No poor student will be denied an education?

April 24, 2014

We refer to the article “More getting bursaries” (Straits Times, Apr 15).

50% increase in students qualifying for financial assistance

It states that “Last year, about 50 per cent more students – 1.5 times the number five years ago – were on the Ministry of Education’s (MOE) Financial Assistance Scheme compared to five years ago, said Education Ministry Heng Swee Kiat yesterday.

This is around 65,000 students.”

So many needy families?

– Whilst it is good that more students are qualifying for assistance – don’t you find it rather alarming that so many families are able to meet the eligibility criteria of $2,500 household income or $625 per capita income.

Need for a poverty line?

How many households are there in Singapore that meet this criteria, including those that do not have school children?

Whilst we continue to resist calls for the definition of a poverty line to benchmark society’s economic progress in the future, amongst other useful outcomes of having a poverty line – this statistic may be a good proxy indicator.

What about those who couldn’t qualify before 2012?

As to “education will remain assessible to all Singaporeans. “No Singaporean student will be left behind as a result of his or her family’s financial circumstances” – May we ask what about all those families who could not qualify for financial assistance before the criteria was “raised in 2012 from $1,500 to $2,500 a month, and a new per capita income criterion of $625 or below a month (was) introduced”?

SY Lee and Leong Sze Hian

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About the Author

Leong
Leong Sze Hian has served as the president of 4 professional bodies, honorary consul of 2 countries, an alumnus of Harvard University, authored 4 books, quoted over 1500 times in the media , has been a radio talkshow host, a newspaper daily columnist, Wharton Fellow, SEACeM Fellow, columnist for theonlinecitizen and Malaysiakini, executive producer of Ilo Ilo (40 international awards), Hotel Mumbai (associate producer), invited to speak more than 200 times in about 40 countries, CIFA advisory board member, founding advisor to the Financial Planning Associations of 2 countries. He has 3 Masters, 2 Bachelors degrees and 13 professional  qualifications.