PM Lawrence Wong's NDR - Education Portions

[Zeit]

Was browsing one thread on Overseas Uni funding.

Why are we natives even needing to fork out our retirement savings to send our kids overseas for tertiary education? Is it because our kids cannot enter courses of their choice in the preferred top 3 AUs? Or is it because no one likes to be bonded?

Recently I logged in to Rednote, the place where many TikTok refugees have migrated to. I was alarmed to receive newsfeeds of multiple posts by PRCs studying/living in SG, thanks to my IP address. So, I thought, they are all hiding in Rednote (& WeChat), not KSP forum!

I learnt about AEIS, the entrance test that PRC junior high (or some primary school kids) students take to enrol in our MOE government schools. I don’t know if it’s the algorithm’s fault, but I kept seeing loads of applicants sharing their success stories (more than successful applications for our citizenships and PRs, as the PAP is smart to block out future voters with communist upbringing).

Did the opposition MPs get an update from CCS, the MOE minister? There appears to be an influx of PRC students, post-Covid. I do not see Indian AEIS students or Indian 陪读 Peidu Mamas/Papas/Grandparents sharing their joy as they do not use Rednote nor WeChat.

Another piece of news that I gathered from Rednote is there are so many straight-Acers in the recent (& past) GCE exams. They were shared by the current cohort, past-year fellow compatriots now turned seniors who are currently in or have just graduated from top IPJCs, as well as PRC Immigration & Overseas Education Agents.

The latter would tell readers, whose kids are still 卷 “Juan-ing” in PRC, that it’s easier to enter Ivy League/Oxbridge if their kids went through the AEIS path to enter our globally acknowledged education system. The agents even tabulated the no. of top IPJC graduates accepted by Oxbridge, giving prospective immigrants high hopes that SG is the ‘short-cut’ that could help their middle-class kids escape the highly competitive 高考 GaoKao in PRC, and of course, with the GCE A level/IB cert could help their kids “impose” as a Singaporean student to apply to top western universities, thereby circumventing any possible quota limits or discrimination considerations.

This same trick is pulled by PRC mainlanders who fought hard for a seat in Band 1 secondary schools in HK, as top students from HK are given bonus points to enter Peking U and TsingHwa U. Basically, the PRC mainland big fishes just want to get our of the huge student population to go to smaller ponds to compete, at the expense of smaller fishes native to those ponds, needless to say.

Here in SG, the Overseas Education Agent hardsells to potential Peidus that we’re a smaller population and PRC kids usually do better than the locals, hence will secure top IPJC and AU seats to guarantee them a better career path., and eventually the coveted No.1 red passport.

Also, I found out many PRC students used HCL as their L1 to substitute EL, which is the working language in SG, and the lingua franca that many native SCs use at home. I pity the English-speaking SCs who have to fight with the PRCs who are sure to secure A1/2+Distinction.

Given that the other R5 subjects (C.Lit, Mats, Sciences) are not EL-demanding, the PRC students from various neighbourhood schools were able to ace their exams and vie for a seat at the popular pre-U schools, displacing many hardworking native SCs who were asked by CCS to apply to polys to enter the workforce earlier, if the rest of Singaporean voters are forever complaining about the import of foreign uncivilized EPs/WPs.

What shocked me further was most of the Rednoters had up to 4-6 bonus points to deduct from their raw score. Were they Presidents in some Chinese Drama Society? Chinese Debate Team? Table Tennis School Team captain? Basketball Team captain? EXCO? Or simply because our neighbourhood schools have more lower-income, Phase 3 immigrant kids and minorities, so naturally PRC AEIS students could become their top scorers 状元 easily and gain leadership roles to earn more LEAPS points?

The 6 bonus points was most shocking to me. I’ve never heard of such generous discounts during my time in JC. Wouldn’t most PRCs pick CLEP to enjoy the 6 bonus points if they just want to occupy a seat at one of the more popular Pre-U institutes?

Is this concerning, dear CCS and LW? Or is this the direction the govt is deliberately pursuing in view of the low TFR, poor retail/F&B takings (and of GST, service charges, admin charges, stamp duties across all industries), glut of rentail condo/HDB units, closure of MOE schools, redundancy of teachers? Is it because the PAP CCCs and sponsors are in need of revenue from the Peidus who are unemployed and have plenty of free time to loiter and spend in the REIT-malls and rent our 2nd or 3rd properties. ROTFL!

