SINGAPORE — Starting in 2027, more students in Singapore will have the opportunity to pursue advanced studies in mother tongue languages and literature as the Ministry of Education (MOE) expands its Mother Tongue Language Elective Programme.

Education Minister Desmond Lee announced the expansion at the 14th Mother Tongue Languages Symposium on Saturday, August 1, 2026. The initiative aims to deepen students' language proficiency and appreciation of culture and literature.

The Tamil language elective programme will be broadened at both secondary and junior college levels through a centre-based approach at the Umar Pulavar Tamil Language Centre. This expansion supplements the existing offerings at two junior colleges — Anderson Serangoon and National — and three secondary schools: Commonwealth, Riverside, and Yishun Town. The new arrangement will enable students from schools without the programme to participate and create a clearer pathway from secondary school to junior college.

At the junior college level, the Chinese language elective programme will expand to include a sixth school, Anderson Serangoon Junior College.

MOE will also enlarge the Malay (Special Programme), which allows students whose mother tongue is not Malay to learn it as a third language and gain insights into the Malay community locally and regionally. From 2027, National Junior College will become the programme's fifth centre, allowing more students to take up Malay as a third language.

Minister Lee emphasized the goal of creating pathways for students interested in deeper mother tongue learning. He stated, "This will free up time for our mother tongue teachers to focus on supporting students who need more guidance, while ensuring that our teachers remain firmly in the driver’s seat to guide their students on how to improve."

Additionally, MOE has been piloting increased mother tongue language exposure at six MOE Kindergartens, raising daily instruction from one hour to 1.5 hours. Early results are encouraging, and the pilot is under further study to determine if it should be scaled up.

The Ministry is also developing similar programmes for Malay and Tamil in collaboration with the Malay Language Learning and Promotion Committee and the Tamil Promotion Committee.

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