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Source:
www.moe.gov.sg |
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More Financial Help for
Children from Low Income Families |
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¡¡ |
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The Government will invest more to help
children from low income families. It aims to ensure that education
remains affordable and no child will be denied an education due to a
lack of financial support. |
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As announced by the Prime Minister in his
Budget Speech on 17 Feb 06, the Ministry of Education (MOE) will be
implementing the following: |
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a.
Enhancing the MOE Financial
Assistance Scheme;
b.
Raising the qualifying household
income criterion for the Edusave Merit
Bursary; and
c.
Setting up ¡°Opportunity Funds¡± in
all schools. |
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At a visit to Fuhua Secondary School on 22 Feb 06,
Mr Tharman Shanmugaratnam, Minister for Education, announced the revisions to
the Financial Assistance Scheme, which will take effect on 1 March 2006. |
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Enhanced Financial Assistance |
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MOE will enhance its Financial Assistance Scheme (FAS)
in order to reach more low income families, and reduce their burden in meeting
essential school expenses. |
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The changes are two-fold. |
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First, the income ceiling will be raised so as to
allow the lowest 20% of households to qualify. The income limits under the FAS
for Government and Government-Aided Schools will be increased from the current
$900 (Gross Monthly Household Income) to $1,500 for families with 1 or 2
children; and from $1,050 to $1,800 for families with 3 or more children. |
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Second, the benefits granted to FAS recipients
will also be expanded. They will receive a full waiver of the standard
miscellaneous fees, compared to the 50% waiver under the current FAS. FAS
recipients will also get a 75% subsidy on national examination fees.[1] |
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The enhanced FAS will come into effect
from 1 March 2006. The current and revised criteria and benefits of
the FAS for Government and Government-Aided Schools are shown in
Annex A. |
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MOE will also be enhancing the Financial Assistance
Scheme for Singapore citizen students attending Independent Schools. |
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This is a three-tier scheme under which
recipients will have 100%, 75% or 50% of their fees subsidised,
depending on their household income. |
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MOE has revised the income limits and
benefits for the 100% fee subsidy category to align them with that for
FAS for Government and Government-Aided Schools. (See
Annex B.) |
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Details on the schools fees, miscellaneous
fees and examination fees payable by FAS recipients are in
Annex C. |
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The enhancements to the FAS will increase
the number of recipients, from about 15,000 last year to an estimated
33,500. |
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Parents should approach their child¡¯s school
directly if they require financial assistance. Schools will process
their applications for FAS based on the revised criteria. |
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If the students are not eligible or need
additional financial assistance, schools will help to source for support
from other avenues, e.g. financial assistance schemes administered by
the School Advisory/Management Committees and community organisations
such as the Community Development Councils, Citizens¡¯ Consultative
Committees and voluntary welfare organisations. |
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Enhanced Edusave Merit Bursary |
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The Edusave Merit Bursary (EMB) was
started in 1995 to encourage good performance by students from
lower-middle and low-income families. |
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The EMB is given out[2]
annually to about 40,000 students, who are in the top 25% of their
level and stream in their schools, and who come from households with
monthly income of less than $3,000. |
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As announced by PM in his Budget Speech,
the Government will raise the monthly household income limit of the
EMB from $3,000 to $4,000. |
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This move is expected to benefit an
additional 17,000 students, or a total of about 57,000 students. The
enhanced EMB will be implemented for the bursary awards selection
exercise later this year. |
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Setting up ¡°Opportunity Fund¡± in
Every School |
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As part of the PROGRESS (Providing
Opportunities through Growth, Remaking Singapore for Success)
Package, the Government has decided to provide grants amounting to
$48m to government and government-aided schools, junior colleges/centralised
institute, independent schools, the Institute of Technical Education
and special education schools. |
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This grant will be used to set up
¡°Opportunity Funds¡± to level up enrichment opportunities for
Singapore citizen students from lower income households. |
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As announced by PM in his Budget Speech,
all schools will receive the grant, with neighbourhood schools
getting double the per capita rate compared to independent and
autonomous schools. |
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A typical primary school will receive a
grant of $118,000 while a typical neighbourhood secondary school
will receive a grant of $150,000. |
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The funds will be directed towards
providing needy students with opportunities to enrich their learning
and build firm foundations for learning. |
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Some examples of how schools may use the
funds include assisting needy pupils to own personal computers so as
to widen their learning and provide more opportunities to use IT in
their project work; programmes to develop stronger problem solving
and communication skills; and a ¡°good books¡± pack for needy primary
school students aimed at encouraging an early appreciation of
reading. |
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Schools may also use the funds to
subsidise needy students¡¯ participation in study trips to the
region. Feedback from schools indicates that the exposure to the
region has tremendous educational value, and strengthens personal
resilience among our students. |
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Schools will design their own schemes
for drawing on their Opportunity Funds, in line with MOE¡¯s efforts
to encourage school-based innovations in education. |
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To target the additional resources at
meeting the needs of their students, schools will have the
flexibility to decide how to use the additional resources within
broad guidelines from MOE. |
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More..... |
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Source:
www.moe.gov.sg Press Release 22
Feb 2006 |
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Related Article: |
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-
Prime Minister's Budget 2006 Speech |
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FrontPage Edition: Mon 27 Feb 2006
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