unprompted uninterrupted we. should. meet can be this is the beginning of friendship this is the beginning of love. getting somewhere we can really break through the barrier studio unscripted on al-jazeera. how many do you need. to finish. each but is there a human cost to. oppression and. song. struggle with a lot to do english. how long will that take you are on the hour if you had a wish you could do one thing more with that last. one

i want to. find out why. and the price they're willing to pay. seeing unfold tops international later bolds when it comes to learning. so i'm here in a thing of her intuition cause and i'm about to find out whether i'm smarter than a 9 year old thing a frame student i can tell you i am not confident at all gate to jesus and all me. this question might have many adult scratching their heads but for they see 3 students it's child's play or a. fish

done that. you think john. oh i feel like i've missed a fundamental something fundamental missing and mine doesn't have as many boxes as the other kids the approach these kids are using is called modeling and it's just one of the unique methods of learning built into the curriculum i'm getting a little bit of a taste of just how competitive the singing for an education system is i'm falling way behind my kids and the pressure israel. on me to find out exactly what it is about the singer brain school system and the culture that generates such small kids. how.

to say joe's play was likely to make you a meeting one of the key architects of the mathematics curriculum for the ministry of education singapore's developed a reputation as having. best education system in the world how did that come about but kitchen has always been the 2nd highest budget. with a small nation that has. very small lead and no natural resources to invest on the mass of the size of a phased in the head which is the brain a program of educational experimentation with ajax. technology is vital to maintain and improve living standards of the people of singapore. founding father laid new transform the country from poverty to prosperity in a single generation by focusing on its human resources. says the government has

always invested heavily in education right from. days in the sixty's we need to be people with skills who work in factories and. offices and a large part of investment has been put into education it's always been about long term social and economic planning as educators we are not educating our children fall today or tomorrow we are educating them for the future economy in 20 years time and that's pretty much what the ministry of education has to do often to look into the crystal ball to what is necessary and what is needed for the future generation. i'm on my way to a caucus with a focus is very much on learning for the future. it's saturday morning here in

singapore and a 4 year old are attending. the little one's experience math 3. years so that's really nice. the older kids and he expanding their math comprehension in preparation for the big national exam the tykes place at the end if he seeks called the sailing how do you feel about coming here on a saturday morning. in a quiet 50 they're calling us all want of golf a lot of building and children are you taking the right 1st line as students pay a cell a school determines which secondary school they'll go into high scores qualify for the top academic schools while low scores find themselves in schools good towards mike training this system of streaming can put a lot of pressure on kids and their families mr.

eko ringback. one of singapore's best and brightest is about to start his day. 12 year old is in full throttle. preparation my money to retain that starts at the crack of dawn so when the many make up all 64645. of their friends here you know that 1st this has not been money i don't. know you let me say how many minutes you have viacom. i know full well it does quite a lot of mistakes right when you start. to go to when you come back. there are 7 of i was approaching the school. because.

talking off. for me. that a great day. school and support wanted to. go. he will be back on by about 145. for a night. you have to take a quick lunch before we rush him down to his science to discuss it to to teach. science to show up on the t.v. . and then we have to rush him down to his new show drama clowns from 5 to 7 boys are going to go you know that. that's just the 6th grade. after

a quick family meal. it's more studying. and i have to do english people and also math people how long will that take you are on to our us for all of them to combine and then one of these ones here this is extra study so if i am free i can do them for. her but it's getting light already so you probably don't know. why other p.s.l.e. exam such a big deal so is really frightening so aaron was so. good at school to get a better job and it is so awful for the long run i can see a lot of my friends like scrambling doing well and say. i. know heaven a time to play where do you think that pressure comes from i think it comes from

lost just. friends said. when ever i was looking for it you will think they can score really well and if you had a wish where you could do one thing a bit more each day what would that be more sleet. so when does he wrap up when time. for the fire. here are. this quite normal for supporting. supporting your child's education is like a 2nd job for many singaporeans parents and mom janice and on no exception i guess i will be of light we have a full time job family come back we still have to make sure that we look to the children's work and to help them to the best of our ability this way of life is

deeply rooted in singapore in parenting it's called. can you tell me what parent you. try to charge you for your chinese so afraid to lose so when rick if any comes to our children then pieces that be i counsel parents. it has a negative connotation it usually refers to parents that go also out to push to children because of better the children is stress or not to go for the best in terms of everything afraid to lose at the expense of dad children's health data children's mental mental state and stress level if you take a step back do you think the balance is right this. that's a good question. balance between work and play overseas that there is a season for our thing so i would say is that right now the balance is a bit of you just have to suffer

a little bit more you know i think of the begin again at the end of the examination . ok a truck carrying some fruits also one of the fruits. ok how many lies do. they come on i you know. we are ok to prepare for the big exams 70 percent of kids here it's after school tuition classes these 12 year olds a looming advanced algebra ok tell me how many units. 14 exelon leaving today's class is. janice she's a former schoolteacher and now owns one of singapore's largest math tuition companies so what's the secret been to the success of singapore's education system how you process we felt that this secret lies with the b.

