SINGAPORE'S education system has been very successful at the nuts and bolts - it churns out top students and is ranked highly worldwide, for example - but it is now time for it to evolve.

As parents become more educated, and children grow more questioning and learn in different ways, expectations will rise, and these will need to be tackled.

In a speech at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy on Thurs, Education Minister Ng Eng Hen spelt out new challenges for the system.

According to The Straits Times, Dr Ng said the most pressing need was to increase the number of teachers so as to better mould students.

More teachers with higher qualifications were also needed to fulfil the above purpose.

Such teachers will mean schools can be given more autonomy, which is critical to allow school leaders to develop individual students under their care, continued the report.

The end goal of education should not be grades, but rather, students should leave the system "with a sense of wholeness and preparedness, and a desire to contribute to preserve, maintain and improve themselves and the lives of those around them," added Dr Ng.