Debate on President’s Address: Christopher de Souza on stopping the ‘educational arms race’ and protecting the vulnerable from scams

One way to strengthen Singapore’s social fabric is to expand opportunities throughout life for all Singaporeans and this begins with education. Making the point in Parliament on Tuesday (Apr 18), MP Christopher de Souza proposed reducing class sizes from 40 to less than 30, saying this would enable customisation of teaching and learning, give students more opportunities to speak out and participate, and create a better environment for teachers. He also reiterated his previous suggestions to right-size syllabuses and increase affiliations between schools. Mr de Souza also spoke about the need to protect vulnerable groups from the growing scourge of scams. He called for “a proper bulwark” to be raised in banking security systems, such as by placing limits on transactions, calling customers to confirm that they want to proceed with transactions, spotting suspicious patterns in money outflows and activating a kill switch when necessary. New safeguards must be developed in tandem with the digital economy, he said. He also called for action to mitigate the effects of scams by putting in place better support and compensation for victims.