“…The main features of the Five-Year Plan articulated that there had to be four streams of education (Malay, Chinese, Tamil, and English), Malay was the national language, and the public education curriculum focused on the study of mathematics, science and technical subjects (Goh & Gopinathan, 2008). It was during this period that saw the introduction of a common syllabus for all subjects in all four language streams, a Government Scheme for Loan of Free Textbooks was made available, and common examinations at various levels (primary, secondary, high school) (Yip & Sim, 1994). Through such policies, the Singapore government demonstrated that the education system should function based on the principle of meritocracy where each child, regardless of race, language or religion, is given full opportunity to succeed (Goodwin et al, 2017).…”