Dad-approved, kid-tested: 6 new activities for the June school holidays (30 May 2026)

"SINGAPORE – Now that the June school holidays are finally here, it is time to get the kids away from screens and out of the house.

Here are six fresh attractions opened in recent months that have been tested and approved by my two daughters, aged seven and 13, and me.

From battling zombies in a life-size Minecraft adventure to discovering local history inside Bukit Batok Library’s Time Caverns to surviving extreme simulated environments at Exploria, these outings are guaranteed to keep the whole family entertained."

New NTU institute to deepen research at the intersection of AI, finance and society (30 May 2026)

"SINGAPORE – A new research institute has been launched to deepen research at the intersection of artificial intelligence, business, finance and society.

Called the Global Institute of Finance, Technology, and Society (GIFTS), the new institute by Nanyang Technological University (NTU) will study how firms, households, investors, regulators and AI agents interact under market stress, new regulations, scams or supply chain shocks to better advise policymakers.

“Automated decisions must be explainable and open to challenge,” said Minister for Digital Development and Information Josephine Teo at the launch on May 30, held at the Sands Expo and Convention Centre.

Mrs Teo said there must always be a clear line of accountability behind every AI-driven decision, be it a person, process or institution that owns it.

“These are, however, not challenges that finance or technology alone can solve. They draw on law, ethics, behavioural science and public policy,” she said.

She noted that the finance sector is among the four industries – which also include connectivity, advanced manufacturing and healthcare – being prioritised by the National AI Council to move AI beyond experimentation into sector-wide transformation.

Work has since started in the connectivity and advanced manufacturing areas.

Mrs Teo also emphasised the need for an interdisciplinary approach involving economists who understand code, technologists who understand how regulations impact business, and business leaders who understand both the data and human consequences behind the technology.

This is where GIFTS will come in, she added, to deepen research at the intersection of AI, finance and society, all while bridging collaboration between academia, industry and the Government.

GIFTS will also train AI models and agents for advanced research in economics, finance, accounting, management, operations and information systems."

Church and a guardian angel helped pool player Aloysius Yapp to succeed (31 May 2026)

"SINGAPORE – Eight-ball world champion Aloysius Yapp has been playing some divine pool over the past 12 months. But unknown to many, the make-or-break moment for the secondary school dropout-turned-millionaire sportsman occurred in a Catholic church in Tampines.

Ahead of his major title defence at the ongoing UK Open, The Sunday Times caught up with the 30-year-old Singaporean – who has a world championship title and three other majors – at the Aspire Star Arena billiard hall during a rare return home.

Chuckling as he recounted his mother’s objection to a teenager wanting to play pool full time, he said: “During the time I didn’t want to go to school, she heard the priest share a message (in church) about not burying talent. It was perfect timing.”

It was tough on Angie Tay, a single mother whose husband died while working in Thailand when Yapp was only nine, to cope with her son’s single-mindedness.

The then 13-year-old began skipping classes at St Patrick’s School to practise for long hours at the Chinese Swimming Club and he did not speak to his mum for weeks, returning to their Simei flat only after she was asleep.

The 62-year-old personal assistant admitted she was “frustrated with him and myself” then. She added: “In my heart, I believed God gave Aloysius the talent to play pool, so I should encourage him to use that talent and use it well.

“Ultimately, I never regretted my decision as Singapore’s education system is very robust and we can plan it according to our schedule. Parents should trust their children, encourage them to explore their talents or skills when they are young and give them opportunities to try and prove themselves.”

A guardian angel – Paul Pang, a billiard table fitter at supply store The Q Shop – added wings to Yapp’s fledgling career.

The duo met when Yapp was an impressionable eight-year-old, who first watched Tony Robles beat Santos Sambajon to win the 2004 BCA Open on TV.

He was enthralled by the clacking of the balls and their colours as they zipped across the table, as well as how focused and intense the players were.

In a sign of things to come, he pestered Tay to buy him a chalk and bridge head “because they look cool” and she took him to The Q Shop at the Bras Basah Complex.

Again, serendipity struck, as a coach recommended by Pang thought Yapp was too short. His mother brought him back to Pang, who agreed to coach the right-handed youngster who instinctively played with his left.

The 75-year-old, a former Cuesports Singapore vice-president, told the Sunday Times he had actually stopped coaching kids then, as many had come and gone without showing real dedication.

