admin SINGAPORE: Lowering the cost of a child’s pre-school education, helping older Singaporeans stay in their jobs and keep working, as well as the long-term challenges that climate change poses to Singapore and its infrastructure planning.
These were some of the key topics Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong dwelled on in his National Day Rally speech on Sunday (Aug 18).
Mr Lee stated his intent to speak about three things at the start of his English speech: Enabling every young person to succeed regardless of their background; supporting people to work longer even as they live longer; and protecting the country from climate change and renewing the city for the next century.
Internationally, Singapore has been recognised for its efforts in this area, with international non-government organisation (NGO) Save The Children ranking it as the best place in the world for a child to grow up in. The World Bank, too, ranked Singapore first among 157 countries in its Human Capital Index, which measures the knowledge, skills and health that a child born today can attain by age 18, he said.
KEEPING PRE-SCHOOL FEES AFFORDABLE
The Government funds the Anchor Operators and Partner Operators for this purpose, while parents also receive childcare subsidies to help defray costs.
However, the Prime Minister acknowledged that for middle-income parents, pre-school fees can take up a chunk of their household budget, which is why he is enhancing subsidies to help these families.
Currently, families with a household income of S$7,500 and below per month qualify for additional means-tested subsidies. The Government is raising the ceiling to S$12,000 per month, which will extend this subsidy to 30,000 more households, he said.
The quantum of preschool subsidies will also be increased across the board, Mr Lee said.
LOWERED FEES, MORE BURSARIES FOR TERTIARY STUDENTS
For post-secondary education, Mr Lee said the Ministry of Education (MOE) had conducted a comprehensive review of tertiary fees and bursaries.
Specifically, it looked at whether universities here can operate more economically. For two, the Singapore Institute of Technology (SIT) and the Singapore University of Social Sciences (SUSS), the curriculum is more applied and there are more industry attachments and internships.
As such, their operating costs per student can be lower and MOE will reduce the annual fees for full-time general programmes at the two varsities from around S$8,000 to S$7,500, the Prime Minister said.
The ministry will also significantly enhance Government bursaries.
For university courses, these bursaries will rise from 50 per cent of general degree fees today to up to 75 per cent. Similarly, bursaries for polytechnic diploma programmes will cover 95 per cent, up from today’s 80 per cent, he said.
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