Singapore, grappling with an ageing population and a shortage of high-tech workers, says it needs to bring in foreign talent in areas including software programming while the country re-balances its education system to meet future demands.
A key issue is whether Singapore has a critical mass of workers to make itself a vibrant economy that will attract investments and encourage enterprise, Education Minister Ong Ye Kung (pic) said. The nation will maintain little restriction on foreign labour for high-end jobs such as in artificial intelligence, while keeping a quota system for lower-skilled industries including construction. “Talent is very short everywhere in the world – AI talent, software programmers,” Mr Ong said in an interview in the city-state. “We let them in because we require a critical mass for the sector to take off, while we continue to train Singaporeans for those jobs.”
Mr Ong, 48, is among a group of younger ministers under the spotlight who are seen as potential successors to Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong after a Cabinet reshuffle in April that saw him promoted to lead the education ministry. The tiny and wealthy island-state, one of the world’s most trade-dependent economies, is building itself up into a high-tech financial hub and digitally savvy “Smart Nation”. Social security and healthcare are among the biggest policy challenges with Singapore’s rapidly ageing population, Mr Ong said, citing government figures showing that a quarter of the country will be 65 or older in 2030. “A transformation is required,” Mr Ong said. “A transformation towards an economy that is more innovation-driven, that is more productivity-driven.”
Mr Ong’s chief responsibility – the local education system – is a key to Singapore’s labour needs and economic transformation. “We need to use an inquiry-based approach to teach students how to exercise critical thinking,” he said. “It used to be ‘knowledge is power’. Now, power is knowing what knowledge to ignore, and what to take in, and decide for yourself.”
He noted that while the system has “strengths that we should not discard”, adjustments need to be made between an “over-focus on exam results” and “higher-order outcomes”. “We need to re-balance that so education is more fun, more joy, more holistic and children have a passion and an aptitude in deciding what they want to do,” Mr Ong said in the interview on Wednesday (Sept 19). “It’s not just my marks but also developing my passion, an idea of my future, my journey, and getting soft skills.”
Source: Straits Times/Bloomberg
