More overseas programmes, 'job tasters' for S'pore students to prepare them for working life

To prepare young Singaporeans for working life, the government will launch a slew of programmes to provide them with opportunities to build mental resilience and real-world experience.

These include overseas programmes, "job taster" opportunities, and an expanded Ministry of Education and Outward Bound Singapore (MOE-OBS) Challenge (MOC) programme.

The initiatives were announced as part of the SG Youth Plan, a five-year roadmap launched on Jul. 25 by President Tharman Shanmugaratnam and Acting Minister for Culture, Community and Youth David Neo to help youths navigate an increasingly uncertain world.

More overseas exposure opportunities

By 2030, 20,000 overseas exposure opportunities will be created annually for Singaporean youths.

These will comprise 17,000 short-term opportunities and 3,000 internships, up from 9,000 and 1,500 respectively today.

The opportunities include those under the Asia-Ready Exposure Programme (AEP), the Youth Expedition Project (YEP), as well as overseas internships for IHL students in ASEAN member states.

Currently, about 6,000 students take part in the AEP each year, while around 3,000 youths participate in the YEP.

These overseas opportunities will equip more youths with international experience and cross-cultural skills, preparing them for regional and overseas careers as more companies expand beyond Singapore, said the agencies.

30,000 job taster opportunities

The Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth (MCCY) and the National Youth Council (NYC) will work with partners across the public, private and people sectors to create 30,000 "job taster" opportunities each year by 2030.

"Job tasters" are short, bite-sized career exploration programmes lasting from half a day to a few weeks, which give youths first-hand exposure to different industries, workplaces and day-to-day job responsibilities.

The initiative comes on the back of NYC youth engagements, which found that while 78 per cent of youths recognise the importance of short-term work exposure in shaping their career journey, only 41 per cent felt they had sufficient opportunities to do so.

From Jul. 25, youths can browse more than 2,000 job taster opportunities through the Discover platform. Over 10,000 will be launched this year.

Expansion of OBS programme

The five-day residential MOE-OBS programme will be progressively expanded from July this year, with the full Secondary Three cohort expected to participate by 2030.

About 23,800 Secondary 3 students from 89 schools, or around 65 per cent of the cohort, participated in the programme in 2025.

In 2026, OBS will take in about 28,000 students from 99 schools.

The programme aims to help students apply mental resilience skills learnt in school to manage stress and challenges, while also creating spaces for them to grow social, emotional, and leadership skills.

The expansion follows an earlier announcement in March 2026 that OBS will open a new campus on Coney Island in the second half of 2026.

The new campus will feature advanced ropes courses, integrated climbing systems and other team-based challenge facilities, complementing OBS' existing campuses on Pulau Ubin and East Coast.