Comment: PM Wong's 1st National Day Rally sees S'pore looking inward to look outward

There was a unique moment at the beginning of Prime Minister Lawrence Wong's first National Day Rally.

But it didn't really belong to Wong, it belonged to Emeritus Senior Minister and former PM, Goh Chok Tong.

Goh got to watch as a child who went to pre-school because of his efforts, benefited from a bursary he pioneered, and took up the mantle of a prime minister role that he previously set the tone for.

After that, Wong got down to business, beginning with a geopolitical reminder that the global situation is at its most unpredictable and dangerous in decades.

But other than that, there was no in-depth discussion of the wider world or of broader challenges like Artificial Intelligence.

There was just enough in it to remind listeners that domestically-centred policies are a dual-edged sword wielded in our favour, bolstering Singapore internally also strengthens its position externally.

A major reset

I will admit to a deep level of scepticism when I initially heard that the speech was going to focus on a major reset – both in policies and attitude.

I think the simplest way to express this touches on the line constantly parroted at Singaporeans; Singapore is a country with no natural resources other than its people.

Having no hinterland is not going to hinder criticisms – unfairly or otherwise.

As a friend once sardonically remarked, if that was the case, Singapore is seriously underinvesting in that sole resource.

I hope my friend's view would have changed after watching Wong's National Day Rally speech.

"The GEP is dead, long live the GEP."

The Gifted Education Programme (GEP) was always a mystery to me, I imagined it as a somewhat cloistered group of brainy kids, wandering around in the background of my school.

From speaking to more recent participants, including the parent of a current GEPer, that was never the case. They went to classes roughly equal in size to mine, with an enhanced curriculum.

My friend was initially sceptical about sending his child for the programme, and I glibly told him it was “his chance for his son to be educated like his dad was rich”.

After a year of his kid being in the programme he told me that it isn’t like that…mostly.

I asked how he felt about the changes, and he said: “The GEP is dead, long live the GEP.”

This was a feeling echoed by another acquaintance who went through the program, as if focus had switched from facilitating gifted children, to children's gifted capabilities.

It’s not really like that. But it is a little like that.

The GEP, in its new revamped form, applies to 10 per cent of a cohort, but it's more than it was before – only the top 1 per cent of every Primary 3 cohort qualifies.

Leaning into learning

It leans into, without fully embracing, the idea of “mass customisation”, which Minister for Education Chan Chun Sing spoke about at the 2023 Institute of Policy Studies Singapore Perspectives conference.

Chan contrasted the old way of doing things, “Mass Access”, to customisation, where children would get the support they needed to thrive.

The new GEP targets the top 10 percent, not exactly "mass", but I hope it is MOE's opening gambit in the change of approach.

And that change of approach can benefit many other policy areas, such as the changes to SkillsFuture for those over 40 years of age, who probably have more varied education needs than that of children.

It is refreshing to see the government use its most powerful asset to fill the cracks – through which many might have otherwise fallen through – namely money.

By providing S$72,000 (a sum they did not tote up in the 2024 budget speech, but I did) in SkillsFuture credits, they have provided Singaporean workers a powerful tool with which to remake their careers, at their own discretion.

It’s a sum large enough to be no half measure, a sum that is the example I use when I try to explain what embracing a policy looks like.

Entrusting Singaporeans to be mature enough to choose their own path, is a refreshing enough move that I count the SkillsFuture changes in this year's Budget twice when counting meaningful changes.

Leaving parents to it

And it was remarkable that such an example was given not once, but twice.

The other was the expansion of parental leave to 30 weeks, 16 for mothers, four for fathers, and 10 to be shared between the two.

The golden standard for parental leave is usually the Nordic States of Sweden, Finland, Norway, and Denmark.

All have fairly generous parental leave laws. Sweden gives 68 and a half weeks, and Finland is famous for its baby box that gifts essential items and doubles as a crib.

All have successfully managed to maintain TFRs higher than Singapore, but all are still trending downwards, implying generosity is a delay, not a solution.

But is that so bad?

It’s still 10 more weeks for parents to spend with their newborns, critical moments in all their lives, moments that cannot be replaced.

The Nordic states' trend is unlikely to have escaped the notice of our policy makers, meaning that they’re either exceptionally desperate to raise our TFR by any amount, or are acknowledging that whatever the outcome, it would be worth it.

I really hope it's the latter, an understanding that some things, while intangible, are still invaluable.

A strong foundation first

“Realising our new ambitions will require a major reset – a major reset in policies, to be sure; but also a reset in our attitudes.”

That was the goal that Wong set for himself, in aid of an ideal, that a Singapore strong enough to withstand external challenges must first bolster itself within.

Education, birth-rate, employment, even housing, all these are domestic issues that must be addressed before Singaporeans can face the world confidently.

It's a big ask. I wouldn't say he fully achieved it, but that’s okay.

Singapore has so many orthodoxies, and many of them need some kind of shake up, and that will take time.

The government has to walk the talk, but first they have to get the talk right, and I think on balance they did.

Maybe one day, PM Wong will be sitting in the audience of an ITE college, watching as a child from his constituency, nurtured into life with 30 weeks of parental care, and educated in a way that celebrates their gifts, takes the podium to deliver his or her first NDR speech.

Top image via PMO Singapore/YouTube