2027年起中学会考母语笔试变一次，统一当年9月举行

严燕松（阿裕尼集选区）提问教育部长：

教育部是否评估过实行“新加坡—剑桥中学教育证书”（SEC）母语一次笔试会导致学生在以下方面产生额外的心理压力和负担？

（a）只有一次机会通过母语考试，而不是以前的两次机会；

（b）母语考试与其他科目考试一起进行，而之前可以在年中完成母语考试后专注于其他科目考试。

陈振声：在过去五年中，超过95%的学生通过年中考试达到了进入新加坡初级学院（JC）或励仁高级中学（MI）的最低母语要求，即O-Level母语至少取得D7。参加第二次考试后成绩有所提高的学生只占参加O-Level母语考试的群体的不到2%，并且只对不到2%的学生的中学后录取结果产生了变化。

在全面科目编班制下，学生可以灵活地以不同层次学习母语。他们可以根据G1或G2母语成绩达到进入新加坡初级学院或励仁高级中学的最低母语要求，而不仅仅是G3或高级母语。未达到母语要求的学生仍可以被有条件临时录取到新加坡初级学院或励仁高级中学。

新加坡—剑桥中学教育证书考试中母语笔试安排在9月份，学校反馈学生将有更多的母语学习时间。学生特别赞赏将母语和英语笔试与其他科目的考试间隔约一个月安排的做法。

Mr Gerald Giam Yean Song asked the Minister for Education whether the Ministry has assessed if instituting one written Secondary Education Certificate (SEC) examination sitting for Mother Tongue Language (MTL) subjects will result in additional psychological stress and pressure on students arising from (i) having only one chance to pass MTL examinations instead of two previously and (ii) sitting for the MTL examination together with other subject examinations when they could previously focus on the latter after clearing the former in the middle of the year.

Mr Chan Chun Sing: In the last five years, more than 95% of students have met the minimum MTL requirement – that is, at least D7 for O-Level Mother Tongue Language (MTL) – for admission to Junior Colleges (JC) or Millennia Institute (MI) with the mid-year sitting. Any grade improvement for those who took the second sitting only changed the post-Secondary posting outcomes for less than 2% of the cohort who took the O-Level MTL examinations.

Under Full Subject-based Banding, students have greater flexibility to learn MTL at different subject-levels. They can meet the minimum MTL requirement for entry into JC or MI based on their results in G1 or G2 MTL, beyond just G3 or Higher MTL. Students who do not meet the MTL requirement can continue to be granted provisional admission to JC or MI.

With the MTL sitting in September under the SEC examination, schools have given feedback that students will benefit from more curriculum time for MTL learning. Students, in particular, appreciated the spacing out of their examination load with the written papers for MTL and EL scheduled approximately one month ahead of other subjects.