Singapore wants kids to focus less on grades, and more on ideas

Singapore students have always been focused on grades, but are there other skills they could pay attention to? Photos: Reuters

Singapore's global rankings in maths and science have made its schools the envy of the developed world, but a new push to drive grassroots innovation is prompting local teachers to do the previously unthinkable: go easier on the exams.

The city-state's schools now have courses with no grades, at least a tenth of admissions to universities are now based on aptitudes rather than results, and the public service is scrapping a long-held practice of classifying officers by their educational qualifications.