From credit to culture: Why learning can't just be incentivised

As at June, more than 70 per cent of Singaporeans have yet to use their SkillsFuture Credit top-up that expires at the end of 2025.

- Kang Yang Trevor Yu

A jobs and skills roadshow in November. Singapore's SkillsFuture Credit gives every adult a tangible reason to learn - a starting point for exploration and growth. A culture of learning, however, depends not just on financial nudges, but on motives, meaning and mindset, says the writer.

(ST PHOTO: LIM YAOHUI)

According to SkillsFuture Singapore (SSG), only around 28 per cent of eligible citizens had tapped the one-off $500 credit with about six months to go.

These figures are striking not because they signal policy failure, but because they highlight a deeper challenge: the difference between incentivising learning and cultivating a culture of learning. Singapore has made great strides in lowering barriers and offering opportunities. The next step is to make learning feel natural, personal and continuous.

Incentives work by prompting action: they lower costs, signal importance, and make it easier for people to take that first step. Singapore's SkillsFuture Credit is a powerful example of this logic. It gives every adult a tangible reason to learn a starting point for exploration and growth.

A culture of learning, however, operates on a different level. It depends not just on financial nudges, but on motives, meaning and mindset. It thrives when learning becomes a way of life, not a onetime act. A true learning culture is self-sustaining: people learn not because they are told to, but because they want to. The barriers are rarely about cost alone. Time, confidence and relevance matter just as much.