SINGAPORE – Parents here feel that more emphasis should be placed on teaching IT skills, rather than on the arts and music education, a survey on parental perceptions of the primary school system has shown.

Out of 1,500 parents polled for their views on holistic subjects,  43.8 per cent felt that more importance should be given to teaching IT skills, compared to the 22.3 per cent who supported a greater emphasis on arts and music education. 

Holistic areas include Singapore’s history, IT, physical education, arts and music education, as well as current affairs, and they are all non-examination subjects.

Amid the push for Singaporeans to embrace lifelong learning, the Institute of Policy Studies’ (IPS) study also sought parents’ views on whether they felt that tertiary qualifications would still be important for their children in the future. 

Only 47 per cent agreed or strongly agreed that employers would prefer those who have skills for the job, rather than paper qualifications.

Most parents still felt that university qualifications would be more important, compared to joining the workforce and acquiring skills through schemes like SkillsFuture, the IPS survey showed.

Only 36.5 per cent agreed or strongly agreed with the claim that there would not be much difference for their child’s future whether he or she went to university, or whether the child  joined the workforce and obtained work-ready skills. 

“This suggests that many still cling to the traditional Singaporean mindset that the pre-requisite for a successful career entails getting a degree first,” said the study.

Slightly more than half of the parents surveyed, or 51.6 per cent, also expected university admission in the future to be based less on academic results and more on Co-Curricular Activities’ involvement. 

Only a third of the parents agreed or strongly agreed with the claim that getting an overseas degree would secure better job opportunities, compared to a Singapore university education.