The student:teacher ratio in a recent report by the Ministry of Education, Singapore (MOE) troubles me.

In January this year, I blogged about how I thought the recommendations for changes in our Primary schooling system was a step in the right direction. In April, MOE made a press release [PDF] indicating that the recommendations would be implemented over the next 10 years at the cost of S$4.8 billion.

Those numbers shouldn’t really surprise anyone. But there is one number in paragraph 11 that surprised me. It reads “MOE targets to improve the Pupil-To-Teacher Ratio in primary schools by 20%, from the current 21:1 to 16:1, by 2015.” Is the current student:teacher ratio really 21:1?

It might be in terms of the total number of students and teachers, but that number is misleading. How many classrooms enjoy such a ratio? I was a teacher before and I regularly observe classrooms as a supervisor now. As a teacher in a JC more than 10 years ago (where such ratios are supposed to be low), I’d have killed to have only 21 students in my classroom! When I visit primary schools during the practicum periods, I observe ratios that are still closer to 40:1 and not half that.

I wonder how the total number of teachers was determined. Did they include inactive teachers like those on leave or sabbatical? Did they include adjuncts that come and go?

I have no doubt that there are some classrooms where the teacher has as many students as s/he has finger and toes. But is that the norm? I seriously doubt it is and most teachers will back me up. Just head into any mainstream neighbourhood school if you don’t believe me!

In this numbers game, only MOE wins. It gets to show the rest of the world that Singapore has a low student:teacher ratio. But every other stakeholder loses. Parents might be misled into thinking that their children are getting more attention from their teachers. Teachers continue to be overworked and so follow the time-tried formulae instead of trying more novel or effective pedagogies. Students suffer the most because they are not challenged or engaged. School is boring and becomes a place for imagination and natural ability to be squashed by the industrial examination engine.

The glimmer of light that I see is that there are still a few teachers who ignore these numbers (and grades) and see the type people their students can be. And they guide their charges along the way… come what may!