Pang said: “But when Aloysius came back with Angie, he looked really serious, so I allowed him to use the facilities and guided him along. She would bring him in on Friday, Saturday and Sunday afternoons, and I would send him home at midnight.

“He was totally different from other kids. He was very dedicated and didn’t want to go anywhere during school holidays except to look for a pool table to play on.”

At a young age, Yapp was a “very good potter who rarely missed on a seven-foot pool table” noted Pang.

To encourage him to study, Pang dangled a carrot – a limited-edition $2,000 Predator cue Yapp had been eyeing – if he could score at least 180 for his Primary School Leaving Examination.

He managed 170, and would later register a B4 in English and an F9 in Mathematics as a private O-level candidate. But he aced geometry on the pool table."

He was ‘not the son I know’: Mum forgives son who attacked her while high on Kpods (31 May 2026)

"SINGAPORE – After months of emotional turmoil, Rose (not her real name) was relieved to finally hear her son’s apology in January.

Her 28-year-old son Ben (not his real name) said he wanted to take responsibility for his actions when he was high on Kpods, or etomidate-laced vapes, in 2024 and 2025.

Under the influence of the substance, he attacked his mother in November 2024. Determined to help him get clean, Rose called the police on him then. That did not deter him from vaping, and when his mother locked him out of their home in July 2025, he climbed over the parapet outside their flat and tried to enter through the window.

He was sentenced to 10 weeks’ jail on May 18 after being convicted of three charges, including violating a personal protection order and using criminal force on a police officer.

Although Rose, 57, said she was sad to see her son incarcerated, she was also relieved that he has turned over a new leaf. Ben has stopped using Kpods since August 2025, and has been regularly attending group sessions at an addiction recovery centre.

In a previous interview with ST in October 2025, Rose spoke about how she discovered her son’s addiction to Kpods in 2024, and the various ways she tried to get him to quit over almost a year.

At the height of his addiction, Ben was using up to three pods a day.

He once tried to harm himself while he was high by climbing out of a window at home. When Rose tried to save him, he smashed her head against a wall.

She had to apply for a personal protection order against him, as she was afraid he would hurt her. She spent the subsequent months living in fear.

Speaking to The Straits Times in a phone interview on May 28, Rose said her relationship with her son has improved in the past few months.

She said: “I am heartened that he is doing better. He apologised to me in January and said he was ready to take responsibility for everything he did.

“He said he was going to find a job after his release (from prison), and I was pleased to hear that, because it shows how much he has grown up.”

The Straits Times partners NLB on crossword series inspired by local food and culture (31 May 2026)

"SINGAPORE – The Straits Times and the National Library Board (NLB) will launch a new weekly crossword puzzle series – with a distinctly Singaporean flavour – featuring clues inspired by local food, slang, cultural references and shared everyday experiences familiar to readers here.

Starting on May 31, a new ST×NLB Crossword will be published every Sunday in the Life section of ST’s print edition, as well as online through ST’s website and app – with the digital version also accessible via the NLB app.

The answer key for each puzzle will be available on the same day in an online-only companion column called Cross-References. Answers will also be published the following week in print.

The six-month pilot partnership brings together contributors from both organisations to create original crosswords tailored to local audiences – a departure from the largely American- and British-centric puzzles that dominate the format internationally.

“We are constantly innovating to find new ways to engage with our readers and we have been actively exploring games as one such area,” said Mr Jaime Ho, editor of The Straits Times.

Referring to ST’s earlier experiments with games, including a hidden picture challenge launched during the SG60 celebrations in 2025, he added that “a crossword has been on our wishlist”, but many existing puzzles were either too generic or required US knowledge.

The partnership traces its roots to the Love Our Libraries and Archives (LOLA) series in 2025, when NLB introduced three locally themed crossword puzzles as part of its 30th anniversary celebrations.

Ms Rei Kurohi, assistant editor of ST’s newsroom strategy team, said she was struck by how naturally Singaporean references translated into the crossword format after encountering the LOLA puzzles while the team was exploring new forms of interactive and games-based audience engagement.

“When I saw clues tied to Singaporean culture, I immediately thought this was something ST’s local readers would connect with and instinctively understand,” she added.

That experience led ST to approach NLB with the idea of jointly developing an original crossword series featuring local knowledge, wordplay and cultural touchpoints."

