Poor grasp of history alarms Goh

Tue, 23 Jul 1996 | Source: AFP

SINGAPORE (AFP): Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong has expressed alarm over young Singaporeans' poor grasp of their republic's history and wants the teaching system improved, press reports said here yesterday.

"It's frightening to me," he was quoted as saying by the evening daily New Paper, which carried out a test last week among 50 Singaporeans aged 16 to 25 on key aspects of the city-state's history ahead of National Day celebrations.

Worried by the survey's results, Goh said he wanted the education ministry to review and improve history instruction in schools.

"Like a tree, if you don't have deep roots and a storm comes along, your tree will be easily uprooted because it has shallow roots," Goh told journalists in a Sunday visit to his parliamentary constituency.

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