Jamus Lim Joins Local Church in Celebrating Sengkang Students’ Achievements with Bursary Awards

SINGAPORE: This past weekend was a happy one for Workers’ Party MP Jamus Lim, who wrote that he was blessed to have joined a local church in handing out bursary awards “to highly-deserving young students residing in #SengkangGRC, congratulating them on their educational achievements.”

He added that this is not something he normally gets the opportunity to do, noting that “As many folks know, opposition MPs are not invited to Edusave award ceremonies.”

Edusave awards are grants typically given to students in the top 10 per cent of a school’s cohort.

What Assoc Prof Lim has done in the past, and is still doing so this year, is to write letters of encouragement in lieu of giving the award, to children of residents in his ward who would like these letters.

When the offer came from Sengkang Methodist Church in Anchorvale, the Sengkang GRC Member of Parliament wrote that he was “very touched” to have been invited to join them in their bursary award ceremony this year.

The gesture from the church was especially meaningful since Assoc Prof Lim has once been a bursary recipient himself, which he described as not only “a wonderful recognition of my hard work, but actually enabled me to enroll for my masters degree in London.”

He shared this with the children and parents present at the awarding, but added, that he was “also careful to remind them that—as much as they should be pleased with what they have accomplished academically—they should also always remember that they will have the steadfast support of their parents, who love them unconditionally.”

Last year, he wrote in a Facebook post that parents had reached out to him regarding the awards, asking why Sengkang MPs hadn’t given out the awards, unlike in other constituencies.

“One of them expressed dismay, saying that their child was looking forward to interacting and taking a photo with their MP, and since the awards were mailed out instead, they have lost that opportunity.

As I explain to my residents, opposition MPs do not, unfortunately, have the pleasure of distributing Edusave awards, which are given out by the grassroots advisers (which are distinct from the elected representatives in non-PAP wards).” /TISG

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Opposition MPs don’t have the pleasure of distributing Edusave awards: WP’s Jamus Lim, can write letters to Sengkang awardees instead