The Other Side of PSLE: Why the Journey Matters

On April 4th, 2025, MOE pub­lished a com­men­tary titled, “PSLE: Will remov­ing it make it less stress­ful for our stu­dents?”

It touched on all the expect­ed points—academic pres­sure, inclu­sive­ness, social mobil­i­ty. And to be fair, these are crit­i­cal con­ver­sa­tions worth hav­ing.

But here at Think Teach Acad­e­my, we’d like to offer a dif­fer­ent per­spec­tive.

To under­stand where we’re com­ing from, let’s rewind to 2018.

From Singapore to Shanghai: A Broader Lens on Education

Think Teach Acad­e­my was found­ed in 2017. With­in our very first year, we began receiv­ing inquiries from par­ents abroad. Some of our ear­ly stu­dents were from inter­na­tion­al schools in Sin­ga­pore or had returned after spend­ing their child­hood over­seas, par­tic­u­lar­ly in Shang­hai. Over time, more expat Sin­ga­pore­an fam­i­lies began send­ing their chil­dren back to Sin­ga­pore dur­ing school breaks—just to attend our lessons.

Then came the ques­tion that changed every­thing:

“Why doesn’t Think Teach Acad­e­my come to Shang­hai?”

So in 2018, we did.

Our first years in Shang­hai were eye-open­ing. We worked pri­mar­i­ly with stu­dents from inter­na­tion­al schools—Singaporeans, South Kore­ans, Hongkongers, Indone­sians, and oth­ers. Some had been in inter­na­tion­al cur­ric­u­la their whole lives, oth­ers tran­si­tioned from local sys­tems before going abroad. Many would even­tu­al­ly find their way into top uni­ver­si­ties like Har­vard, Stan­ford, Yale, Oxford and Cam­bridge.

While teach­ing IB Eco­nom­ics, I noticed a pat­tern. The Sin­ga­pore­an stu­dents who had gone through PSLE were often more ground­ed in their think­ing. They applied con­cepts with clar­i­ty and sup­port­ed their ideas with pre­cise exam­ples. Mean­while, stu­dents who had always been in inter­na­tion­al sys­tems were artic­u­late and creative—but their argu­ments occa­sion­al­ly lacked the same rigour or fac­tu­al depth.

It struck me that the “ide­al” learn­er is a hybrid: some­one who’s been shaped by the dis­ci­pline of Singapore’s pri­ma­ry school sys­tem, yet car­ries the open­ness and per­spec­tive of an inter­na­tion­al edu­ca­tion.

Even in Shanghai, Singapore Math Is in Demand

Then COVID hit.

With expats leav­ing Shang­hai, inter­na­tion­al schools saw a sig­nif­i­cant shift—more PRC fam­i­lies began enrolling. Many of these par­ents were not just look­ing for a “West­ern edu­ca­tion.” They were look­ing for a path­way out of the local gaokao sys­tem, and into the UK or US uni­ver­si­ty pipelines.

But despite their intent to go inter­na­tion­al, many voiced a sim­i­lar con­cern: “The ear­ly years in the inter­na­tion­al sys­tem lack rigour—especially in Math.”

These were par­ents who knew how intense the local Chi­nese cur­ricu­lum was. And now, they were search­ing for some­thing that could bridge the gap: a pro­gramme that was inter­na­tion­al­ly acces­si­ble, yet uncom­pro­mis­ing in stan­dards.

So when they asked, “Could Think Teach Acad­e­my bring Sin­ga­pore Math to Shang­hai?”

We said yes. Again.

That moment wasn’t just about launch­ing a new programme—it was about recog­nis­ing some­thing deep­er. Even in one of the most aca­d­e­m­i­cal­ly com­pet­i­tive cul­tures in the world, Singapore’s pri­ma­ry edu­ca­tion sys­tem is seen as a gold standard—especially in Math­e­mat­ics.

That’s a rep­u­ta­tion built on decades of rigour, clar­i­ty, and con­sis­tent out­comes.

What This Means for Our Students at Think Teach

Our expe­ri­ence work­ing with stu­dents from dif­fer­ent coun­tries and back­grounds has taught us one thing: there is no per­fect sys­tem.

But there are pow­er­ful com­bi­na­tions.

We believe stu­dents do best when they receive the struc­ture and depth of the Sin­ga­pore system—especially in their for­ma­tive years—and lat­er com­ple­ment it with the cre­ativ­i­ty and per­spec­tive offered by inter­na­tion­al schools and uni­ver­si­ties.

That’s why we’ve com­mit­ted to design­ing a learn­ing envi­ron­ment that blends both worlds. Whether it’s prepar­ing stu­dents for DSA inter­views, schol­ar­ship appli­ca­tions, or uni­ver­si­ty admis­sions, our goal is to help them stand out—not just on paper, but in how they think, speak, and solve prob­lems.

If you’re look­ing to sup­port your child’s growth through the DSA route, we’ve cre­at­ed a short resource to help par­ents nav­i­gate the process more con­fi­dent­ly.

You can down­load it here if you’re curi­ous to learn more.

Our Take on the PSLE Debate

We under­stand the concerns—stress, com­pe­ti­tion, equi­ty. These are real. And we sup­port any ini­tia­tive that puts stu­dent well-being at the cen­tre.

But in our work with stu­dents who’ve crossed sys­tems, con­ti­nents, and cul­tures, one thing remains clear:

The PSLE (while not per­fect) is one of the few aca­d­e­m­ic expe­ri­ences that builds deep, ear­ly-stage rigour.

When I was teach­ing in Shang­hai, this became espe­cial­ly appar­ent.  The Sin­ga­pore­an stu­dents, those who had gone through PSLE, stood out. Their think­ing was sharp­er, their writ­ing more struc­tured, their argu­ments ground­ed in facts. 

That Sin­ga­pore­an foun­da­tion made a dif­fer­ence.

Not just in class, but in how they car­ried them­selves as learn­ers.

Even as PRC fam­i­lies sought out Sin­ga­pore Math pro­grammes for their chil­dren, it affirmed what we’ve long known: Singapore’s pri­ma­ry edu­ca­tion, for all its inten­si­ty, is glob­al­ly respect­ed for a rea­son.

So rather than ask­ing whether PSLE should stay or go, per­haps the bet­ter ques­tion is: How do we retain its strengths—discipline, clar­i­ty, and resilience—while eas­ing the stress that too often over­shad­ows the jour­ney?

Because when viewed not as a gate­keep­er, but as a growth expe­ri­ence, the PSLE can offer far more than a num­ber.

It can shape the habits and mind­set that help stu­dents thrive—not just here, but any­where in the world.

And that’s what we’re build­ing at Think Teach Acad­e­my.

Yours In Edu­ca­tion
Shou Yee
Co-Founder