if you teach in singapore which most of you from what learning to more critical thinking if the education system here in singapore is so world planned and thought out why is tuition this is siri saw one of the key principles in our singapore education if you leave the back the release the bottom but not kept the top so in line with this principle i feel that the tuition industry please the supportive role too should send us up privately on the curriculum to different learning levels if i have a request to do i can actually offer to sion on a want to one basis to help the child which certainly gets if i have a strongest guilders learning in a group we can. help them achieve deafness potential. does he want one of those shows that was just to me improved after they have and the other lesson i say look the way i love. 'd you so much you want to send

a kid you know what it's like getting the results just yet and across but in this situation santa kids aren't the only ones going to school this is a little there and you know lots of it actually have a deep recession for parents of the less of that but you can see here it takes a village to raise a child the dow going into the phone to what the teacher has taught from the day and how they could go back to assist their children but that's a bit of pressure on the parents as well. and this fashion every day is a competition. i'm interested to find out more about what's at stake in this competition so i'm visiting is seeing a parade in high school if kids school low in may pay a cell is a modern day at a school like this one with

a focus on vocational training. students here are prepping for jobs in the restyle or hospitality industries many of the 12 year old sitting for the pay of cell a's and their parents would consider placements in a school might base. this is because of the stigma around non academic pathways. but 14 year old ria has a different take on it this looks like a cafe to me but we're actually at school ottley yeah. and. we don't like a way economy far left and. right this coffee from john's thing. ok . my experience of this out you was a very well i'll get used to it i just did a lot of searching for sure but that test is quite important. i went on it

and i didn't do well but. do you feel like you found your enjoyment of learning again definitely i enjoyed coming to school i don't dread it yes much as i used to i really enjoy having this in my future having my lessons and such a. thing placed in the vocational strain took the pressure off the area and allowed her to re-examine what she wants out of her education this school is part of the moving landscape of education in singapore shifting focus to preparing students for jobs in the real world. as singapore continues to excel at education how do other countries in the region like a strategy is stack up the world cup of academics is the pain's a study the program for international student assessment. in 25th day

singapore was the top of the leaderboard across 3 sceptics math reading and science in comparison a strategy came out significantly lower coming 25th in math 6 think in reading and math in science well behind other nations like a stone mia holland any zealand. so how has singapore climb to the top especially in bottle stem subjects while countries like australia continue to fall behind. in singapore students are taught by specialized math teachers for me 3 onwards in a strategy a specialized teaching doesn't see. until high school. and there's a chronic shortage of math teaches in fact less than one in 4 high school kids in the strategy in iraq surely told by a qualified mass take up. connections like

a struggle due to catch up. to find out some of the strategies best teachers have come to singapore to see exactly what makes it school system the best in the world. denise lofts wants to say what she can take home to her classroom in a low dollar on the country's southeast coast. action really curious around the way in which develop such great standards what do they actually doing classrooms and of course have any leverage technology. this trip is part of a prize the teaches of one for showing innovation in learning in their own astronomy in schools they 1st stop is the now and primary school. is

in full swing and the pressure is palpable. history of how much denise and it's herbs are having a science class with close to 40 students getting ready for they'd be gigs amps up . every student has a device on the desk and are all connected to a special system run by the school system the same kids and their i find this in the title we're not paying you for that knowledge definitely not a school ah ha ha. ha ha ha. and i notice now that the tape just perking the kids of turn their devices around suffice the front of the room and i guess i'd say that is it really is. testing tactics and frame gauge with the students will change into h.h.s. and they will sting to mellon's on a device why she's speaking without cameras in the room i'm sure the students are

