Education Forum : Educating the Next Generation

Education Forum : Educating the Next Generation

I attended this closed door forum held on 21st February 2009. Minister Ng Eng Hen was in a good mood. There were lots of questions and he answered each and every one of them. After the forum, he stayed for tea and chatted with the participants.

I hear the personal views of the Education Minister himself. I was given insights of certain policies. I have a better understanding of our education system. The Education Minister gets feedback from the ground.

Singapore has no natural resources. How we educate our young today will be the future of Singapore. Brain power is the only asset of that. Do we have the brains?

Everyone wants a good education. Any government in the world is willing to spend on education. Every new political candidate wants to do something for education but never quite gets to doing it.

Despite what the government is willing to spend, sometimes it does not match what they wanted to achieve. Singapore spends about 3.5% GDP on education. S$8.9 billion was spent on Education. What have we achieved?

Some countries spend 5-6% of GDP. But spending more doesn’t mean it’s a better education system.
The Singapore education system is well regarded internationally. Those who studied our education system have complimented it. It is quite good compared to many countries. Our students who have gone overseas are doing very well. The Singapore system is rigorous and it prepares the students well so that they perform better when they go into the new system.

Our education system meets the needs of a competitive economy but there are social consequences. Certain core values are sacrificed, there is a lesser sense of home and Singaporean-ness.


Minister Ng Eng Hen on Streaming :

Streaming must lead to better outcomes and be matched with adequate resources to help stretch each child to his maximum. It must not erode self-confidence or the belief that they cannot go further. We must reduce stigmas and labels.

This is why MOE has refined this policy to subject-based banding, as an example in Primary school. We also created many opportunities for late bloomers to move across to more advanced levels.

Life teaches us that there are many variables beyond academic ability which determines who succeeds. Our education system should not say or teach otherwise.

Looks good on paper but this is not carried out by some educators in our schools. They want to look good in their assessment reports. They want promotions and better pay. Self-confidence is the last thing they want to give the students.


At the heart of the success of a good education system, there must be passionate, competent and caring teachers. Singapore invests heavily in teacher training. Teachers are given opportunities to upgrade themselves over time. MOE provides loans and grants to support them.

But have MOE attracted the type of teachers they require?

I still see incompetent and uncaring educators in our schools. MOE is still keeping them. Why? Because there are not enough candidates?

Teachers cannot take over the parenting role but it has to be partnership. If there is resources, it’s better to put them on teachers than parents. It might not be easy to educate parents but it's more effective to educate teachers.

We also need competent school leaders to develop each student under their care.

If MOE reduces testing, our standards will drop. Testing will not only show standards of students but which teachers or schools are not doing well. Perhaps we can reduce the dependence of testing which MOE is trying to test for Pr 1 and 2.

Beyond grades : values

For a small country, it is important for us to maintain our survival and continued prosperity, both as a nation and individually. Our education system needs to impart values and not just grades to students.

Children don’t learn from what you say, they learn from what they see.

We have a more questioning younger population. Our education system needs to evolve in response to the changing needs of our nation as well as the external environment.

How do we nurture each child to believe in himself and be self-sufficient, to care for his fellow men, and to be able to contribute to the larger society around him?

Dialogue session with NEA, URA and BCA

Dialogue session

For several nights, I went round my neighbourhood collecting feedback of affected residents on the noise and air pollution caused by the ongoing construction project. To one another's surprise, we discovered that almost every one had made similar complaints to NEA and TPS Construction frequently.

On the morning of 20th February, several affected residents attended the dialogue session and voiced their concerns.

Representatives from the respective authorities were :

Mr Jothieswaran P
Chief Engineer
Pollution Control Department
The National Environment Agency

Mr Shee Siu Ming
Senior Executive Engineer
Construction and Enforcement Department
Building Engineer Division
Building and Construction Authority

Ms Charis Song
Senior Planning Executive
Urban Redevelopment Authority

Khairul and Mulyady (NEA)
Ryan Lim (URA)

from left - Charis Song (URA), Jothieswaran and Khairul (NEA)

Regarding the constant loud noise affecting residents at night and on weekends, NEA's Jothieswaran told MCL Land and TPS Construction Pte Ltd to ensure that noisy works like drilling, hacking, polishing should be avoided before 9 am on Saturday and 10 am on Sunday, and work should end by 5 pm. Noisy work should be avoided before 9am and to end on 6pm on weekdays. The condo development will be completed in April, latest June 2009.

Regarding complaints on mosquitoes and rat problem, residents noted that NEA has been quick and efficient in dealing with them. NEA staff were despatched as soon as they receive such feedback.

with BCA representative Mr Shee Siu Ming

It is a shock to the residents present that any structural defects such as cracks appearing on our houses, should be brought up during the piling stage. BCA can then determine if they are fresh cracks due to piling works.

