Saturday, 28 May 2016

TODAY

This was a report on a research study by Dr Vincent Chua from the Department of Sociology at NUS Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences and Dr Swee Eik Leong, an economics lecturer from the University of Melbourne, which was presented on 27 May 2016 at an international sociological conference hosted by the Centre for Family and Population Research at NUS. Their study found that females and non-Malays are likelier to enrol in elite junior colleges (JCs), particularly those located in wealthy neighbourhoods. Analysing data from more than 5,000 classrooms in six JCs over 40 years from 1971 to 2010, the researchers discovered that over time, the representation of females in elite JCs increased, while that of Malays decreased. Malays were less well-represented in elite JCs than in non-elite ones, with the gap being largest in the wealthiest neighbourhood. The findings suggest that policymakers could adopt a “cross-cutting” strategy by locating elite schools in less wealthy neighbourhoods and vice versa.

Click here to read the article.