$130M being spent annually on foreign student scholarships is downright obscene |
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 By CGD I refer to the article: "MOE spent $130M annually on foreign student scholarships and funding in 2014-2018". I implore our Education Minister not to play with “WORDS”; please take the question posed by Non-Constituency Member of Parliament Leon Perera seriously and be forthcoming in your response. It doesn’t matter that the monies spent constituted just 1 per cent of MOE’s annual $13 billion budget, what really matters is that the absolute amount (130 million dollars) dispensed year after year could probably fund the studies of over 5,500 foreign students and that is a downright obscene state of affairs. Why all this senseless spending whilst depriving our OWN citizens opportunities to attend public universities and secure decent employment thereafter? [Quoted from "School’s Out: How Singapore Keeps University Reserved for the Elites ": The Singapore government’s recent revelation that it wants to restrict two-thirds of its citizenry from receiving public university education has generated a strong reaction among its population.] In some instances folks can’t even afford to pay for their children's school fees upfront and had to resort to making appeals to utilize existing CPF funds which were largely denied by the government, thus indirectly generating additional hardship for these families. One ended up killing both his wife and daughter because he couldn't settle his daughter's school fees [Quoted from "Woodlands double deaths: Murdered four-year-old adored by everyone in my family, says mother of accused": In fact, Teo had incurred debts of about S$70,000, and was struggling to pay his daughter's monthly school fees of S$850.] Granted, the Education Minister mentioned that international students on scholarships at the Autonomous Universities are also obliged to work in a Singapore entity for up to six years after graduation - that being said,“OBLIGED” is hardly synonymous with in-your-face mandatory. Put it simply, these foreign students can in fact study here without having to fork out a single dime, then subsequently choose to leave Singapore for good. Besides, why should the government be allowed to play Santa Claus at the taxpayer's expense to groom foreigners rather than its own people? Ironically ComCare spending to assist fellow Singaporean in need appears to be laughably paltry by comparison. It is clear as day the present government isn't doing right by its citizens, choosing instead to pursue unnecessary, excessive expenditure on agendas which do not in the tiniest way benefit us. Since you have demonstrated an obvious indifference towards bettering our lives, do not expect me to vote for you in the upcoming general elections. |
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