Cracks or defects in houses could happen because of expansion and contraction due to temperature changes, or vibration or ground movements.

Ordinary citizens are not aware of such a regulation. No where in the website of BCA could I find such information.

Affected residents were asked to liaise with TPS Construction's Project Manager, Mr Lee Che Ping direct on their structural defects.

representatives from MCL Land and TPS Construction Pte Ltd

Residents were told there is a PR personnel called Mable, on site to answer and attend to the queries of its neighbouring community. We were not aware of that. Mable was not mentioned or recommended even though several residents have approached TPS Construction staff personally.

Many residents have spoken to foreman Neo who did not bother to inform his company about the residents' feedback for these past 2 and a half years.

We were also advised to look for relevant information on its erected board outside the construction site.

This dialogue session has not only made me understand the hard work behind the respective authorities, it has cleared some misconceptions I had.

I'm glad to know that NEA has a computerised feedback system where unanswered query from the public would be forwarded to senior management after a certain number of days. We are assured that all our feedback is being addressed.

All the representatives replied to questions from the residents objectively. Jothieswara is to be commended for his empathy and outreach to residents.

I hope there can be more of such useful dialogue sessions between residents and civil servants on problems in the community. We should get together to solve problems more efficiently and productively.

When residents' lives are determined by a machine and NEA

There is a construction going on just behind my backyard. For the past three years, my neighbours and I have endured the noise, the dust, the inconvenience. We have not been able to open our windows facing the construction site during this time. We have to endure the noise and dust from the piling, drilling, polishing, filing and excavation daily.

We have lovely and comfortable homes but our kids cannot stay home during the day because they cannot concentrate on their studies with that noise. They have to stay in school or go to some quiet place to study and come home after 6pm. But when the construction site worked until 10pm nightly, the kids could only come home after the noise stops. They didn't score well in their exams. One was taking GCE 'O' levels and some were taking their PSLE.


The construction workers start work at 8am, there were times they started work at 7 plus in the morning. Residents are usually woken up by the noise.

My husband and I wake up at 5.30am to prepare breakfast and send the kids off to school and we go back to sleep again. We don't have to go to work until 10.30am, we are not able to sleep early nightly because of work and grassroot commitments. Lately, we were too tired to wake up early due to lack of sleep. Even if we want to take a nap in the afternoon, there is the continuous noise. Besides naps cannot replace a good night's sleep.

My ailing elderly in-laws, both in their 90s, have not been able to live with us because the noise will send them to their graves earlier. Both my husband and I have to attend to them whenever they call. Our family unit has been broken and separated by profit-making companies and indifferent NEA staff.

A 75 year-old retired neighbour who is the most affected by this construction has a noise monitoring machine set up in his garden. The microphone was wrapped in cellophane. To prevent damage from the weather, said the man from the construction company.

A few months later, the recording device was removed and not put back. NEA staff were called in to check and nothing was done. What is the real purpose of this machine when it doesn't function?

This man is 75 years old. He and his wife planned to have a quiet and peaceful retirement but instead were forced into bitter fights with the construction company and NEA staff. The windows of their house were boarded up and sound-proof. They often have to escape their home whenever the noise gets unbearable and loiter outside until after 8pm. 3 years to the elderly is precious time wasted.


Do the people at TPS Construction, developer MCL Land and NEA look upon us residents as human beings?

Neighbours and I have feedback several times to the person in charge, foreman Neo of the construction company TPS Construction Pte Ltd. He doesn't care because he knows there's no way our woes would be taken seriously. The more we complain, the more deliberate and vicious he gets back at us.

My first feedback to Neo started end December 2007. Before that I took in the demolishing and piling works without a grumble, even when I fractured my ankle and was holed up in my bedroom for 3 months. Until they started working earlier on Sundays and public holidays and late into the nights.

I was told by foreman Neo they can only start work at 10am on Sundays and PH but work starts at 8am, even until 15th Feb morning. We tolerated it for more than 2 years. Our health suffers. We are constantly living in noise and air pollution.

They start drilling and filing at 8am and usually by the afternoon, they do quieter work. I asked the supervisors of the company to do their drilling in the afternoon or after 9am but to no avail.

Neighbours and I have written to NEA. Rahmad Sidek replied that the noise of the construction site is acceptable, without coming down to find out. He even asked me to look up the NEA website for solutions! Gosh! Now Ministries set up website so ordinary Singaporeans are supposed to read and find their answers there.

My neighbours and I read and it is all to the advantages of the companies. What about the welfare and health of the residents? Construction companies have no restrictions on the working hours for the contractors at the construction sites, within acceptable level of noise.

