Second Minister for Finance and Education Indranee Rajah announced on Friday (Oct. 26) a new inter-agency taskforce that will help strengthen support for students from disadvantaged families.

The taskforce, known as UPLIFT (Uplifting Pupils in Life and Inspiring Families Taskforce), aims to focus on the under-performing students, in order to enable them to meet their true potential.

Five political office-holders involved

Led by Indranee, UPLIFT includes four other political office-holders. They are Ministers of State Zaqy Mohamad and Sam Tan, and Senior Parliamentary Secretaries Muhammad Faishal Ibrahim, and Low Yen Ling.

The three remaining members of the taskforce are the Deputy Secretary (Policy) for the Ministry of Education, the Deputy Secretary for the Ministry of Social and Family Development, and the CEO of the Early Childhood Development Agency.

The terms of references of the taskforce are to i) review existing measures to support high-needs children and their families, with particular attention to children of younger ages; ii) recommend strategies for strengthening early and upstream interventions for different profiles of students and their families; iii) develop an integrated approach to support these children; and iv) oversee the implementation of the initiatives, keeping in mind the long-term sustainability of intervention efforts.

The announcement comes after a Oct. 23 report from the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) that ranked Singapore as third in the world for upward educational mobility.

It also coincides with the issues discussed during the recent Institute of Policy Studies' (IPS) 30th anniversary conference. The conference saw its speakers and participants debate over the issues of social mobility and inequality.

Plugging the gap in targeted areas

Here are the targeted areas UPLIFT aims to plug the gaps in:

• Improving students’ motivation – cultivating the right values and broadening the students’ exposure in life, to complement academic programmes
• Tackling long-term absenteeism and drop-out rates – developing strategies to overcome barriers to regular attendance in school
• Stepping up parent outreach and engagement - strengthening parent outreach and parenting programmes to empower less privileged families

As for the target group, Indranee told the media that although the taskforce does not have a fixed definition for the "disadvantaged", the policies will likely address those in the bottom 20 per cent, and could extend up to 30 to 40 per cent as well.

Working with other stakeholders

Indranee says the taskforce will work together with other stakeholders to help the students achieve their potential:

"A key piece of the work is consulting with those in the frontline of working with disadvantaged children and their families, including school personnel, social workers, self-help groups and community partners.

We will also hear from the children and their families themselves.

Their experiences and insights will help us better understand what more we should do, and how we as a community and a society can collectively uplift those from disadvantaged backgrounds, boost social mobility and reduce inequality.”

She added that sometimes the problem is as simple as coordination between families and the relevant agencies, giving an example of a family who had no idea whatsoever on the available financial help they could get to allow the child to go to school after he or she was accepted to the Institute of Technical Education (ITE).

But after the information was made known to them, the gap was plugged.

Complement existing programmes

At the moment MOE already has various policies in place to support disadvantaged students, adding that the taskforce "will map out these support structures and take concrete steps to plug any gaps in [their] current ecosystem of support":

"To support our disadvantaged students, MOE has an existing suite of interventions across different age groups, comprising academic levelling-up, holistic development, family support and financial assistance.

The Early Childhood Development Agency (ECDA) is also conducting a separate evaluation on the effectiveness, impact and sustainability of the KidSTART pilot. ECDA will share with us findings from their review when ready."

Zaqy, who is Deputy Chairman for MENDAKI, gave an example of how the taskforce will complement existing frameworks of support:

“The M3 framework -- a collaboration between MENDAKI, MUIS and MESRA -- aims to be the pivot of the Malay/Muslim community in Singapore.

While [they] continue to co-deliver programmes to help the Malay community to achieve progress, it is important for us to strengthen the 'last-mile service delivery' so that those who require support can get access to it more easily.”

Helping parents help their children

Sam Tan, who is also Board Member of the Chinese Development Assistance Council, said the taskforce aims to strengthen parenting skills, in view of their role in their children’s holistic development:

"When children have nurturing caregivers and a conducive environment at home, they are likely to be more engaged in their learning in school and at home."

Helping students go to school

Indranee explained that the issue is absenteeism rather than enrolment.

And the problem goes far deeper than just absenteeism, she said, such as a lack of proper family support due to various family circumstances.

For instance, students might come from families that do not prioritise education and have absent parents either due to divorce or irregular shift hours.

This might lead them to find other sources of support such as older students who could lead them astray.

She added that this is where the community, such as self-help groups, can come in and provide a positive influence on such students and support them.

However, she said the ultimate solution is to cultivate the right family values so that families will make sure their children go to school, instead of having to rely on external support such as the community to preach to them and bring their children physically to school.

Situation in S'pore not that bad

According to an MOE spokesperson, the number of students who are chronically absent without valid reason has remained small.

In 2017, about 1.1 per 1,000 students in primary schools and 7.5 per 1,000 students in secondary schools were absent for 60 days or more without any valid reason.

The numbers have remained more or less constant from 2009 (1.1 per 1,000 primary school students and 9.9 per 1,000 secondary school students), although the methodology for data collection has evolved over the years.

MOE has also sent Student Welfare Officers (SWOs) to schools to work together with the school staff to reintegrate students with irregular school attendance back to school.

The MOE spokesperson added the dropout rate has been low over the years -- the overall proportion of each Primary 1 cohort who dropped out at the secondary level remained at less than one per cent.

Recommendations to be announced next year

When asked about the specific policies the taskforce will be implementing, Indranee said they are at the "preliminary stage" now and that the work of the taskforce is expected to take two years.

After engaging the relevant stakeholders and the community brainstorm to create solutions together, the taskforce will be announcing their recommendations next year.

Thereafter, they will be tracking and evaluating the efforts over a one to two year period to ensure they are effective.

MOE will then assess the need for the taskforce to continue its work beyond 2020.

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