WP to raise questions  in Parliament about jobs for new grads, public transport, bullying

SINGAPORE: Bullying in schools, jobs for fresh graduates, and public transport problems are some of the issues that Workers’ Party Members of Parliament (WP MPs) will be tackling this week.

The WP is the only opposition party in Parliament. It kept its seats at Aljunied GRC, Hougang SMC, and Sengkang GRC in the May 3 General Election, and thus has 12 MPs in the 15th Parliament of Singapore, which was opened on Sep 5 by President Tharman Shanmugaratnam.

As the first session started on Monday (Sep 22), the WP MPs were joined by two Non-Constituency Members of Parliament (NCMPs_, Eileen Chong and Andre Low, who contested under the party’s banner at Tampines GRC and Jalan Kayu SMC, respectively. This is the biggest WP team ever sent to Parliament.

Traineeships and jobs

The WP MPs and NCMPs will ask various questions, including whether the Graduate Industry Traineeships (GRIT) can help Singapore’s fresh graduates find jobs. The employment challenges that young people face are a topic that Sengkang MPs Louis Chua and Jamus Lim have recently been vocal about.

Last month, Mr Low and Ms Chong invited new graduates to share their job search experiences, with Mr Low telling them that the struggles are “a systemic problem, and not yours to find alone.”

The WP noted that there is a limited number of entry-level positions to apply for and that some new graduates have been taking contractual jobs, and it is asking what the Government is doing about the situation.

Members of the WP team in Parliament will raise questions such as how the 800 positions in the GRIT programme, as well as the traineeship allowance ranging from S$1800 to S$2400, are determined. They will also ask if there are other targeted interventions to support fresh graduates.

Reliable public transport

With the recent train disruptions, especially affecting Singaporeans living in the northeastern part of the country, the WP MPs and NCMPs will also ask if Singapore’s public transport system should not be more reliable. They will specifically raise questions about maintenance schedules being stretched too far and whether the penalties meted out to train operators are strong enough to ensure reliability.

Bullying and school safety

Another topic the WP parliamentarians will be bringing to the table concerns bullying and school safety, given the spate of incidents, including one at Sengkang Green Primary.

While the Ministry of Education has said it takes the issue seriously, there are a number of related topics that the WP team in Parliament intends to raise.

/TISG

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