Tiny robots developed by NTU could be your future surgeon (31 May 2026)

"SINGAPORE – Researchers from Nanyang Technological University (NTU) have developed a robot just 4.4mm long that could be used to perform minimally invasive surgery, such as biopsies and tumour removal, in the future.

Controlled by weak magnetic fields, the robot can move within the human body, release drugs in a precise location, cut biological tissues, grip and store tissue samples, or generate heat remotely at any one time.

“The robot can further be miniaturised to 1.5mm, which expands its potential to implement a broader range of untethered keyhole surgery,” said Associate Professor Lum Guo Zhan from the NTU School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, the lead researcher of this project.

He added: “Most magnetic robots like this can perform only one or two functions. Our latest invention can now do five, and our long-term goal is for doctors to use these mini robots in the body, navigate them to a targeted location, and use them to perform treatments.”

Unlike most miniature magnetic robots, which can move in only five ways – along three axes, and rotate in two directions – the one by NTU is also able to roll.

This gives it better control of its position, to better navigate narrow and uneven surfaces in the body.

The robot can also generate heat inside the body when activated by high-frequency alternating magnetic fields, which could advance magnetic hyperthermia techniques being studied as a way to destroy or weaken cancer cells without invasive surgery.

“Small-scale robots can potentially increase the efficacy of heat treatments because they can move to very specific locations and provide very localised heating. By doing so, we can target the cancer cells that need to be destroyed and ensure that healthy cells are not affected,” Prof Lum said.

The NTU research team tested the robot’s surgical capabilities using biological tissue models such as chicken liver.

Made of soft magnetic materials, the robot’s central module can be reprogrammed in less than a second using magnetic fields, activating different parts independently to change in shape and activate each tool or function. Early lab tests have found the materials are unlikely to harm living tissue.

Developed over seven years with support from NTU’s Start-up Grant, A*STAR and NHG Group, the robot could integrate imaging technologies and sensing systems in the future, the researchers said."

S’pore launches nationwide movement to help families foster healthy digital habits (31 May 2026)

"SINGAPORE – Parents seeking guidance on how to manage their children’s digital activities can now access a new portal that consolidates government resources.

Prime Minister Lawrence Wong said on May 31 that the Government will provide resources to foster healthy digital habits from a young age.

“We want to make this practical and actionable for parents,” he said.

This comes as society evolves and new challenges are brought about by developments like digitalisation. It has influenced how people interact with one another and how families raise children.

In the past, parents were worried about comics, TV and video games, said PM Wong. But today’s challenge of technology and screen time are “more intense” due to addictive features, as well as potentially harmful content and toxic online interactions.

“Many parents tell us they want to do more, but don’t know where to start,” he said at the National Family Festival Family Carnival at the Expo on May 31. He also launched Screen Smart from the Start, a national movement to help families foster healthy digital habits from young by the Ministry of Digital Development and Information (MDDI).

An MDDI survey on close to 2,000 parents here released in September 2025 found that only 37 per cent of parents feel confident about their ability to guide their children’s digital habits, and that more than half wanted more support.

As part of the movement, the Be Screen Smart portal offers tips for children and youths, divided into three groups: aged 0 to six, seven to 12 and 13 to 18.

For example, parents could learn how to curate content their child can access to protect them from inappropriate content online or how to set clear family norms on device use.

Citing some ways to help, PM Wong suggested no phones during family meals and preferably no phones in the bedroom as parents have no control over whether their children are using it at late night.

He added that parents should also hold back from giving their children smart phones for as long as possible.

“With these strong foundations, hopefully it becomes easier to manage screen time when children grow older,” he said. “Eventually they will have their own smartphones but we want to instil in them the confidence and values to navigate the online world responsibly and safely.”

“We must, together, collectively create new social norms for the digital age. It must start with all of us working closely with parents, schools and community groups so that together, we can build healthier habits from young,” he said."

More youth caring for siblings with special needs, as support programme doubles in size (31 May 2026)

"SINGAPORE - If your parents asked you to stay home to care for a sibling with special needs when you had plans with friends, what would you do?

This question was once posed to youth participants of MINDSibs, a support programme by social service agency MINDS for siblings of persons with special needs.

They gave varying answers. Sawako Evelyne Maury, 17, whose elder sister Ayano Justine Maury, 22, has autism spectrum disorder and global developmental delay, decided that she would go ahead with her plans after discussing with her parents, while others opted to stay home.

