Education and Housing

The national literacy rate is very high nearly 87 percent: 92.5 percent for males and 79.3 percent for females. Primary education is free, and the schooling period extends over 12 years. Private schools account for more than one third of primary enrollment. The language of instruction at the primary level is English or any of the three vernaculars: Chinese, Tamil, and Malay. English is the language of instruction in secondary and post-secondary education.

Higher education is provided by the National University of Singapore (NUS), which was established in 1980 through the merger of the University of Singapore and Nanyang University. Nanyang Technological Institute was established in 1981 to conduct practical engineering courses at the university level. There are also several polytechnic schools, of which Singapore Polytechnic and Ngee Ann Polytechnic are prominent. The Institute of Southeast Asian Studies was established in 1968 and is now located on the edge of the NUS campus.

In the mid-1980s the country had seven newspapers three Chinese, two English, one Malay, and one Tamil. The oldest and most widely circulated daily is The Straits Times. Singapore also has an active book-publishing industry.

The Housing and Development Board (HDB) is the sole public-housing authority in Singapore. A specific objective is to create integrated, self-contained communities of mixed income levels in new towns and housing estates away from the city center. Another is to locate housing and work places within short distances of one another. About 2.1 million people, or 81 percent of the population, are now housed in HDB apartments. Bukit Batok, Yishun, Jurong, Tampines, and Woodlands are among the larger new towns.