Another triumph for the education sector by the cohort of 2020 as A-level graduates received their results last Friday on 19th February. The verdict? Best passing rate since 2006 despite these students taking their exams during a raging pandemic.

93.6% of the total 11,646 students scored at least three H2 passes, with a pass in General Paper (GP) or Knowledge and Inquiry (KI), shared Singapore's MOE and the Singapore Examinations and Assessment Board (SEAB).

This percentage is slightly better than the 93.4% achieved in 2019.

Earlier this year, students who sat for the O-level and IB exams in 2020 also received their results with excellent scores surpassing those of previous years.

Students who sat for examinations last year had to cope with the abrupt shift from the usual in-person teaching to home-based learning (HBL) as part of the safety measures implemented by Singapore’s government to tackle the pandemic.

Mr Luqman Nurhakim Mohd Rale, a fresh graduate of Jurong Pioneer Junior College (JC) shared that the sudden shift was challenging for him because the usual routines and structed environment were stripped away and it required a lot of discipline from him.

Education Ministry Mr Lawrence Wong congratulated the cohort of 2020 on his Facebook page commending them for their results despite COVID-19 and the circuit breaker.

He posted, “To our students who received their A Level results today, congratulations on completing 12 years of your education journey! It’s all the more significant considering how you had to cope with the circuit breaker last year and adjust to new safe distancing measures in schools.”

He also encouraged these graduates to speak to relevant individuals about their next steps and to have a learning mindset and concluded by wishing them well in the journey of learning.

Schools like Raffles Institution (RI) and Hwa Chong Institution also extended their congratulations to their students and wished them well in their endeavors ahead. They also added that these students displayed tenacity and resilience and demonstrated commitment despite the unforeseen circumstances and disruptions.

Congratulations cohort of 2020! May the never-say-die spirit of these students be an inspiration to us all to press on even when the going gets tough.