Such are the dilemmas youth with neurodivergent siblings face, often without clear answers.

The number of caregivers below 35 years old in MINDSibs doubled from around 160 in 2021 to over 320 currently.

Shine Koh, a senior social worker at MINDS, said Singapore’s falling fertility rate, along with rising diagnoses of special needs, could mean that fewer individuals will share the caregiving responsibilities in future.

MINDSibs was started in 2010 to support these siblings via activities like camps and small group discussions, where they learn about their loved ones’ conditions and share experiences.

These siblings often hide their struggles to avoid adding to their parents’ burdens. Some feel overlooked, while others feel pressured to overcompensate by being a “perfect child”, said Koh.

They may also be secondary caregivers - meaning they are not mainly responsible for daily care, but help with logistical tasks and give emotional support.

Tears And Fears

Sawako’s parents, a French-Japanese couple who moved to Singapore in 2012, openly spoke about Ayano’s condition and involved the sisters in activities like art and cooking together from young.

Though Ayano felt like a normal part of her life, Sawako soon realised others viewed her sister differently.

One childhood memory involved Ayano giving origami that she had carefully folded to children at a playground, only for them to leave it on the ground while pointing at her.

“I remember marching back up to them and saying, ‘You pick that up right now, my sister spent a few hours making them’,” Sawako recalled, adding that she cried afterwards as she was upset about how her sister was treated.

She also felt apprehensive about inviting friends home, fearing they would have a negative impression of her or her sister.

Sawako, now a student at St Joseph’s Institution, joined MINDSibs at 14 in search of other secondary caregivers who could relate to her.

Her parents are the main caregivers to Ayano, who packs earphones for Singapore Airlines at MINDS Regional Hub’s sheltered workshop at Queenstown.

Her father, Frederic Maury, 58, takes her hiking and to art classes, while her mother Yuko Arai, 57, guides her with daily exercises to address her scoliosis."

NTU student who cared for late dad with dementia halts studies to look after mom with cancer (31 May 2026)

"SINGAPORE - While his peers chased deadlines and internships, Samuel Chew, 26, cooked, cleaned and brought his mother to medical appointments.

The first-year Environmental Earth Systems Science student at Nanyang Technological University took a semester off from January to April to care for his 60-year-old mother, who was diagnosed with a brain tumour in early 2026.

It was not his first experience as a caregiver. Chew had looked after his late father, who had a neurological disorder which led to dementia. His father died at the age of 64 in October 2025.

Caregiving is not a burden forced upon him, but a conscious choice, the young undergraduate told The Straits Times in April at his family’s five-room flat in Woodlands.

“Being there for my dad gave me a different perspective to life,” he said thoughtfully. “One semester doesn’t mean that much compared to being there for my mom in her time of need. I can always go back to school again.”

While there are no official figures on caregivers under 35 in Singapore, social service organisations say young caregivers like Chew are likely to become increasingly common.

TOUCH Caregivers Support Group (TCG)’s Care Line receives about 120 calls each month, up to 10 per cent of which are from young caregivers enquiring about their parents or children.

Other organisations ST contacted did not specifically track the number of caregivers under 35.

But SPD’s chief executive Abhimanyau Pal said with couples having children later and an aging population, more young adults may find themselves taking on caregiving roles earlier, particularly for aging parents.

At the cusp of starting families and careers, young caregivers may have to make difficult trade-offs due to caregiving responsibilities, he said.

June Sim, who heads TCG, added: “The lack of confidence and preparedness can also affect caregivers psychologically and emotionally as some are thrust into their caregiving roles overnight.”

My Father’s Keeper

Chew was only 13 in 2013 when his father was diagnosed with Fahr’s syndrome, a rare disorder caused by an abnormal buildup of calcium in the brain which may lead to movement disorders and dementia.

Symptoms first appeared when his father, a military camp chef, wore the wrong uniform to work. He eventually stopped working, and his mother, who wanted to be known only by her surname Hing, balanced caring for her husband with her waitressing job.

At the time, Chew coped by retreating into gaming to distance himself from the distress at home. But his outlook changed after he started working part-time in secondary school, and accompanying his father to church.

“I realised the effort he took to provide for us, and his heart for us as a father,” he said.

At first, his father could travel by himself to a day care centre for seniors with dementia on weekdays, but his mobility gradually deteriorated.

