Disadvantaged kids need a lift, says DPM Tharman
Purchase this article for republication
Buy SPH photos
Preschool students attending a Chinese reading lesson at the PAP Community Foundation Teck Ghee kindergarten on July 27. Deputy Prime Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam said on Friday that more must be done to level opportunities for young children in Singapore. -- ST PHOTO: KUA CHEE SIONG
Deputy Prime Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam said on Friday that more must be done to level opportunities for young children in Singapore.
He acknowledged that there is no society where all children start off at the same level, which makes more urgent the need to "intervene early, intervene upstream, not downstream".
From the preschool and primary school stages, those from disadvantaged backgrounds must receive special attention, he said.
The culture in schools and communities must be geared towards going "out of our way to lift the children with disadvantages".
