More plans afoot to encourage learning for life: Ong Ye Kung

Exams have been scrapped, and younger pupils are going through the school year test-free. Efforts to help children from disadvantaged homes level up have redoubled.

More plans are afoot to further push students to "learn for life", as part of the Ministry of Education's efforts to move away from a narrow focus on grades, said Education Minister Ong Ye Kung yesterday.

"It will be a significant thrust... and a multi-year effort which would significantly improve the education system," he said.

The details will be announced during his ministry's debate on its spending plans following the Budget's delivery today.

Mr Ong was one of three Cabinet ministers who spoke briefly on the Budget while out and about at separate community events yesterday.

While they were tight-lipped on the Budget's details, all three ministers - Mr Ong, Trade and Industry Minister Chan Chun Sing and Communications and Information Minister S. Iswaran - raised the much-talked about Merdeka Generation Package as a highlight of this year's Budget, which will be delivered by Finance Minister Heng Swee Keat in Parliament at 3.30pm today.

Mr Heng is expected to give details of the help that baby boomers born in the 1950s will receive from the Government.

Mr Chan said that another key focus of this year's Budget would be on fostering better cooperation between the Government and businesses and social organisations to build a stronger and more resilient economy.

"This would allow our enterprises to provide better job opportunities for all Singaporeans," said Mr Chan at the Teochew Poit Ip Huay Kuan's Chinese New Year celebration.

Mr Iswaran, who was at a West Coast GRC event and was asked if there will be new initiatives to help businesses to plug in to the digital economy, said that it is an ongoing effort, including getting smaller and medium-sized enterprises involved.

"That's critical because they really move the needle for us in terms of the economy, if they plug in to the digital economy," said Mr Iswaran.

At a separate event in Sengkang Central, Mr Ong said that the yet-to-be-announced efforts by his ministry would add to previous initiatives, which include reducing the exam load and setting up an inter-agency task force to help children from disadvantaged homes.

Mr Ong said the fourth-generation leaders have been working together on the Budget, which will be the first presented by Mr Heng since he was chosen by his peers to be the next prime minister.

"Since 2015, we've been working together on building a future economy... and also on various measures from healthcare and the Merdeka Generation Package to changes we are making to the education system," said Mr Ong.

Last night, Mr Heng posted a video on social media in which he urged Singaporeans to not just look at this year's Budget in isolation from plans announced in previous years that remain in place.

"The Budget is a multi-year plan. We do not just concentrate on what is in it for me in this Budget, but what is in it for all of us, and how we can use whatever public funding we are able to provide to catalyse deep changes in our society, in our economy, and in that way, Singapore can stand tall in the world."