MPs underscore need to keep social mobility alive

Several raise the issue of inequality, call for more to be done to help workers

- Chin Soo Fang

Sustaining social mobility in Singapore and ensuring access to opportunity remains fair was a key theme on the second day of the debate on the President’s Address.

Among the 18 MPs who spoke on Sept 23, several raised the need to tackle inequality and for Singapore to keep refining its meritocracy, in order to reach a “we first” society that puts the collective before self.

Ms Joan Pereira (Tanjong Pagar GRC) and Ms Mariam Jaafar (Sembawang GRC) said programmes like KidStart - which help children in lower-income homes — are commendable, but must go further in providing holistic support for families.

Ms Mariam, who chairs the Government Parliamentary Committee for Health, said support for vulnerable families is still too fragmented, and government programmes should track a child’s progress as they grow. For instance, an education programme for a ComLink+ family should follow a child from preschool through secondary school, and include after-school care and enrichment programmes.

Ensuring the next generation is ready to brave the new uncertainties ahead — such as the impact of artificial intelligence (AI) and the digital world - will require a mindset shift among parents, said Minister of State for Social and Family Development and for Home Affairs Goh Pei Ming.

This means resisting the urge to get children to study ahead of the school curriculum or to outdo their peers academically, but to instead give them a childhood rich with unstructured play and opportunities to learn from their own experiences, he said.

“This is the mindset change that we need: from tiger parents to bear parents,” he said, describing parents who nurture and defend their children, but who also give them the space to stumble, learn and become more resilient.

MPs also called for more to be done to help workers, whether they are lower-wage earners or professionals, managers, executives and technicians (PMETs).