SINGAPORE: Senior Minister Lee Hsien Loong assured Singaporeans that the government will keep on investing in the lives of the youth, particularly in their education, to help ensure they get good jobs.
Speaking at the Teck Ghee Education Merit Awards at Townsville Primary School on Saturday (Feb 22), SM Lee spoke of the global uncertainties affecting Singaporeans. He noted that everyone is confronting the challenges posed by technological disruption, geopolitical tensions, and climate change. How these will impact Singapore cannot be determined yet, he added.
However, he remained hopeful.
Congratulating the young recipients of the Teck Ghee CCC-CDC Education Merit Awards, he wrote in a Facebook post, “Our students are our future. We depend on them to build a better and brighter Singapore. The government will continue to invest heavily to provide them with quality education, and prepare them to secure good jobs in the long run.”
He also wrote that he was “proud to celebrate the hard work of our students and encourage them to keep on developing themselves holistically, in and out of the classrooms”.
SM Lee, who served as Prime Minister of the city-state for nearly 20 years from August 2004 to May 2024, said, “The government is doing our best to prepare Singapore to be ready to meet any eventuality, including the plans laid out in Budget 2025 this week.”
He also called on Singaporeans to do their part “to stay united, rally behind a good, capable government, and work together with us for our little red dot to continue shining brightly”. This may have been an acknowledgement that Singapore will go to the polls sometime this year, as the next General Election has to be held by Nov 23.
Indeed, in his Budget statement on Feb 18, Prime Minister Lawrence Wong announced a slew of measures intended to support Singaporeans as they face rising costs of living largely due to global uncertainties. He noted the increasing fragmentation around the world, with walls between nations being built “in the form of economic and trade barriers”.
However, Singapore “bounced back strongly” after the Covid-19 pandemic and the city-state has “good momentum” for its next phase of development, said PM Wong. He affirmed that this year’s Budget is “a Budget for all” Singaporeans and announced a special component, the SG60 Package , to celebrate 60 years of Singapore’s nationhood. /TISG
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