TBH, to this government, they do not care if the PRCs eventually relinquish their NRIC after they grow up, as they just want to earn their GST etc whilst they and their Peidu Mamas are here in SG, some working full-time or part-time, for at least 10 years or so.

But the PAP in doing so, is cannibalizing the interests of our very own Pioneer- and Merdeka-gen’s descendants, right? These AEIS kids, who only come to SG for a mere 2-4 years studnet life to enjoy the short-cuts/express lanes to top schools built up by PG/MG alumni & taxpayers, are obviously not going to stay in SG until they die.

For there’s no land to bury their bodies in this little red dot. But to the wealthy PRCs, the fengshui of the ancestral tomb is above anything else, compared to your Nirvana Columbarium in the heartlands.

Put simply, as always, they are using us as their stepping stone. C’mon, they grew up, underwent their formative pre-school education, sang the National Anthem daily, and received at least 15 years of formal ethnonationalism education under the CCP, more specifically, after the opening up of China, during the more affluent Hu JinTao and Xi Jinping’s administrations. Do you CCS at al imagine they will have any affinity to SG?

They’ve already had a taste of modernity and have witnessed how progressive their own motherland aka Zu Guo is today, relative to SG, which is small, hot & wet, and boring all-year-round.

In light of that, does CCS and gang still believe the AEIS students they are actively courting would want to settle here for generations to come, like the founding coolies and refugees who fled from a worser war-torn motherland to Nanyang for a better life?

[Zeit]

And as if those self-funded AEIS are not enough, the government, via Business China, is offering more PRCs who are currently still schooling in China some bond-free and registration fee-waived scholarships to study Sec 3 onwards here in our MOE public schools.

Past CEOs of Business China, included the likes of Jo Teo, Tin Pei Ling and Low Yen Ling, all of whom are getting rotten eggs from Singaporean voters recently. Maybe not Tin, but the other 2 ladies.

And lo and behold, I see the Education Minister CCS in the BOARD list, alongside some other office-holders who were formerly from SAP schools or have some former China working experience.

https://businesschina.org.sg/en-us/p/singaporeeducationscholarship

https://businesschina.org.sg/zh-cn/p/singaporeeducationscholarship

And some summer camps to earn more monies from the PRCs.

https://businesschina.org.sg/en-us/p/business-china-summer-school-scholarship

This scholarship announcement was made yesterday 17 Jan 2025. The application period is until 10 March and targets at those born in 2009, 2 Jan.

申请要求

中国公民
出生日期介于2009年1月2日至2012年1月1日之间
就读初三^ 或已完成初三学业
校内学业成绩优异
课外活动表现良好具备一定的英文水平
^若获颁奖学金，申请者须在抵新前完成初三学业。

奖学金内容

学费
安置费
宿舍住宿
生活补贴
考试费用
飞往新加坡的经济舱机票
回国通勤费 （两年一次）
医疗津贴及个人意外保险

• 奖学金得主须出席通商中国指定活动。

So if MOE cannot do it, as they are at the mercy of taxpayers and the GE2025 electorate, they found an alternative route through this non-profit organization whose board members are PAP cabinet ministers and CEOs are usually some PAP MPs, to bring in further PRC talents.

Business China which is “quasi-govt” (as LKY used to patronised their annual seminars), has the backing of those PBM/BBM-decorated Chinese towkays and probably selected chambers of commerce, major clans, as well as newer clans with tongxiangs from northeasten/south-western Chinese provinces traditionally not found in the Nanyang region in the 17th-20th centuries.

Opposition MPs could perhaps enlighten us further by asking why they are doing this? Are the towkays trying to bring in more PRC talents to work for them in future? I mean, the Breadtalk, Sakae sushi, Charles & Keith, Food Republic, Haidilao, Chagee, Mixue, Luckin, Bytedance, TikTok, Lazada, Alibaba, BYD, TLL, all the enrichment centres, etc.?

[lee_yl]

I am dumbfounded by the posts from Zeit. Not because her contents were ground breaking to people in this fourm but rather, as a staunch supporter of CCS and the establishment, I am utterly surprised that one day she could become a critic and question CCS and LW.

