(3) BUILDING CAPABILITIES FOR THE FUTURE

To build new capabilities for the future,

1. We will invest in our people to maximise their potential.
2. We will invest in R&D to move our economy up the value curve.
3. We will make Singapore the best place to start and grow a business.
4. We will make Singapore a centre for “high trust” services.
5. We will invest in economic infrastructure to meet the business needs of tomorrow.
6. We will transform our city and living environment to build the best home for Singaporeans.

Investing in our People

Central to our strategy is our people. Every Singaporean plays a crucial role in an innovation-driven economy. Education and continuous learning will thus remain a top priority of the Government.

A First-rate Education

We will give every child access to a first-rate education. In every school, we have been focusing on quality. More teachers are being deployed, leading to more time to plan for quality and innovate in their teaching. Ideas are bubbling up in our schools and transforming the learning environment for our children. At Hougang Primary for example, Primary Two students are using iPods to create podcasts of talkshows, which they then showcase on the Internet for all to hear. Having a real audience means this is not just for fun, but the kids are taking their lessons seriously!

Post-Secondary Education Accounts

Getting a top-rate school education provides a critical foundation for every Singaporean. We will keep improving, keep helping our children to learn better. But good schools are not the end of the story. That is why we have also made our ITEs, polytechnics and universities world class. They are widely recognised as being in the top tier, internationally.

We want as many Singaporeans as possible to obtain a post-secondary education, whether it be to obtain a certificate, diploma, or degree. This is absolutely essential in the new, innovation-driven economy. To help Singaporeans pursue their tertiary education, we will create a Post-Secondary Education Account (PSEA) for every Singaporean aged seven to 20. Students can use the PSEA at our publicly-funded universities, polytechnics, ITEs, NAFA and LaSalle.

We recognise, however, that some Singaporeans may have missed out on an opportunity for post-secondary education. I will therefore allow the PSEA to also be used for UniSIM, which provides for an open-style university education for adult learners, and WDA-accredited lead training providers. Unused monies in an individual’s PSEA will be transferred to his CPF Ordinary Account when he turns 30. I will announce later the amount of top-ups that the Government will make into PSEA as part of this Budget.

Supporting Lifelong Learning

We are also extending our focus beyond the post-secondary stage — beyond what we learn in school and at our post-secondary institutions. Adult workers need to keep pace with a constantly changing employment landscape. Lower-skilled workers are especially vulnerable to becoming displaced if they do not upgrade or pick up new skills. No matter what useful skills or qualifications we attain in school, they will become less relevant over time.

Many more workers are now going for retraining, some upgrading themselves against the odds. Like Madam Sabariah Bte Ahmad, who was retrenched as a production operator from Maxtor 18 months ago. Unfortunately, at age 48, and having suffered from cancer, she had difficulty getting re-employed. But she persevered, and last year, she got onto NTUC’s STPT (Screen, Train, Place and Train) scheme, which put her on a job as a cashier at Kopitiam at Tan Tock Seng Hospital. She earns $900 a month, and is happy to be self-reliant, despite her illness.

Therefore, the Government will also increase its support for lifelong learning to all Singaporeans. We already spend up to $170 million per year on adult worker training, drawn from the Skills Development Fund (SDF) and the Lifelong Learning Endowment Fund (LLEF). But this is less than what several other countries are spending on continuous education and what is necessary to keep our citizens in pace with a globalised world. We must ramp up our investment in this area over the long term.

First, we need to allow individual workers to apply directly for subsidised training opportunities. We previously operated a system that was employer-centric, reimbursing employers that sent their workers for training. Over the past year, we have shifted to invest more in adult worker training institutions. This has lowered course fees and made training directly accessible to individual workers. We will keep up our efforts on this front.

Next, we will implement more Place and Train programmes, to help workers renew their skills and secure new jobs. The training will cover all segments of the workforce, from the unemployed, to operations staff, to supervisors, craftsmen, professionals and managers.

Third, we will encourage more adult learners to take up post-diploma courses in the polytechnics as part of lifelong learning. These comprise Advanced Diplomas and Specialist Diplomas — for example, in areas like Infocomm Security, Logistics and Semiconductor Technology. They cater to both basic diploma and degree holders. Currently these courses are fully self-financed by students. I have decided to subsidise 80% of the cost of these programmes for Singaporeans, starting from the 2007 intake. About 1,400 students enrol in such courses today, and we hope more will do so in future. The polytechnics will also expand their post-diploma offerings over time in response to market needs.

These are only initial plans, towards the larger goal of providing continuous learning opportunities to every Singaporean, and encouraging them to see this as a way of life. We will study this comprehensively — how to provide learning programmes that are relevant to every Singaporean, how they should be funded and how to foster a culture that makes lifelong learning the norm. Your certificate may lead to a diploma, your diploma may lead to a degree, and your first degree may not be your last. Or you may get a certificate or diploma after your degree. But this is not about the paper chase, but about the continuous refreshing of the skills and knowledge of Singaporeans that will prepare us well for the future.

We will therefore have to invest much more in Continuous Education and Training. As an initial estimate, we expect to triple our annual expenditure on lifelong learning to $500 million in the medium to long-term. To support this important initiative, this year I will put in another $100 million into the LLEF.