Chew requested to attend morning classes at Republic Polytechnic (RP) later, so he could travel with his father to the centre, to prevent any sudden falls. He caught up on lectures afterwards.

At home, he moved into his father’s room to keep him company, waking several times each night to watch over him whenever he got up to use the washroom.

“I wanted to take care of my dad well, regardless of whether I coped well in school or not,” he said, adding that his friends and lecturers were understanding.

In 2023, he graduated valedictorian of his Financial Technology course at RP.

Chew, who was diagnosed with hearing loss in kindergarten and uses hearing aids, secured the Asia Pacific Breweries Foundation Scholarship for Persons with Disabilities in 2025. The scholarship is administered by SPD and will fund his university education in full.

His father died the same month he received the scholarship, after a sudden cardiac arrest."

Two people, including 8-year-old boy, taken to hospital after multi-vehicle accident on PIE (31 May 2026)

"SINGAPORE – Two people, including an eight-year-old boy, were taken to hospital after an accident involving six vehicles on the PIE on May 30.

In a response to queries from The Straits Times, the police and Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) said they were alerted to an accident involving five cars and a motorcycle on the PIE in the direction of Tuas at about 8.20am on that day.

A 41-year-old male motorcyclist and an eight-year-old male car passenger were taken conscious to the hospital, the police said.

SCDF said one person was taken to the National University Hospital, while another was taken to the KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital.

A post by the Land Transport Authority (LTA) at around 8.45am on the same day alerted motorists that Lanes 1 and 2 on the PIE in the direction of Tuas after the Stevens Road exit were closed due to a traffic accident.

In a video of the accident posted on Facebook, two lanes on the three-lane expressway are cordoned off.

A black van, a silver SUV with a damaged rear, a black sedan with a damaged right tail light and a white motorcycle can be seen within the cordoned area.

Two white sedans are seen parked further down the right-most lane. Two SCDF vehicles, two police cars, one tow truck and one fire truck can be seen on site.

Police investigations are ongoing."

Making memories that matter during the June school holidays (31 May 2026)

"SINGAPORE – School holidays look different now that my children are 20, 17 and 10.

While the youngest has four weeks free as she does not have enrichment activities, the older two are busier.

This June, we will take our first family holiday without our eldest.

Travelling without one child is an inflection point that was bound to happen as the kids grow up and no longer have as much free time for the family, but it makes me nostalgic for the time when they were younger.

These days, we have to check the older ones' schedules before we plan a family meal or gathering.

Trading Spontaneity For Scheduled Fun

School holidays used to be sacred family time, especially when I was a stay-at-home mum for seven years.

Part of it was precious time bonding with my kids while my husband was at work, without the stressors of school such as homework, tests and schedules.

We did simple activities on the spur of the moment that did not require much planning: unhurried library runs or a visit to the second-hand bookshops at Bras Basah Complex, followed by tea at a cafe, each engrossed in our books.

Or we would go to a park or the zoo, spend half a day there before returning home, tired and perspiring but satisfied.

While we could do these activities on any weekend, the difference during school holidays is the luxury of a day that stretches out, with no place to rush to and no need to be home by a certain hour for bedtime.

Those weeks dedicated solely to spending time together mark a period I thoroughly relished, but also perhaps took for granted when I was in the throes of motherhood with two primary schoolers and one toddler at home.

That time with all three children hanging out at home with no place to be during the holidays passed sooner than I expected.

If I could turn back the clock, I would remind myself to slow down, forget about the laundry and housework for a while, and be thoroughly present and have more fun with my kids."

With 10 weeks left to the PSLE English oral, use revision strategies that will make a difference (31 May 2026)

"There are just two to three months to the PSLE and I have taken leave from June. Are there revision tools and exam strategies that can help my son learn better and pull up his grades? Any advice on drawing up a revision timetable?

Yes, it is 10 more weeks to the start of the PSLE, with the English and mother tongue oral exams to be held on Aug 12 and 13.

As promised, the PSLE Companion team will focus on offering help on revising for the four PSLE subjects.

As we get closer to the exams, it is important to focus on the strategies and tools that will make a difference.

We have been offering several resources - articles containing expert advice, as well as revision tools - since the start of the year. And since May, we have stepped them up.

For the oral exam, I encourage parents to read the articles on preparing for the English and mother tongue exams.

A must-read is the article on how artificial intelligence (AI) tools can help level up your child's English oral skills.

