Page 22 - Education Change and Economic Development: The Case of Singapore Dr. Goh Chor Boon National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University

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and political environment, and an impressive commitment to human capital

formation. One reason for Singapore’s economic success is the ability of the
state to successfully manage the education system and the demand for skills
required by the changing economic landscape in tandem with each other. In

the words of the late Lee Kuan Yew: “Our job was to plan the broad economic
objectives and the target periods within which to achieve them. We review
these plans regularly and adjusted them as new realities changed the outlook.

Infrastructure and the training and education of workers to meet the needs
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of employers had to be planned years in advance”. This dynamic synergy
continues to be a major source of Singapore’s competitive advantage. The
key strategy to having a workforce fit for the new economy is to ensure that

education stays relevant and keeps pace with economic change.
For Singapore, the way in which education and training practices are

being developed, is shaped by the over-arching nation-building agenda of the
Singapore Government. Education promotes income growth, which in turn
promotes further investment in education. Singapore’s education and training
strategies through the decades since 1965 consistently reflects the city-state’s

first generation of leaders’ thinking that the nation’s economic trajectory to
sustainable growth has to be an integration of education policy with economic

policy and manpower planning. The ability of the Singapore Government
to successfully manage supply and demand of education and skills was and
continues to be a major source of Singapore’s competitive advantage. In
coordinating the supply of trained personnel to meet the needs of the expanding

economy, Singapore has one distinct advantage when compared with other
countries. Its small geographical size and compactness (supported by an

27 Lee, From Third World to First, p. 85.