NEA's reply to a reader on Today forum

4 We would like to explain to you that the NEA controls construction
noise using a set of maximum permissible noise limits stipulated under
the Environmental Protection and Management (Control of Noise at
Construction Sites) Regulations. The permissible noise limits are more
stringent for the night-time (10.00pm to 7.00am) than the daytime noise
limits. The noise limits are also more stringent for premises that are
more sensitive to noise disturbances, e.g. hospital, schools. Construc
tion companies are required to take noise abatement measures and manage
their works to comply with the noise limits.
- Jothieswaran P
Chief Engineer
Pollution Control Department
The National Environment Agency

NEA's reply to me. A cut and paste standard reply.

The contractor responsible for the project at the worksite concerned has set up a noise monitoring equipment at one of the nearest residential buildings to the site, to measure the noise levels generated from the construction works on a continuous basis.

Notwithstanding that the contractor has not violated the noise permissible limits, we have advised the contractor to exercise care and be more considerate towards the neighbouring residents when carrying out their construction activities so as to minimise the noise nuisance. The contarctor has informed us that he will avoid carrying out noisy work on Sundays and Public Holidays.
- Jothieswaran P
Chief Engineer
Pollution Control Department
The National Environment Agency

What is acceptable? Being subjected to continuous drilling, filing, polishing for 3 hours non-stop is acceptable? Living in our own houses and yet we have to endure construction noises within 10m for 10 hours for 3 years is acceptable? This is unhealthy! How do you measure noise and deem it as acceptable when NEA staff just answers emails without coming to the site.

Lately the company built a covered drain structure next to our dividing wall that left residents puzzled. It is the height of a man. It is narrow, long and dark. It posses a security problem to neighbouring residents too. How are they going to clean and maintain it when they are stagnant water and dead carcasses?


Around this construction site live real people who have families, jobs, responsibilities. Our lives and health suffer having to put up with these private companies' profit making enterprise. Every day, for more than 10 hours daily, for the past 3 years, we live in this noisy environment. Our health suffers, our kids' grades suffer. We have no quality living environment despite it being a private residential area.

What I really want is for them to start their noisy construction work at 9am. Work on Sundays and PH to start at 10am. Is it that hard? Give us a break. And NEA staff please make site trips to understand the problems and frustrations faced by affected residents.

I can open up my house to let them work during their working hours so they can get a taste of the affected residents' miseries these 3 years. They cannot know what we have to go through when they only have to sit in their comfortable air-con offices.

noisy work right below my window at 8.05am Saturday

On 15th Feb (Sunday), the construction site started work at 8.03am. On 14th Feb (Saturday), it was 8.05am. Monday (16th Feb) morning, it was at 7.54am.

The construction company is not going to listen nor care for the health of the residents. They are not going to be penalised. And they are getting malicious. This is harassment. They can do anything they want because NEA is not able to do anything.

I called Khairul on 11th Feb morning and asked for a meeting between the affected residents and construction company with NEA staff as mediator. He said he would get back to me but ignored me and until now, there was no response.

He has my number, NEA has my address yet nothing is being done. This is feedback from ordinary citizens. Such problems are not going to go away when NEA brushes aside the feedback because there are many more construction projects all over Singapore.

Broadbased participation and ownership is ever important in our journey to environmental sustainability. This calls for more communication – to both speak and listen, and actively seek the views of the community at large.

The NEA’s slogan says, “Our Environment – We Care”. Slogans may change. But I hope that the word “we” is always understood to mean not only the NEA, but all of us in Singapore. It is the actions of our people and many private companies, and of other government institutions that can make – or break – Singapore’s best environmental efforts. As NEA people, we will certainly do our part. We hope that you will be encouraged to do yours, and join us on Singapore’s continuing environmental journey.
- Assoc. Prof Simon SC Tay
Ex-Chairman, National Environment Agency

But the biggest challenge NEA faces is to how to reach people – to stir each and every person to embrace our environment and treat it the way it should be treated: as though our lives depended on it. This is not just some airy-fairy, vague concept of saving the earth – it’s about getting people to view things and act in ways that are considerate both to the environment and to society.
- Mr Lee Yuen Hee
Ex-Chief Executive Officer, National Environment Agency

The National Environment Agency
Rahmad SIDEK
Khairul SAMSUDIN
Ang Kok Kiat
Jothieswaran P, Chief Engineer, Pollution Control Department

Thank you all so much for being such helpful civil servants.

MCLland
TPS Construction Pte Ltd


Update :
At 7pm on Monday (16/2/09), Khairul called me. A meeting has been arranged this coming Friday morning between the project manager and affected residents. NEA will send a staff to observe. Finally we are seeing some positive response after 2 years of misery. Unity is strength.