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Kent Ridge Ministerial Forum 2010: Be self-confident and pragmatic, says DPM Teo
Apr. 7 | Deputy Prime Minister Teo Chee Hean engaged a 300-strong student audience on Monday night at the Kent Ridge Ministerial Forum, delving into issues of economic and political sustainability. In this third installment of the NUS Political Association’s...
Singaporean strawberries?
Apr. 1 | By Chua Yini In an address at the Singapore Scout Association’s 100th Anniversary dinner on the 27th of Feburary, Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong described young Singaporeans as ‘fragile like strawberries’. Said SM Goh, ‘Fortunately, we have our...
An indoctrination process during NS
Jan. 31 | Alvin Phoon Being Singaporean means experiencing a lot of things. Good food. High prices. SPGs. It also means constantly receiving some excellent reasons for why things are; reasons that may or may not (mostly not) justify fallacies in the current political...
God sneaks into our classrooms – Part Two
Aug. 21 | Lim Say Liang In “God sneaks into our classrooms” (Part One), we raised the spectre of stealth religion in our schools. In particular, Creationism. The Online Citizen has managed to interview the following people for their views, including Kenneth...
God sneaks into our classrooms
Aug. 3 | Lim Say Liang In 2005, after complaints from the public, the Ministry of Education (MOE) rapped the knuckles of teachers who openly proselytize in class: “’The MOE takes a firm stand on religious proselytising by teachers,” the statement said....
Rethinking Elitism Part 1
Nov. 3 | Thng Yiren / Writer Always a hot topic of debate and even bitterness, elitism and general attitudes of snobbishness has frequently been featured on the spotlight especially when youths are concern. This is a legitimate cause of concern. However, I feel...
TOC Report: PM Lee at NUS Ministerial Forum
Sep. 22 | By Ng Sook Zhen If Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong were right, even if we change Singapore twice over, there still will be many improvements to be made. KT Speaking at the Kent Ridge Ministerial Forum organized by the National University of Singapore Students’...
TOC Opinion: PM Lee at NUS: Where’s the substance?
Sep. 22 | By Choo Zheng Xi The Kent Ridge Ministerial Forum was a surreal experience. Throughout the forum, I had trouble believing that this event was being held the day after one of the most contentious Parliamentary sittings I had ever followed was concluded....
Education and excellence through a fairer Tuition Grant program
Sep. 13 | By Pin-Quan Ng In his National Day Rally address, our prime minister suggested the possibility of developing a fourth public university to meet the increasing demand for university education, perhaps in response to the recent controversy over the number...
TOC Exclusive: Otto Fong’s Open Letter
Sep. 10 | Theonlinecitizen has obtained a copy of the original blog entry by Raffles Institution teacher, Otto Fong. It also includes comments which were originally posted by readers of his article. The original posting on his own blog has since been taken down....
The Internet’s reaction to Otto Fong
Sep. 9 | Below are some reactions from the internet regarding Raffles Institution teacher Otto Fong’s “coming out” blog post. Letter to Raffles Institution regarding Otto Fong by Jasper Chen “I must say that I am deeply touched by Mr Fong’s article....
What has university places got to do with compulsory annuities?
Sep. 5 | By Leong Sze Hian According to the article “Fourth varsity: Third time’s the charm?” (Straits Times, September 1), 23.5 per cent of each cohort makes it to the local universities, “But what is significant though is that up to half...
A good speech – but some points to keep in mind
Aug. 20 | By Andrew Loh As usual, the prime minister’s National Day Rally speech was not short of good, upbeat news. Nothing surprising in that. If one were to take a look at past speeches, it has always been so. I still remember then prime minister Goh Chok...
Another set of figures on university enrolment?
Aug. 20 | By Leong Sze Hian During his National Day Rally speech on Sunday, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong outlined his government’s intention to build a 4th University to cater to more Singaporean students. The PM said the objective is to allow 30 percent of...
Foreign unis & foreign students – are we striking the right balance?
Aug. 6 | By Leong Sze Hian Despite a heated debate in the media and calls by the public for EDB to reveal how much of taxpayer’s money has been lost due to the UNSW closure, EDB chose to remain silent. I find it somewhat embarrassing to first find out the...
Minister’s blunder a cause for concern
Jul. 20 | By Choo Zheng Xi Our writer Leong Sze Hian recently pointed out that numbers for the proportion of foreign students in local varsities given by Minister of State for Education Gan Kim Yong in Parliament did not add up. Mr Gan had said in Parliament that...
MOE’s reply – Numbers still don’t add up
Jul. 20 | By Leong Sze Hian The Ministry of Education has clarified that out of the 22,933 foreign students who applied for local universities, the actual number admitted was 4,218 (18.4%). The Ministry explained that the 987(4.3%) figure given in Parliament only...
University places – numbers don’t add up
Jul. 18 | By Leong Sze Hian This Channelnewsasia report titled “Enough places in local universities for Singaporeans : MOE”, quotes Mr Gan Kim Yong, Minister of State for Education as saying: “The universities do give priority to local students. And for...
Should homosexuals be allowed to teach?
Jun. 27 | At first glance, the answer to the question above is obvious. A teacher’s sexuality belongs to a private realm, and has no bearing on his ability to teach. There have been no known instances, for example, where one’s sexual orientation has impaired...
Homosexuality as a “disorder”: classification denies potential trainee teaching position
Jun. 26 | After a clarification from Alfian Sa’at, who writes for Trevvy, we have decided to only publish an excerpt of this article, as follows. You can view the full article here. “I watch Francis as he tries to describe how he feels about the turning...
Award winning local playwright fired from teaching position
Jun. 11 | TOC report Alfian Sa’at, one of Singapore’s most illustrious playwrights, was recently fired from a relief teaching position by the Ministry of Education (MOE). The reason for his dismissal? In the words of the Ministry, he did not ‘best meet the...
Foreign Talent policy: of principle and practice
May. 25 | By Choo Zheng Xi The government’s defense of its foreign talent policy follows a familiar pattern. The government rolls out a policy and frames it within unobjectionable truisms that few can disagree with. In the foreign talent debate, the truisms are...
The Work Holiday Programme: an undergraduate’s concern
May. 25 | By Ned Stark Singapore’s open door policy rolls on. The government’s stated goal is to bring Singapore’s population up to the 6.5 million mark. Unless we drastically increase our birth statistics, it is clear that many of these 6.5 million residents...
UNSW closure – some tough questions
May. 24 | By Choo Zheng Xi A friend of mine (let’s call him James) made the decision a few months ago to enroll in the University of New South Wales (UNSW) campus in Singapore. He had taken a gamble and given up his place in NUS’ Business faculty for a chance...
National Ed vs Moral Ed
May. 1 | This excerpt is from Trisha Reloaded’s blog: I’m not talking about my school environment. I’m talking about the larger society, where the ministerial salary hikes, the political strutting of people puffed up with a sense of their own self-importance,...
Fake Degrees To Land Better Jobs On The Rise In Singapore
Mar. 28 | From KeralaNext.com The use of fake degrees to land better jobs and pay is on the rise in Singapore with many of the offenders coming from India and China, the Manpower Ministry said in a published report Wednesday. Data showed 374 people were found...
Just for laughs…
Mar. 22 | Just thought I’d share this with everyone – for a laugh. Or are our kids too stressed too? From Wind In My Head blog.
Singaporean students to be re-valued monthly
Dec. 29 | By The Kentang Singapore students will now be ranked according to their monetary value each month Keeping in line with Singapore‘s goal to extract maximum value from every Singaporean Student, the Ministry of Emulation has drafted a new scheme that...
