Singapore Democrats
The PAP MPs will soon be getting out in front of cameras to hand out Edusave awards to students.$CUT$
The Ministry of Education (MOE) recently announced that it would be giving out monetary awards to students who show good character and academic achievement during the school year.
Some MPs, as advisers in their constituencies, will be presenting the certificates and vouchers.
The question is, why? What has the awards anything to do with the MPs? The cultivation of character and good classroom performance are done by parents and teachers. If anything, these awards should be presented by the respective schools, not MPs.
Such a move is vintage PAP – getting into the limelight at the opportune moment to take credit for something that it played no role in.
This is wrong. The ruling party should concentrate on coming up with sound policies for the nation instead of indulging in politicisation of student achievement. Instead of engaging the opposition on our alternative policies, the PAP engages petty stunts like these.
And just to be sure that the deed is not lost on the parents and students, the notification states that “collection will only be during the presentation. All remaining cheques will be returned to the Ministry of Education.”
Really? If the students are of good character, shouldn’t they be given the award regardless of whether they want to meet the MP or not?
This cannot the best testament – or any testament – to good and strong character that the MOE is trying to instill in our students. Character is to do good even when no one is looking – and especially when cameras are not clicking.