cushion the impact of growing infection rates, allowing citizens to continue with their daily routines with as much normalcy as possible. In education, Singapore experienced two rounds of home-based learning for students in April 2020 (lasting 28 days) and May 2021 (lasting 9 days), in tandem with national lockdowns. In-person lessons resumed after each round of home-based learning, alongside growth in digital innovation in a ground-up manner, due to the autonomy afforded to schools by ministry leadership. This helped optimize learning in the increasingly digital environment where blended learning models became commonplace. On the other hand, prominent issues related to inequity and mental health became forefront concerns and areas of development. Our chapter will discuss how educational policy will benefit from shifting priorities moving forward. We propose that an ecological perspective will be advantageous for the education sector, helping us to understand education and learning beyond school walls. We conclude the chapter by discussing future challenges and insecurities that Singapore will have to overcome.