Tag Archives: HENG SWEE KEAT

Sharp-eyed Singaporeans have noticed a new eye catching internet advertisement that is popping up on Taiwanese and Hong Kong websites. The advertisement by Singapore Tourism Board (STB) showed a wax figure of former Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew surrounded by his real life former principal political secretaries and personal assistants. They include Alan Chan who is the current group CEO of SPH and Heng Swee Keat who is the current Education Minister.

Therefore, I find it hard to comprehend what can be achieved from private degree programmes that can be completed in as short as a year. Even a junior college education, which prepares students for university, needs two years. A polytechnic education takes three years.

Defenders of the scholarship system insist that if scholars fly, it is because their A-level results and the hoops they went through to win scholarships turn out to be accurate predictors of their workplace contributions; non-scholars' allegations of unfairness are just masking the fact that they are genuinely not as able. Certainly, some of the strengths that won them their scholarships, combined with the exposure and confidence imbued by a good overseas education, do translate into superior workplace performance. But it would be disingenuous to ignore systemic reasons why scholars are unfairly favoured when they start work.

Recently my friend, Di, was offered to study full-time at a local university while continuing to draw part of her salary. Her employer will be paying for all her tuition fees and she will have her old job back when she graduates. Di has worked for this company for 3 years after graduating from Temasek Poly and her boss told her that she will get a chance to lead a small team 2 to 3 years after she graduates, subjected to good performance. Needless to say, knowing Di all since secondary days, she's a responsible, humble and intelligent person. She might not get straight As but she is a kind soul and most importantly, a team player with a strong sense of justice (yeah NPCC rocks haha).

That, said Education Minister Heng Swee Keat yesterday, goes to the heart of a national report to improve the career prospects of Singapore's polytechnic and technical institute's students. After two days of impassioned debate by MPs on the Applied Study in Polytechnics and Institute of Technical Education Review (Aspire) report, Mr Heng set out what he described as "limiting beliefs" that could inhibit people from achieving their full potential. The first is the mistaken belief that qualifications are all that matters. But "the highest qualifications will do a person no good, if there are no good jobs available in the first place", as shown in Taiwan and parts of Europe, he noted.

He graduated with magna cum laude honours and a communications degree from the University at Buffalo, The State University of New York, after his studies at SIM Global Education. But out of 50 firms he applied to for advertising and marketing jobs, only two replied. One of them, digital marketing agency IH Digital, hired him. After a year on the job, he was promoted and leads a team of five.

Mabelle says she is willing to share her experience because she feels that "it is grossly unfair to blame PRC women" when a family breaks down. She is aware that her comments could invite a backlash, but she says in Mandarin: "Who cares? I don't owe anyone a living. If there is any reason for concern, it would just be my son, because he is innocent." Her son, 15. He is in the Integrated Programme (IP) of one of the top schools here. In a separate interview, her son says in fluent English: "The humiliation was too much for me to bear. I had trouble coping with school, my grades were dropping and I almost failed my final term examinations last year."

What's not so clear though is how this narrative affected ordinary Singaporeans, especially non-graduates, and how they saw their place in society. Did they feel like second-class citizens, of less value, because they could make only limited contributions to the country's progress, especially in the material sense? Did they have less confidence in the future, for their children especially, knowing they were not regarded highly and would not be able to join the select ranks? Or did it spur them to make even greater effort so they could become one of them? Perhaps some were inspired, but there would be many who might have felt they didn't belong in a country that continually focused on the contributions of the top.

The 39-year-old had thought along those lines 23 years ago when, after her O levels, she chose to go to a polytechnic instead of a junior college and university like most of her classmates did, despite her 11-point aggregate. Her lack of a degree would later prove a disadvantage at various times over the past 18 years working in both the public and private sectors, when she was denied opportunities because she was not a graduate. The Public Service Division says there is no official glass ceiling for non-graduates - they can technically get promoted as long as they do well. Yet, in recent times, few, if any, have made it to the top echelons of a statutory board or ministry.

I believe PM Lee is not confident that Singapore will have sufficient number of good paying jobs for our undergraduates who are going to join the work force a couple of years later with a heavy burden. With an uncertain global outlook, it is better to make the non-grads and grads compete against one another now to benefit the economy as much as possible before the tsunami hits.