More inclusive meritocracy with opportunities throughout life: Ministries’ agendas at a glance

Several government ministries released their addenda – or public statements of their respective plans – on April 11, 2023. ST PHOTOS: GIN TAY, KUA CHEE SIONG, ONG WEE JIN, RYAN CHIONG

SINGAPORE – Following President Halimah Yacob’s address at the opening of the new session of Parliament on Monday night, several government ministries revealed their plans to boost social mobility, support families with additional help for the vulnerable, and provide seniors with stronger assurances in healthcare and housing.

Here are some of the highlights from the ministries which released their addenda – or public statements of their respective plans – on Tuesday.

Ministry of Social and Family Development

ST PHOTO: GIN TAY

– Implement the “Singapore Made for Families 2025” plan to create a Singapore where all families are valued and supported.

– Foster a family-friendly culture and support families through different life stages through community programmes under the Families for Life movement. 

– Provide timely family-centric interventions, such as marriage support for minor and young marriages, divorce support, and family counselling, through the nationwide network of 10 family service centres offering the Strengthening Families Programme. 

– Study new care options, apart from infant care facilities, to meet varying preferences and needs of parents with young children. 

– Support persons with disabilities and their caregivers through the establishment of regional enabling business hubs and enabling services hubs, as well as in areas such as cost of care and transition to post-school life.

– Enhance pre-school education (with the Ministry of Education):

  • Continue to invest heavily in the early childhood sector to provide access to affordable and quality pre-school education, and uplift students from disadvantaged backgrounds. 
  • Scale up KidStart nationwide by 2026 and facilitate priority enrolment for children from lower-income families in anchor operator pre-schools and MOE kindergartens by age three. 
  • Increase the number of government-supported pre-school places to cater to 80 per cent of pre-schoolers by 2025 while keeping fees at these pre-schools affordable. 
  • Expand capacity in early intervention services and make pre-schools more inclusive to strengthen support for children with developmental needs.

– Uplift lower-income families:

  • Deliver comprehensive, convenient and coordinated social services with partners and volunteers by streamlining touchpoints and workflows, so families can get help quickly. 
  • Uplift lower-income families living in rental housing through ComLink and provide more sustained support to help these families achieve stability, self-reliance, and social mobility. 
  • Enhance ComLink for families who play their part and take action to improve outcomes for themselves and their children. 

Ministry of National Development

ST PHOTO: ONG WEE JIN

– Work with Singaporeans to refresh social compact on housing, so that it continues to be affordable and accessible, and estates remain inclusive, cohesive, and sustainable.

– Maintain a steady supply of housing by completing almost 40,000 homes in 2023, and close to 100,000 homes from 2023 to 2025.

– Continue to enhance public housing programmes to uplift lower-income families, and provide stronger support for singles, seniors, and persons with disabilities.

– Housing for seniors (with the Ministry of Health)

  • Redesign care infrastructure to enable ageing in community as a default, including for those who may need additional support to live out their golden years at home. 
  • Enhance built environment to be more senior-friendly, including new housing options such as community care apartments.

Ministry of Education 

PHOTO: ST FILE

– Diversify education pathways to recognise different strengths, interests, and learning needs. 

– Implement full subject-based banding in secondary schools, as well as expand admission routes to schools and institutes of higher learning. 

– Support schools in partnering stakeholders to offer niche areas of excellence and inspire their students in diverse fields. 

– Provide opportunities for learners of different backgrounds to interact, empathise and support one another. 

– Better support lifelong for upskilling and reskilling by making training offerings accessible to adult learners, developing new adult learning approaches, partnering industry to closely align business needs and workers’ skills, and reducing the opportunity cost for training.

– Strengthen the educational experience for students with special educational needs in mainstream and special education (Sped) schools, and work with social service agencies to improve career prospects in the sector, which will in turn improve the quality of Sped. 

- Leverage technology to better customise teaching and learning for students of differing abilities to bring out the best in each child. 

Ministry of Manpower 

ST PHOTO: KUA CHEE SIONG

– Professionalise skilled trades, by working with NTUC to offer better salaries, chart clearer progression ladders, and improve the image and attractiveness of these jobs.

– Launch CareersFinder, a feature on the MyCareersFuture portal to help workers plan their next career move using data and artificial intelligence, in beta form in the third quarter of 2023.

– Help workers broaden the range of jobs, especially higher-productivity and value-added jobs, they can take through job transformation maps and employment facilitation programmes by Workforce Singapore.

– Strengthen the local pipeline for corporate leadership positions.

– Roll out the points-based Complementarity Assessment framework for Employment Pass (EP) applications in September so that employers build strong and diverse teams, with Singaporeans and skilled EP holders working alongside and learning from one another.

– Introduce a new Uplifting Employment Credit to incentivise firms to hire ex-offenders.

– Fundamental review of retirement policies for retirement adequacy under the Forward Singapore engagement exercise.

– Enact workplace fairness legislation to provide stronger protection against workplace discrimination and enable workers to seek redress for harm done.

– Work towards reducing the rate of fatal injuries at workplaces to below 1.0 per 100,000 workers by 2028.

Ministry of Health

ST PHOTO: LIM YAOHUI

– Enhance mental health screening and psycho-emotional support for expecting parents, and support families to address their children’s health needs and cultivate healthy lifestyle habits from young. 

– Implement Healthier SG in the next few years to focus on preventive care. 

– Update the Healthcare Services Act to focus on premises where care is delivered, and review healthcare financing policies to make them more premises-neutral. 

– Helping seniors age well:

  • Expand network of active ageing centres, and remodel their operations so that more seniors can benefit from convenient access to active ageing programmes. 
  • Strengthen support for palliative care, which includes enhancing clinical protocols in hospitals, upskilling healthcare workers, and engaging Singaporeans in conversations on their preferences. 
  • Enhance financing support for palliative care, and ensure sufficient capacity across all settings to meet growing needs.
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