I was surprised to hear that the United States has one of the highest child poverty rates among developed countries.

In Singapore, thanks to our Government, many scholarships from the Ministry of Education are available to students, not to mention financial assistance schemes for the needy ones and bursaries for the top scorers.

While these are good ways to mitigate the unbalanced distribution of income, more can be done.

In my experience, good books are indispensable if one is to score good grades.

My secondary school did not require us to buy an English textbook. But when I spotted a set of secondary school English textbooks in a bookstore, I got money from my parents to buy them.

I believe those books played a part in helping me improve my grade from B3 to A2.

I suggest that a bursary for book purchases be set up so all students can buy the books they need.

Hai Ou Fan, 17

Secondary 4 student