Also, take advantage of the free trial offered by cher.ai, one of several AI platforms that have emerged to help pupils prepare for the PSLE English oral exam.

The tool developed by Mind Stretcher, which offers tuition and enrichment programmes, allows students to practise independently and receive detailed feedback as part of the education group's suite of PSLE preparation tools.

The free trial gives students access to three reading exercises and a parent coaching kit (www.cher.ai/sbc-kit/), which comprises a bank of 60 conversation topics with varying levels of difficulty.

PSLE Companion subscribers who want to continue using the tools will receive a 30 per cent discount off cher.ai's monthly price of $25.

For parents looking for advice on readying their kids for mother tongue oral, read this article headlined “Build small habits for PSLE mother tongue fluency”, which we published in May.

Experts we spoke to say simple steps can be taken at home to improve fluency in mother tongue languages such as Chinese, Malay and Tamil.

More Help At Hand

Now, about our offerings in June. Parents can expect more tools and strategies for the various subjects, with the listening comprehension on Sept 15, and written papers from Sept 24 to 30.

Next week, there will an article on the dos and don'ts when revising for the exams, and the advice is for parents as well. For example, experts recommend that whatever the results were in the May assessment tests, parents should not harp on them, but focus on building a child's confidence.

Parents have asked for advice on how their children can avoid making careless mistakes during the exams. Look out for our in-depth article on what can be done.

Others requested help with Science revision. Keep your eyes peeled for the article on how to prepare for the Science paper with BlueTree Education co-founder Jolene Ang."

How muay thai helped a 16-year-old teen in S’pore cope with loneliness and self-harm (1 June 2026)

"SINGAPORE – Kelly (not her real name) was just nine when she first scratched her upper arm with a back scratcher she found at home.

The mildly uncomfortable sensation gave her relief.

“The physical pain takes away from the mental pain,” said the 16-year-old Institute of Technical Education (ITE) student.

Growing up, Kelly witnessed frequent and intense fights between her parents. She feared being abandoned by her mother, who would threaten to return to Thailand whenever she became sad.

By Primary 4, Kelly, an only child, was spending long hours alone at home after school while her mother worked as a waitress. When her parents were around, the fighting resumed. Though she longed for attention and conversation, she did not know who to turn to.

“I bottled everything up inside,” said Kelly, who does not have a good relationship with her father.

“It felt weird to go up to people and share that my parents were fighting. I didn’t want anyone to know this about me,” she added.

Quiet and withdrawn in school, she described herself as a wallflower when hanging out with friends.

“I’d listen to the conversations, but I don’t talk, just sit there with them and mind my own business,” she said.

She started engaging in self-harm in Primary 3 and this turned into a weekly habit in Primary 5, after she came across online posts about self-harm methods.

Once the marks on her upper arm grew too obvious to hide, she shifted her focus to her wrist.

“If my friends asked me about it, I would just tell them it was a scratch from a cat,” she said.

Eventually, Kelly realised she needed help.

She confided in a friend, who encouraged her to approach the school counsellor.

Her experience is not uncommon.

A 2025 study by the Institute of Mental Health (IMH) found that one in four young people in Singapore has reported engaging in self-harm at least once in their lives.

A total of 2,600 participants aged 15 to 35 were polled in the National Youth Mental Health Study.

The findings indicate that cutting is the most common method of self-injury. This is followed by severe scratching, punching themselves, and banging their heads against something."

They studied 370,000 US college essays and discovered AI’s effects on creativity (1 June 2026)

"I am a big fan of technology. I’ve blissfully given over my spatial reasoning to Google Maps. I use artificial intelligence to chase down articles, do research, fix my grammar mistakes and whip up last-minute school-night recipes.

But I’ve recently drawn a sharp line in the sand: no AI for writing.

I’m not talking about expense reports or routine emails. I mean actual writing, and the creative brainstorming that precedes it to explore different perspectives or develop novel insights.

Increasingly, many people I talk to - from students to teachers to peers - tell me that they think it’s OK to use AI chatbots for brainstorming as long as they do the “real work” of writing.

But this misunderstands something critical: Brainstorming is the work that’s fundamental to writing. As a researcher studying AI’s effects on education, I have concluded that these tools only superficially improve writing. The bigger and more alarming impact they have is to constrict our full range of thoughts and our ability to generate original and useful ideas - what we call creative thinking.

