More students can pursue mother tongue languages under expanded programme from 2027

The Chinese language elective programme at the junior college level will be expanded to a sixth school, Anderson Serangoon Junior College.

MOE will also expand the Malay (Special Programme), which allows students whose mother tongue language is not Malay to learn it as a third language, and gain an understanding of the Malay community in Singapore and regionally.

From 2027, National Junior College will become the programme’s fifth centre, enabling more students to take up Malay as a third language.

“We want to create pathways for students who want to learn mother tongues more deeply,” said Mr Lee. 

He also noted efforts to strengthen mother tongue language education at other levels. 

“At preschool, we have been piloting more mother tongue language exposure at six of our MOE Kindergartens, increasing it from one hour to 1.5 hours each day. Early results are encouraging … We are studying the pilot further to assess whether it should be scaled up,” Mr Lee added.

The language elective programme, offered at selected secondary schools and junior colleges, is designed for linguistically talented students with a strong interest in Chinese, Malay or Tamil. 

At the secondary level, the programme focuses on building a strong foundation in language and cultural appreciation through the study of mother tongue literature, while the junior college programme seeks to cultivate deeper interest in language and literature through cultural activities.