GEP classes are designed to fit the students' learning ability, and may cover subjects in greater breadth and depth.
The curriculum is designed by the Gifted Education Branch and eschews the use of textbooks for notes that have been prepared by GEP teachers.
[citation needed] The Gifted Education Programme was first implemented in Singapore in 1984[1] amid some public concern.
It was recognised that intellectually gifted pupils should be given apter classes to reach their full potential.
In 2024, Prime Minister Lawrence Wong announced that the GEP will be discontinued in its present form and will be replaced by a school-based programme in which all primary schools will set aside resources to identify their high-ability students and stretch them academically.
[3] In 2004, five secondary schools started implementing Integrated Programmes with their affiliated Junior Colleges, and are officially no longer offering the GEP.
[4] Beginning in 2006, the MOE started to phase out the secondary school GEP due to the impact of the IP.
Based on the Selection Test results, the top 1% of the cohort will be identified and invited to join the Gifted Education Programme, usually by November of that year.
Students also have a variety of top secondary schools to choose from depending on their PSLE results.
For English, students have to do different process writings based on the genres they have studied, including mysteries and fairy tales.
The pupils will have to choose from six or seven projects that GEP branch officers in the Ministry of Education (MOE) create.