BEING CONTENTED: Living without the frills

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MORE LIVE IN HDB FLATS; MOST SATISFIED

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SINGAPORE - There are more people living in public housing - 2.92 million in 2008 according to latest figures - and almost all of them are satisfied to be where they are.

In the Housing and Development Board's (HDB) latest Sample Household Survey, over 95 per cent of households said they had no complaints with their flats or neighbourhood.

And these sentiments were shared across households of different flat types, length of stay, tenure of flat, age groups, ethnicity, educational qualifications and household income, said the HDB.

The survey - carried out every five years - showed that the number of Singaporeans and Permanent Residents who are flat dwellers has increased 2.7 per cent since 2003. They now make up 96 per cent of the total population in HDB flats.

Location, transportation network and provision of estate facilities were listed by residents as what they liked most about their environment. What they disliked most were the state of cleanliness and maintenance, and noise

By and large - at 81 per cent - most homeowners were proud of their flats. They also felt that their flats were value for money, with 86 per cent of them telling the HDB so.

The average resident is also now older at 37 years old, compared to 30 years about two decades ago. And longer life expectancy has also resulted in the proportion of residents aged 65 years and above increasing from 5.4 per cent in 1987 to 9.8 per cent in 2008.

Residents are now also better educated too, and a third of them now tertiary-educated. More are also now in white-collar jobs, up from almost 30 per cent a decade ago to almost 35 per cent in 2008.

Reflecting growing affluence, the average HDB household income from work is now $5,680, up from $4,238 five years ago.

Over the next two months, HDB will release more findings on the well-being of the elderly and families, and residents' sense of social well-being. MUSTAFA SHAFAWI

From TODAY, Friday, 19-Feb-2010

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Build character as well as a living

Letter from Benjamin Gan

I REFER to "All of us are guilty sometimes" (Sept 1).

Mr Wilson Lim's remark that "people here tend to mind their own business to avoid unnecessary trouble" is truly indicative of the mindset of the average Singaporean, a mindset that seems codified into our genes, reinforced and refined through generations in the name of survival.

And what is even more remarkable is that our society has progressed beyond the state of survival. We do not need to steal or kill for our food and we are comfortably sheltered from the wrath of nature.

I marvel at how this mindset could have flourished in the midst of our economic progress. My only sad conclusion is that our social development has been woefullly neglected in favour of economic development. I think it is time we get back to basics by revamping our education system to include ethics and social studies in the curriculum. Education is not just about grades and good jobs. It is about building character.

From TODAY, Voices – Wednesday, 02-Sep-2009

Top criminal lawyer to act for owner of Brookes Business School

I was following this news lightly, Brookes Business School shut down due to 'fake' degrees offered.

Anyway, when I saw this news, I thought that the owner was trying to pull up some act to defend himself, and be declared righteous. I was wrong. You can read the rest of the story here.

Not your typical ‘greenie’

Image by B_brother via Flickr

52? A granny? You're never too old to hug a tree

Sarah Sum-Campbell

05:55 AM Jun 05, 2009

SIMON Tay would be proud of our new housekeeper. Just as his wife and child were instrumental in influencing the Singapore Institute of International Affairs chairman to be a better environmentalist, Madam Lee is also going on a green drive to convince those in her social circle to save the earth, by first saving her household.

Mdm Lee does not fit into the typical profile of a greenie. She is 52, a Singaporean, a proud mother and grandmother, and quite illiterate.

Yet she was converted into a "greenie" in just about three hours. As our housekeeper, she is entrusted with food and household shopping. When asked explicitly to avoid buying any products made or produced in China, especially vegetables, she was keen to know the reasons.

We told her about experiments done by my group of friends which proved that vegetables from China could sit in the fridge for a month and still remain green, thereby proving the exorbitant amount of chemicals sprayed on to enable such abnormal sustainability. We also explained the consequences on the environment and on our health. She said that she was very convinced, and wondered why no one had ever told her all that.

She went on to enquire about the lack of bleach and certain brands of cleaning products, toys and clothes in our home. We told her about toxic paints used in China-made toys, lethal infant formula, and so on. The fact that she has little children at home helped strengthen her resolve to keep the diet and air at home healthy.

Saving the Earth is everyone's business. If we collectively boycott products which are harmful to our health and damage our environment, companies which make their livelihoods out of these cheap nasty goods will be forced to change their ways. With higher demand for pesticide-free/organic/green/environmentally-friendly products, their prices will drop, attracting more consumers.

