bilingualism Policy designed to promote fluency in two languages. This policy required children to learn two languages: English and a mother tongue, which could be Malay, Mandarin or Tamil. The government introduced compulsory bilingual education for all students in 1966. From 1969, all students had to take a second language in their school certificate level examinations. Since 1979, a pass in a second language is required for admission to pre- university.

English remains the working language in Singapore and the medium of instruction in schools. It is dominant because it is the language of global business, science and technological research. However, mother tongue languages are also taught so that students in Singapore can appreciate and retain their cultural identity and roots.

Since the introduction of the bilingualism policy, more people have become fluent in English, and the proportion of people who are bilingual has also risen. More members of the Chinese community now also use Mandarin, rather than dialects such as Hokkien and Cantonese.

However, there continue to be difficulties with implementation of the bilingualism policy. A substantial number of children find the required mastery of two languages difficult. There have been numerous reviews to address these concerns, and to develop more differentiated curricula and effective pedagogies.