In addition to promoting growth and creating jobs so you can have good incomes, we will provide social and financial support when needed.
Providing Care and Support Together
Source: The Straits Times © Singapore Press Holdings Limited.
In addition to promoting growth and creating jobs so you can have good incomes, we will provide social and financial support when needed.
Families
We gave extra support to families for household expenses when the economy was shut down:
- Solidarity Payment
- Solidarity Utilities Credit
- Cash Payout to each Singaporean parent
- Cash Payout to Singaporeans aged 50 and above
We will continue to assist you with the cost of living:
- Care & Support Package – for daily costs
- Enhanced housing grants – for purchase of HDB flats
- Transport vouchers – for public transport
- Education subsidies –enhanced bursaries, scholarships, transport, meal and school fee subsidies. 100% subsidy for ITE fees and reduced fees for SIT and SUSS full time general degrees
- Healthcare subsidies – public healthcare subsidies up to 80% and CHAS
Special Education Needs(SEN)
Families with children with SEN need extra support. We will:
- raise awareness of SEN and promote greater inclusivity
- make special education more affordable
- open new Special Education Schools to cater to different special needs
- increase work and care options for SEN students beyond age 18
Pre-Schoolers
We will make early childhood centres Covid-19 safe so that pre-schoolers can continue to learn and be nurtured, and parents can work with the assurance their children are cared for.
We will:
- enhance subsidies to make pre-school as affordable as primary school
- increase the government share of supported pre-school places to 80%, and double the number of MOE kindergartens to 60
- raise pre-school quality through the National Institute for Early Childhood Education
Students
We are determined not to lose the school year, to prevent our students from suffering long term harm. We will keep schools safe and enable learning to continue despite the pandemic.
We will:
- provide greater support and guidance to students from vulnerable backgrounds, who are most affected by the crisis
- accelerate the National Digital Literacy Programme, including bridging the digital divide by equipping every secondary student with a computing device
- make Home-Based Learning (HBL) an integral part of education
- accelerate education reforms so students can acquire knowledge and skills for a fast-changing future
- reform higher education to introduce more inter-disciplinary learning, complemented with lifelong learning in specialized areas
- refresh our Character and Citizenship Education curriculum to prepare our young to be upright and compassionate individuals, imbued with mental resilience and sound values
- deepen the professional expertise of our teachers with SkillsFuture for Educators
Seniors
We care for and love our seniors, who have contributed so much to our nation. We want them to retire comfortably with good health.
To give our seniors greater peace of mind, we have provided:
- the Pioneer and Merdeka Generation Packages
- CareShield Life
- the Seniors Mobility and Enabling Fund
We will:
- provide networks of support, including through the Community Network for Seniors
- help seniors keep healthy and active, including free entry to public gyms and pools
- provide greater financial security in retirement with the Matched Retirement Savings Scheme, enhanced Silver Support, and the Silver Housing Bonus and Lease Buyback schemes
Seniors
We care for and love our seniors, who have contributed so much to our nation. We want them to retire comfortably with good health.
To give our seniors greater peace of mind, we have provided:
- the Pioneer and Merdeka Generation Packages
- CareShield Life
- the Seniors Mobility and Enabling Fund
We will:
- provide networks of support, including through the Community Network for Seniors
- help seniors keep healthy and active, including free entry to public gyms and pools
- provide greater financial security in retirement with the Matched Retirement Savings Scheme, enhanced Silver Support, and the Silver Housing Bonus and Lease Buyback schemes
Healthcare
We will expand our healthcare capacity to improve access to medical treatment and care for all.
We will:
- expand the polyclinic network from 20 today to 32 by 2030, including new polyclinics in Bishan and Bidadari
- redevelop the Singapore General Hospital and rejuvenate the National University Hospital
- complete the Novena Community Hospital by 2022 and build a new integrated acute and community hospital in the East by 2030
By 2030, one quarter of our population will be aged 65 or older. We will have to spend more on healthcare to look after our elderly.
To fund this, the GST has to go up from 7% to 9% sometime in the next term of government, but not before 2022.
To help Singaporeans to cope with the GST increase, we will:
- implement a $6 billion Assurance Package which will pay for the GST increase for 5 years for most households and 10 years for lower income households
- enhance the GST permanent voucher scheme
- continue to have government absorb GST on publicly subsidised healthcare and education
- provide social assistance for those who need more help