Not enough talent here

"We have very good people, but never enough": PM Lee

Despite efforts to encourage more Singaporean couples to have more children, there were fewer babies in 2009 than there were in the year before. -AsiaOne

Right! I have to agree to this but I think to meet this talent shortfall through local births is impossible. It isn't the education system that is primary in creating top talents. It is the families that is mainly responsible. If they have too many kids per family, there is probably insufficient resources to groom top talent. Talent the government persistently refused to acknowledged is not born but the combination of the extreme passion with the minimum of 10,000 hours invested. Nobody explains this better than Malcom Gladwell in "Outliers".

The local system is first class at saving those from prematurely failing and so enter society without an adequate education. This is something most Singaporean families should be very grateful for. The ITEs are first rate institutions.