Ethnic minorities in Singapore’s SAP schools

• Main Author: Yeo, Rachel Si Hui
• Other Authors: Premchand Varma Dommaraju
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: 2018
• Subjects: DRNTU::Social sciences
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10356/73755
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

Special Assistance Plan (SAP) schools were established by the Singapore government in 1979, against the backdrop of vanishing vernacular schools. Nine well-established Chinese- medium schools were transformed into bilingual schools with the aim of preserving an environment that would nurture social discipline and cultural values. Today, these schools are attended by a Chinese majority and a handful of ethnic minorities who pursue Mandarin as their mother tongue. Building on existing research on racial identity work and liminality, this study examines how such high-achieving ethnic minorities cope with being stigmatised and marginalised, as well as their sense of identity upon leaving their SAP schools.