Publications from ODSW Social Insights: Letters by DSW (Vol 2) | Página 33

Working with Various Client Groups
1.

Education

Let’s see how we fair in relation to education. Subsidized education is a
key component of the Singaporean approach to social inclusion and social
mobility. This has been instrumental in creating equal opportunity and
avoiding wide differences in educational opportunities according to socioeconomic status which is common in many countries. The subsidy and a
strong curriculum including that for special schools ensure a good quality of
education across the social spectrum and across all income groups. Education
then becomes an effective vehicle for a ‘levelling up’ effect. Ensuring social
mobility, however, does not translate to ensuring equal outcomes because
students are inherently different. In the case of students from disadvantaged
background, it is about ensuring that they attend school regularly and stay
in the system.
Learning from the experience in the US where children whose parents grew
up in high-poverty neighbourhoods score dramatically worse on reading
and problem-solving tests than those whose parents grew up in non-poor
neighbourhoods, we now have ground up initiatives to ensure that children
from low-income families learn to read in their early years. Efforts targeted at
ensuring that pre-school education reach low-income families are therefore
crucial to early intervention strategies.
2.

Work

In Singapore, we have a low unemployment rate and yet companies are still
struggling to get workers. The issue is a deeper one and is about reskilling,
upgrading of skills and lifelong learning efforts. We have the Workforce
Development Authority and schemes such as the Skills Future credit that are
part of the mechanisms and structures for enabling and facilitating access
to opportunities. However, in and of themselves, these strategies will not
automatically translate to financial stability and economic advancement.
There are always the elements of individual and peer responsibility and
discipline that are needed to sustain commitment. The challenge is that
of accessing expanded employment opportunities, boosting wages
and increasing productivity. Work must be productive, meaningful and
purposeful. This is not the singular responsibility of any one entity. It is about
a shared commitment to optimise resources through well designed roles to
produce clear outcomes. It is about job re-design, expansion and individual
habits. Full-time work too is the passport to an improved standard of living.

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