SINGAPORE and Malaysia send the best and brightest among their students on scholarships to top-ranked universities in the UK, the US, Canada and Australia. There is a service clause to these scholarships, and the students return to their native lands armed with the knowledge that would turn them into future leaders and academics.

Education Secretary Juan Edgardo Angara envisions something similar. He said we should consider sending our top students to study abroad to support gifted learners. He said this following findings that only 1 percent of the country's best young minds benefit from state support through science high schools.