What is educational inequality?

Educational inequality is the unequal distribution of academic resources. The reality is, in our highly competitive society, the starting points are unequal to begin with as students from low-socioeconomic status (SES) households have greater odds stacked against them.

According to the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) report in 2015, students from less affluent families are three times more likely to be low performers compared to their wealthier counterparts.

In Singapore, education and poverty are inextricably linked as the former is often seen as the main route for social mobility – a crucial factor in a family’s ability to break out of the poverty cycle. Students from lower-income families are encouraged to gain upward mobility through the education system, that includes standardised testing, affordable fees, and subsidies.

However, a report by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) reveals that the playing field may not be as level as we would like to think.

The report, titled Equity in Education: Breaking Down Barriers to Social Mobility, states that in 2015, 46% of disadvantaged students in Singapore were attending "disadvantaged schools", up from 41% in 2009. Disadvantaged schools are defined as those which take in the bottom 25% of the student population, and poorer students in these schools face the disadvantage of not having access to the best resources.

Picture taken from: The Legitimization of Inequality, Singapore Policy Journal, https://spj.hkspublications.org/2019/12/05/the-legitimization-of-inequality/

What causes educational inequality?

For instance, parents who have higher socioeconomic status (SES) are typically more involved in their children’s education. With greater financial stability, they may be better able to guide their child or provide access to tuition and positively influence their child’s study habits and attitude towards education.

According to a report by the Department of Statistics Singapore in 2019, the top 20% of households according to income spend four times more on tuition than those in the bottom 20%.

Many lower-income parents are unable to help their children in their school work given their long working hours as some even hold multiple jobs to increase household income. At the same time, they also cannot afford tuition to teach their children. Very often, the children find themselves lagging behind their peers who have parents with more resources.

This social inequality gap was further highlighted during the pandemic when schools implemented Home-based Learning (HBL), where children in lower-income families lacked access to the internet and digital devices to participate in online learning. According to figures provided by the Ministry of Education, about 12,500 laptops or tablets, as well as 1,200 Internet-enabling devices, such as dongles were loaned to students who do not have enough devices at home for HBL.

At the same time, young persons in low-SES households may lack social or parental support at home to meet their emotional needs. Many times, they need to “grow up faster” by taking on more adult responsibilities such as chores or taking care of siblings. As such, they end up sacrificing their own needs, such as pursuits of friendship or education in order to fulfil their familial duties.

Educational disadvantage can also be an intergenerational issue that makes it even harder for individuals to beat the odds. A 2012 study by NTU found that an adult with a tertiary-level educated father is 35% more likely to graduate from university than counterparts with primary educated fathers.

Written by Wang Dongyu

Citations

OECD (2018), Equity in Education: Breaking Down Barriers to Social Mobility, PISA, OECD Publishing, Paris, https://doi.org/10.1787/9789264073234-en.

Financial challenges noted by case study countries, PISA 2015. (2015). PISA. https://doi.org/10.1787/9789264246195-table9-en

Singstat. (n.d.). Key Household Income Trends, 2020. Singapore Department of Statistics (DOS) | SingStat Website. https://www.singstat.gov.sg/-/media/files/publications/households/pp-s27.pdf