Singaporeans invited to share views on education and lifelong learning in Forward Singapore exercise

SINGAPORE: Singaporeans are invited to share their views on education and lifelong learning as part of the Forward Singapore exercise.

Minister for Education Chan Chun Sing launched the Forward Singapore Equip pillar microsite on Monday (Sep 5) as he encouraged Singaporeans to give their feedback.

"One of the things that we want to see and have demonstrated here this evening is this. We didn't want this to be an exercise where we tell everyone else what we want to achieve and put a fullstop," said Mr Chan in his closing remarks after an engagement session with 74 students at Republic Polytechnic on Monday afternoon.

"What we want to see is we want an evolving document of what we all want to achieve together in common. And how we, each and every one of us, is going to contribute to that."

The engagements under the Equip pillar will focus on building consensus and fostering collective responsibility on how to equip every Singaporean with the opportunity to "thrive, grow and realise their aspirations", regardless of their starting point in life, said the Ministry of Education (MOE) in a separate press release.

Mr Chan, Senior Minister of State for Defence and Manpower Zaqy Mohamad and Senior Minister of State for Communications and Information and National Development Tan Kiat How will lead the Equip pillar of the Forward Singapore exercise.

The Forward Singapore exercise was launched by Deputy Prime Minister Lawrence Wong in June, with the aim of reviewing and refreshing Singapore's "social compact".

As part of the exercise, MOE will be engaging stakeholders such as leaders in schools and institutes of higher learning, educators, parents and students from August to November.

The engagements will focus on five key areas: A strong foundation for every child, diverse learning models for diverse abilities, multiple pathways of success, caring for students with special educational needs, and lifelong growth for everyone, said the ministry in the press release.

The sessions will conclude with a large-group engagement in mid-November with various stakeholders to consolidate the findings.

Mr Chan, Mr Zaqy and Mr Tan, alongside Minister of State for Education and Manpower Gan Siow Huang, discussed with the students on Monday about what they hope to see in Singapore's education and lifelong learning landscape.

The Equip pillar aims to build consensus and listen to the aspirations of young people in Singapore, said Mr Zaqy, speaking to journalists after the session. 

"It's wonderful today to hear from our polytechnic kids in terms of their aspirations for Singapore ... what their perspectives are with regards to how the Government looks at policies that affect them. At the same time, what they would like to see changed in the future and how things could develop and evolve," he added.

"At the same time it's also wonderful to see many of them come forward with ideas, and many are prepared to look, to see how they can work with the Government to effect change."