MSF to provide opportunities for social mixing: Desmond Lee

SINGAPORE — Laying out the priorities during his tenure, Mr Desmond Lee — who was appointed Social and Family Development Minister in September last year — has identified the growing class divide, an ageing population and possible social fallout from the economic disruption as key trends that need to be addressed.

The three trends will buffet Singapore with increasing intensity in the coming years, said Mr Lee on Tuesday (Jan 2) in his first media interview since he took on the portfolio.

“Social mobility is still stronger in Singapore than in many other societies, but it is not something we can take for granted”, said Mr Lee, citing a Institute of Policy Studies (IPS) report released last week which found among other things that private housing dwellers tend to mix with people living in the same housing type, instead of those in public flats.

The IPS report highlights the fact that when “left to its ordinary devices, society will naturally segregate”, Mr Lee said. His ministry needs to “create platforms and be proactive in provide opportunities for social mixing”, so that the lower income groups are able to progress and do well, he added.

Citing the importance of the early childhood sector to ensure social mobility for children from less well-off families, Mr Lee said he will be placing heavy emphasis on enhancing the sector, while continuing the work of his predecessor — Mr Tan Chuan-Jin who is now the Speaker of Parliament — in integrating the social services.

Studies have increasingly shown that intervention at an early age reaps the greatest rewards in developing their children’s abilities to rationalise, express themselves and form values and principles, said Mr Lee, following a visit to PCF Sparkletots @ Marsiling on its first day of school.

Pointing to the mega childcare centre’s vast outdoor spaces, Mr Lee said the Ministry of Social and Family Development (MSF) will champion outdoor adventure learning in the year ahead, by helping preschool education centres identify nearby spaces that they can use for their lessons.

To that end, the Early Childhood and Development Agency will ensure that centres increase the amount of physical activity time for their children from half an hour to an hour, and work with other agencies such as the National Parks Board and the Housing Development Board to tap existing age-appropriate playgrounds or open areas, or help centres create such spaces in their compound.

Mr Lee, who is also Second Minister for National Development, said this is important for the children “to develop self-reliance, be resilient, pick up values, care for each other, look out for each other in the play area, interact with nature, (and) care for the environment”.

The initiative will complement the ministry’s work in ramping up the number of childcare places by another 40,000 by 2023, and setting up a new national institute to train pre-school teachers, as announced by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong during his National Day Rally speech in August last year.

Turning to the changing demographics, Mr Lee said MSF is crafting a Bill to make provision for the State to protect vulnerable adults – those with disability who are neglected or ill-treated – and this will likely be introduced in the first half of the year. This would be similar to how vulnerable young persons are protected under the youth justice system. Mr Lee noted that currently, the government is unable to step in in cases where the abuse afflicted on vulnerable adults does not constitute a criminal offence.

Mr Lee also spoke about the need for greater integration of social services, which would help families that fall into hardships among others.

On whether such families will be able to cut through the red tape when applying for help from different agencies, Mr Lee said this is an ideal that would a few years to achieve, as it involves “working through forms, looking at IT systems not just within government agencies but external parties as well”. Ideally, “there should not be unnecessary friction to get the help that these families need”, even as voluntary welfare organisations (VWOs) and Social Service Offices (SSOs) exercise due diligence to assess the families’ eligibility for the various schemes.

Meanwhile, MSF will start tapping on data-sharing technologies to strengthen coordination between its 24 SSOs, family service centres, VWOs, as well as government agencies, Mr Lee said.