On second thought, we are just wearing different hats?? CCS and LW have the strategic interests of Singapore at heart. They need to continuously attract FTs to Singapore. But as parents, I can feel Zeit’s unhappiness. We don’t feel good that our children are being displaced by PRCs and Indians. Not just in RI or HCI, I believe the same thing is also happening in the neighborhood schools. Our local PMETs have been replaced by these FTs and had to be grab drivers or do Foodpanda deliveries. I also don’t like the feeling that we have been treated like fools by these FTs who use us a springboard to greener pasture.

So the govt has to be careful, even a staunch supporter may become anti-government when our and our kids’ interests are at stake.

On the issue of PRCs using HCL to replace EL1, after much thought, I think this policy should be reviewed. Going back to first principles, we implemented this policy to encourage Singaporean kids to take up HCL so as to raise our standard of our Chinese. Plus 30-40 years ago, we didn’t have large influx of PRC students studying here. The HCL was meant to incentivise our kids, but today it appears to be putting our Singaporean kids at a disadvantage.

If MOE doesn’t have a good solution, then the easiest way is to restrict the use of HCL to replace EL1 to be for Singaporeans only. No reason for us to help raise the Chinese standard of other nationalities, not lest the Mainlanders?

[bbbay]

Singapore’s birth rate is below replacement level. It’s better to bring in new citizens that are more likely able to assimilate into Singapore society.
The youngs being more open to new experiences than the older, has better chance of assimilation. Scholarships
are offered to high caliber students. Singapore offers asean scholarships to neighbouring countries too.

It’s relative common to have 2 CCA bonus points among citizen. GP in JC is on English. PRC students may be at relative disadvantage taking GP in JC.

It is better to expose our children to world class competition during their studies years where it is still relatively easier to try again, then facing the competitions in their working life. In medical terms , when foreign bodies enter us, we may feel discomfort in the beginning. But our immunity will be strengthened and we become stronger. Bringing in foreign talent in a controlled manner, strengthen Singaporean competitiveness over time

[Imp75]

@bbbay
The competition for top pri sch and sec sch amongst Sporeans and new citizens/pr is very real so I can understand SG parents’ concerns about availability of such places to our local kids. I am just not sure if these PRs (may not stay in SG eventually), will they need to repay SG by working here for x years since they enjoy subsidised education and benefits? Otherwise,due to meritocracy, they get to enjoy our world-class educational system only to be fed into elite foreign universities or local universities (bond-free scholarship).Will they then compete for the resources paid by us taxpayers but who do not need to contribute to the society? I am not so sure what’s MOE policy on this.

[bbbay]

@Imp75

Singaporean do go overseas, to top universities to study too. It will be the same narratives. Many of these countries do not need the revenue and they do not have population shrinking issue like us. I think we have less reason than them to stop taking in foreign students.

I agree sentiment wise is hard to manage. Our next generations will be the ones to face the problem, if our citizen number continue to shrink and not replenish by quality people. LKY said it’s an existential issue. For us, we just make do a little. Forego first place sometimes and settle for the second place, in return for continuous prosperity

[doodbug]

@Imp75 PRs enjoying PR tuition fees rate at universities, or school fees rates in our schools, have no service obligations. However male PRs will have to serve NS if they want to keep their PR and/or convert to SC.

[doodbug]

@bbbay I guess the issue is always about calibration. Some exposure is good. But what does ‘controlled manner’ look like? It looks different to different people. Some people will say 10% foreign students in top schools is okay; others can tolerate 20%, yet there will be others who feel 5% suffices. It’s not so easy to control especially if S1 and JAE are determined by examination scores as it is not possible to always predict the outcomes.

It’s the same with university places in Singapore. I imagine few Singaporeans will be able to tolerate having 50% of subsidized university places going to foreigners, especially if their kids narrowly miss a spot.

[lee_yl]

This post is deleted!

[lee_yl]

@bbbay said in PM Lawrence Wong's NDR - Education Portions:

I agree sentiment wise is hard to manage. Our next generations will be the ones to face the problem, if our citizen number continue to shrink and not replenish by quality people. LKY said it’s an existential issue. For us, we just make do a little. Forego first place sometimes and settle for the second place, in return for continuous prosperity

Hope I didn’t interpret wrongly, for continuous prosperity in return, we have to be 老二 in our own country? Who’s number 1 then? The new citizen-talents? If we have this type of mentality, it’s just a matter of time Singapore will be eaten up by PRCs.