all made best behavior today but we're told students in general show a great deal of respect for the teaches they show a desire to learn and there are not many disruptions in this respect for teaches is seen across the social spectrum only applicants from the top 30 percent of graduates are accepted into a teaching degree it pays will and disconcerted in the late roll on top with the profession in management or accounting. here in singapore which will be about the top 30 percent of graduates at the top take so that's very different actually that was it was interesting when they started talking when they 1st arrived and then they get the pay is the thing you get the bonuses for having spent time in the schools paying very hardworking and teacher to very much appreciated they fit the profile within the communities i would not be great you know in country if that was

the desired like into you know that we were making that the choice is that yes you get to take the top that you can see that denise is interest by the will resist classrooms and quality teaching stuff but she has concerns about the high pressure exams at such a young age in my research high stakes testing is of consent often it's just a way of measuring it and it's really very. a long way away from learning and from improving and i see that these you know that preparing preparing for caring for these tests that happen at the end of pharmacy school for them then to choose a path beyond him to take him to school i'm not sure how that was working out system. and i i believe that that was for putting a lot of pressure on the school on the teachers and on. the principals.

the relentless pressure to succeed in the p.s. allays had devastating consequences. and amish i mean i'm 17 this. song. and i struggle with a lot of they have struggled with since i was like super duper young i think it's just the kind of environment that you're in. twitter asia even though i made it into the top academic stream she says she struggled to keep up i kind of developed a fear of like a really really intense one so sounds like it didn't bring the best out of you. it did not bring the best out of me. saw i was diagnosed with depression and i. miss a lot of school and most of the time i spend laying on my cue ball not listening you know cry like

a pilot hiding i think i got really really old when i felt like i would never have a future again. in 2018 alone the samaritans of singapore the country's leading mental health in geo so a 56 percent rise in young people asking for help. now. it's a lovely degree today with the support of a mom charmaine is doing much better she's a student at a polytechnic academy and believes that doing well academically shouldn't come at a cost here such as. lovely good here i think that even though we need an education i think we can do a lot better and i think relieving the pressure on children does not mean that we all necessarily lose that position in say in my just for the us and that's what

that number once was and so is there a wider conversation happening around mental health with school kids i think there has been more wetness recently i'm really really thankful for that we're slowly but surely normalizing it and i think that with my generation a lot what change for the better do you feel like you've got your little girl back yes very much and i'm very thankful if the little bit too much. singapore is coming to realize that even though it's number one is still room for improvement recently the government announced some changes to the streaming system 20 secondary schools will start piloting for subject based banding from next year. instead of sending 12 year olds into education streams based only pay a silly results 2nd re students will be able to choose from

a mix of subjects at different levels of difficulty based on the changing abilities . every school is a good school and now let's make every class. but exams a looming the changes to seeing a pool streaming won't happen in time to spare him from sitting his p.s.l. eggs he's up to he's easy and study at just age 12 put it this way a lot of kids have a lot of free time in comparison to do a lot of things outdoors so gymnastics how do you feel about more doing more of that stuff i figured. if we have enough time to finish all the hole. was there as a class i think is acceptable that we can have a little bit more free time. and play for our friends

and spend time share our family we will want to give our children many a part you need to be successful and we have to balance that between pushing them monitoring their stress level and knowing when to let go so we want to stress on responsibly on being looking. yes because a belief that this are the values that will bring our children 5 life. is not just the academy itself. a university degree to be a doctor or a teacher but without any study or exam one i want to investigate the pakistani company at literally selling fake degrees to the thousands of police around the world on al-jazeera. i remember the 1st time i walked into the newsroom

and it felt like being in the general assembly of the united nations because it was so many nationalities. just that we all come from different places but it's one that gives us bank of the us the ability to identify with the. other side of the world but we can understand what it's like to have a different perspective and i think that is a strength for al-jazeera. the same mind people him he'll. be in the united states privatized he'll probably. has a deal with saudi arabia and with different saudis. believed to help the bombs do you'll promise them this meeting sometime isn't that interesting there. on al-jazeera. where. i don't know why. i'm. here and i know i know.

and again peter will be here in the hope of a quick summary of your top stories here on al-jazeera india's main opposition congress party is holding a rally in a few hours against the controversial new citizenship will tens of thousands rallied on sunday they say the law discriminates against muslims the prime minister narendra modi has blamed the opposition for fueling on the rest of us about the random is following developments from new delhi for the last week we have had mass protests across the country again this year or they have been mostly led by students by civil society now the main opposition party and via the congress party is holding what's expected to be

a very large rally right here in the capital new delhi and they doing it at the resting place of mahatma gandhi they are doing this to emphasize the.