So often it is the older generation of Singaporeans, especially those with little or no formal education, who control the purse strings of not just their households, but those of their children, too. Many look after their grandchildren, supervise foreign domestic workers, go marketing and prepare food at home, determine what household products to use, and which mode of transport/brand of car to utilise. Yet so often we dismiss them as being unable or unwilling to help save the Earth.

Perhaps we should be focusing our environmental education efforts on them, and not just the young and impressionable future generations.

From TODAY, Voices – Friday, 05-Jun-2009; see the source article here.

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Higher pay for career switch

And I thought that there are no more high-paying jobs available…?

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CHILDCARE JOBS

More than 80% of NTUC First Campus’ 660 vacancies targeted at PMETs

CHILDCARE centre operator NTUC First Campus is offering a higher starting pay for diploma and degree holders who join them under the Place and Train Scheme.

The starting pay for diploma holders is now $1,700 a month, $700 more than what it was in January when salaries were last revised.

After being trained, they can expect to earn $1,850 a month. Degree holders get $1,900 before training and between $2,200 and $2,500 after.

NTUC First Campus said the revisions would help make it easier for professionals, managers, executives and technicians (PMETs) to make a mid-career switch to a profession they may have a passion for.

Benchmark salaries for principals have also been increased from $2,400 to $2,700; high calibre principals can earn about $4,500 a month.

The childcare centre operator said this would encourage more preschool teachers to stay in the sector, upgrade their skills and take on bigger responsibilities.

To support the professional development of their staff, NTUC First Campus is giving out 25 scholarships worth $1 million for part-time and full-time degree and masters programmes, locally or overseas.

It has 660 vacancies to be filled this year. More than 80 per cent are for PMETs interested in becoming early childhood education teachers and principals.

This is part of its plans to grow from 75 centres this year to 150 by 2011. 938LIVE

From TODAY, News; Friday, 15-May-2009

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Exams aren’t everything

PRIMARY EDUCATION

Govt accepts recommendations to gradually introduce other forms of assessment

Lin Yanqin, yanqin@mediacorp.com.sg

 

 

Education Minister Ng Eng Hen observing a class at Greenridge Primary. Ernest Chua

 

IT HAS been a proposal some parents have welcomed, and others worried about.

Having alternative modes of assessments in Primary 1 and 2 to the traditional twice-a-year examinations were among recommended changes to primary school education the Government accepted yesterday.

But it will not be a dramatic change overnight, said Education Minister Ng Eng Hen.

As the work of the committee reviewing primary education now enters into the implementation stage, Dr Ng signalled that it would be a long-term work in progress.

The timeframe, he told reporters during a visit to Greenridge Primary, is more of a “10-year plan”, as the Ministry of Education (MOE) starts to build more schools and train more teachers, while schools prepare to introduce bite-sized forms of holistic assessment. “As in most educational ventures, you have to train thousands of teachers, you have to make sure parents understand, you have to teach down to the very last child in the primary schools,” said Dr Ng.

He revealed that the ministry will spend about $4.8 billion to implement the recommendations, which include schools going single session by 2016 and introducing a Programme for Active Learning in areas such as sports and the arts.

The MOE also aims to lower the pupil-teacher ratio from the current 21:1 to 16:1 by 2015, build 18 new schools and upgrade 80 existing schools.

In the case of Greenridge Primary, although it introduced topical assessments — which test individual components such as reading skills — four years ago, these form only part of the pupils’ grades, as the school has continued with traditional exams.

This year, it will do away with mid-year exams, but may retain the year-end one.

“Parents still want some form of assessment to know that their child is ready for Primary 2,” said vice-principal Liza Rahmat. “We have to do this gradually.”

But the new system has notably taken the stress off pupils, she noted, as each assessment focuses on one area rather than the entire syllabus.

“Also, assessments are done in a classroom environment, such as through Show and Tell, so it’s not stressful like a traditional sit-down test or exam,” said Ms Liza.

That is not the only drawback of relying on exams at such a young age.

Dr Ng said: “If you give a mark, say 60. What does that mean? It doesn’t give feedback. The proper feedback to the pupil or to the parent is to say what (the pupil) was weak in and what (the pupil) was strong in.”

Parents at Greenridge yesterday were happy with the results so far.

Mdm Wendy Low, 32, said that compared with her older child who went through the previous exam-oriented system from the start, her younger child was better able to absorb what he was taught.

“He’s more confident because everything is broken into small components and he understands each topic better,” said Mdm Low.

From TODAY, News – Wednesday, 15-April-2009