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Lower-, middle-income families to get more education subsidies

SINGAPORE — Pre-schoolers and tertiary students can look forward to further subsidies as the Government will be dipping into its coffers to increase financial assistance for those from lower- and middle-income families.

Students having a lesson in a classroom in Ngee Ann Secondary School. Photo: Ernest Chua.

Students having a lesson in a classroom in Ngee Ann Secondary School. Photo: Ernest Chua.

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SINGAPORE — Pre-schoolers and tertiary students can look forward to further subsidies as the Government will be dipping into its coffers to increase financial assistance for those from lower- and middle-income families.

Deputy Prime Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam said promoting social mobility remained a key priority.

To that end, the Kindergarten Fee Assistance Scheme (KiFAS) — a financial assistance scheme aimed at lower-income households — will be expanded. The scheme will now include middle-income families, while lower-income households will receive greater assistance.

Mr Tharman, who is also Finance Minister, noted the changes to pre-school subsidies would mean households in the lowest quartile that earn up to S$3,000 each month will now pay S$3 instead of as much as S$75 a month. A lower-middle-income family earning up to S$4,800 a month will pay S$85 a month in kindergarten fees instead of S$130 today.

Mr Tharman also said KiFAS would be made available to all anchor operators and Ministry of Education (MOE) kindergartens. The scheme is currently open only to children enrolled in nursery, K1 or K2 programmes at eligible non-profit kindergartens, such as the PAP Community Foundation (PCF), and whose family earns less than S$3,500 each month. About 23 per cent of the PCF’s enrolment is subsidised by KiFAS.

The Ministry of Social and Family Development will be announcing more details during the Committee of Supply debate next month.

For students attending public universities, polytechnics and Institutes of Technical Education (ITE), Mr Tharman said those from lower- to middle-income families can expect bigger bursaries.

The increased financial support costing up to S$147 million a year will be allocated to enhanced bursary schemes and the per capita monthly household income threshold will be raised from S$1,700 to S$1,900, benefiting students from two-thirds of Singaporean households.

Mr Tharman said bursaries for undergraduates from the lowest one-third of households will increase to S$3,600 a year, while middle-income students will receive another S$450 for a total of S$2,600 every year. They will also continue to benefit from the ongoing Tuition Fee Loan and Study Loan schemes, which help students pay for their university education interest-free, he added.

At the polytechnic and ITE levels, support will be extended to students from middle-income families apart from those in the lower-income group. Said Mr Tharman: “ITE bursaries for lower-income students will be significantly higher than their fees, helping them defray their living expenses.”

The MOE will elaborate on these changes at the Committee of Supply debate next month.

Polytechnic student Alexis Chia, 21, who is applying to university this year, plans to take a bank loan to pursue her degree. Previously, she tapped bursaries to pay for her polytechnic education. With a younger brother in ITE, she said education expenses are “definitely quite heavy on our family’s budget and any help will be good”.

Those from lower-income families with young children, such as Madam Munira Masran, 42, are grateful kindergarten fees will be lowered with the enhanced KiFAS. Fees for her two grandchildren add up to more than S$200 a month, she said. “We are running on a very tight budget ... If we can save on fees, the extra money can go towards having some savings.”

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Budget 2014

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