A befriending initiative for disadvantaged students in Boon Lay, Woodlands and Kreta Ayer has improved school attendance rates for 80 per cent of the students placed in the programme in one year.

The Uplift Community Pilot is one of the key initiatives under the Uplifting Pupils in Life and Inspiring Families Taskforce led by Second Minister for Education Maliki Osman. The pilot initiative aims to enhance support for disadvantaged students who need help to attend school more regularly.

During a virtual discussion session with family befrienders last Saturday, Dr Maliki commended them for their efforts in assisting students and their families and called for more volunteers to join the initiative: "Moving forward, we intend to continue growing the pool of volunteer family befrienders to support the expansion of the pilot. However, we would have to do this in tandem with the current Covid-19 situation, because some families might not be as receptive towards virtual engagements, especially at the start of the befriending journey."

Dr Maliki highlighted the critical role family befrienders play in strengthening students' home and family environments. More than 100 family befrienders are involved in the programme. "Families and parents are appreciative of the support that you have provided, and are grateful to have someone to turn to for a listening ear. Our schools also look forward to the support from family befrienders, who have been able to engage and connect with these families, and can help to surface useful insights about the students' family situations to the school," he added.

The pilot, which started in January last year in the three towns, has since been expanded to include Bukit Merah. It will reach out to more than 300 students by the end of the year.

Schools identify students from disadvantaged backgrounds who exhibit early signs of absenteeism and refer the students to a designated Uplift coordinator in the town's Social Service Office.

Part of the outreach could involve homework supervision, academic coaching, enrichment opportunities in the arts and sports as well as mentoring.

Volunteer Chia Li Qing applied to be a family befriender in October last year. The 36-year-old human resource manager passed an interview and underwent training before she was matched to the family of a Primary 5 pupil in January this year.

Ms Chia built a bond with both the pupil and her mother, even helping the child's mother fill up an application form and compile documents to apply for the Ministry of Education's financial assistance scheme. She also helped the pupil apply for a laptop to support her in her schoolwork.

"My takeaway from this experience was learning how the family found contentment through quality time together even if they were doing simple activities," said Ms Chia, who is single.

"Through our time together, the student was able to reach school punctually, while before she was often late. To me, this was very good progress."