Singapore: Upcoming Budget to pay special attention to helping the disadvantaged

• The upcoming Budget will cover social programmes that focus on the elderly, healthcare and education as well as pay special attention to helping the disadvantaged and underprivileged, said Second Minister for Finance and Education Indranee Rajah on 30 Jan 19.
• Ms Indranee declined to elaborate on whether social spending in 2019 would be higher than in 2018 but she noted that it has more than doubled in the past 10 years, spurred in part by growing needs in the education and healthcare sector – the first because of the need for continued education and the other due to an ageing population.
• Nearly half or 45% of the 3,021 students enrolled in school-based student care centres are from lower-income families who pay subsidised fees under the Ministry of Social and Family Development’s Student Care Fee Assistance scheme.
• As the head of the eight-member Uplift – the Uplifting Pupils in Life and Inspiring Families Taskforce, Ms Indranee also said the visit to the Big Heart Student Care centre in Lianhua Primary School has helped her confirm some of the ideas the committee has had, adding that the Uplift committee would be making more detailed recommendations during the Committee of Supply.

External Link: https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/upcoming-budget-to-pay-special-attention-to-helping-the-disadvantaged