The Singapore Democratic Party (SDP) and the Ministry of Education (MOE) are locked in a tussle.

Since the SDP first requested on 2 February to conduct talks with students and were rejected on 4 February by the MOE, the dialogue has shifted from questions of access to schools to questions of neutrality of the current education syllabus.

Dr Alan Chong, Associate Professor at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, says the SDP cannot complain about not getting access to universities, since they are allowed to enter campuses when student groups invite them.

At the secondary school level, however, he thinks letting in opposition parties “may be too radical for now” since the foundation for a critical appreciation of local history and politics has not been laid out.