12/18/2023 0 Comments Unfairly gifted synonym![]() ![]() ''We have our own syllabus and our own after-school enrichment activities. ''We are given a booklet spelling out just how different we are from other people and how the programme would meet our needs. Mr Johannis Auri Abdul Aziz, 25, a former GEP student, told TODAY that educators ''have known all along that we have a problem relating to other people''. While such friendships help them cope, does this segregation not defeat one of the main purposes of the programme? What with existing close ties with other fellow GEP students, no one needs to bother about ostracism from those outside the programme''. Michael Wee, another 15-year-old GEP student, said that the ostracism ''does not affect GEP students in any way. ''It's genuine friendship and loyalty that bind us together, not status. GEP student Gwyneth Teo, 15, wrote: ''Ask yourselves if our so-called elitism is very much different from that of the girl-next-door who has a group of friends who hang out together. Since then, dozens of GEPers, their parents and other students have written in, but while they differ on the labels, they agree on one point: Though they go to school with general students, the gifted ones are in a world - and a group - of their own. The debate was reignited recently after this newspaper reported on a study that showed how GEPers found it difficult to cope with the programme's diverse demands and were often ostracised by their peers. GEP's goals include producing the country's future leaders, but it is struggling to get its gifted students to relate to the man-on-the-street. ![]() So, more than 20 years after the programme kicked off in Singapore, the same problem remains. They become so comfortable with other GEPers (as they call themselves) that even outside the classroom, they prefer each other's company.Īnd on overseas trips and during co-curricular activities (CCAs), the teacher said that these students form a clique. SINGAPORE - He teaches students from the Gifted Education Programme (GEP) and observes at close hand what many have pointed out: They hang out only with each other. In response, the Ministry of Education said it will continually review GEP to ensure its relevance In 2012, for example, it was discussed in Parliament, with several Members of Parliament wondering if it gave rise to an uneven playing field for students here and questioning the efficacy of assessing students at such a young age for the GEP. Over the years, GEP has continued to divide opinions.Today, GEP is implemented in primary schools - students are identified in Primary 3 to join the programme - to develop intellectual depth and higher-level thinking, among other goals.GEP was eventually phased out in secondary schools by 2008, four years after the Integrated Programme (IP) was introduced that allowed academically stronger students to skip the GCE O Levels and take either the A levels or International Baccalaureate diploma in six years.The GEPers, as the participants called themselves, spoke about how they were segregated from other students and formed an elitist clique, to the extent that they had problems relating to the man-in-the-street. ![]() After publishing a report on the study, TODAY dug deeper into the issue and spoke to students who were undergoing the programme, as well as those who had gone through it.In November 2005, a study found that pupils in the Gifted Education Programme (GEP) had trouble coping and were often ostracised by their peers.To mark our 20th anniversary in November, we are re-publishing 20 of our most impactful news articles over the years. Over the past two decades, TODAY has played an active role in public discourse in Singapore. ![]()
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