This seems to be especially true for students. AI’s smooth sentences, elegant transitions and rich vocabulary give the illusion of expansive creativity and individuality. But the underlying ideas often converge into a few homogenized categories.

The erosion of creative thinking means young people will struggle to navigate uncertainty. Workers will strain to adapt to a shifting labor market. And society will miss out on the new ideas that can solve complex problems and enhance lives.

For the past eight years, the Georgetown University neuroscientist Adam Green has been leading a national research team tracking the range of novel ideas that college-bound high school students present in their application essays, before and after the introduction of ChatGPT.

In one study, he and his team examined personal statements from more than 370,000 students, and found that after ChatGPT became available, their essays suddenly used diverse and colorful language, but lacked truly creative ideas. And the linguistic coverup worked; post-ChatGPT essays were rated as more “creative” by human judges, even if the substance of the essays trod familiar territory.

In a separate study, the team found that human-written essays offered up to eight times more new ideas than those produced by AI.

Another experiment run by a different research team compared short stories written by humans to those written with AI assistance.

As with the student essays in Green’s study, AI-assisted works had more interesting vocabulary and were rated more enjoyable to read, but the underlying story lines were more homogeneous. Distinctive and offbeat ideas - with surprising characters or unusual settings - are often shunted to the side when AI is involved."

Book these family-friendly staycation deals for the June school holidays (1 June 2026)

"SINGAPORE – Most holidays begin with inspiration, then quickly turn into spreadsheets, bookings and mounting costs – especially during the June school holidays, when airfares climb and popular destinations overflow with crowds.

For families, the ideal break may be much closer to home.

Singaporeans are no stranger to staycations, with many embracing their convenience, especially as fuel costs drive up airfares around the world.

In 2025, 16 per cent of hotel conglomerate Marriott International’s business in Singapore was driven by domestic stays, says Oriol Montal, regional vice-president of Luxury for Marriott International Asia-Pacific excluding China, and regional vice-president of its Singapore market.

“Singaporeans have always had a strong appetite for travel and, increasingly, we are seeing that the desire to disconnect, recharge and spend quality time together does not always require getting on a plane,” he adds.

In line with the June school holidays, hotels in Singapore are rolling out family-friendly packages featuring complimentary activities, attraction passes and other perks for all ages.

Here are seven deals to consider for your next staycation.

1. Nautical Family Suite package at M Hotel Singapore

M Hotel Singapore, located in Tanjong Pagar, is within walking distance of a wide range of restaurants. Rooms offer sweeping views of either the city skyline or harbour.

Its Nautical Family Suite package features a nautical-themed suite designed in collaboration with indoor playground Kiztopia. It is decked out with ocean-themed wallpaper, anchors and fishing nets that complement panoramic harbour views. There will also be seafaring props and familiar Kiztopia characters.

The 72 sq m suite comes with a king-size bed and two single beds in separate bedrooms for parents and children, a living and dining area, and a private in-room jacuzzi.

Children will get a Nautical Activity Booklet featuring crafts and ocean conservation lessons, while a gentle lighting projector paired with calming music helps little ones wind down at bedtime.

Each booking includes admission to Kiztopia at Marina Square for two adults and two children, along with a breakfast buffet, nautical-themed afternoon tea from 2 to 4pm, and evening canapes served with a bottle of prosecco in the room.

Info: The Nautical Family Suite package costs an average of $650++ a night and is available year-round.

The real question for S'poreans: Hungry for what? (2 June 2026)

"As an educator, employer and board member on several international academic bodies, I have been asked from time to time if Singaporeans are motivated enough to compete aggressively in a globalised job market.

In the eyes of the world community, this is usually a rhetorical question as Singapore is often held up as a shining example of a no-nonsense, ultra-competitive society that is not only hungry for success, but also has a clear vision of what success means.

But within Singapore this narrative has blown up after a legal recruiter here sparked online debate by claiming that companies are hiring foreign workers who are “hungrier” than locals.

From Stomp to Reddit to news publications, posters and experts have hit back at the notion.

For me though, it’s ironic. Singaporeans are known for our singular obsession with educational excellence, hard work and economic perseverance, reflecting the uncompromising work ethic we inherited since the founding of modern-day Singapore.

For more than half a century, this formula has elevated our standard of living, and helped pivot Singapore as a regional business hub. So there is no doubt that Singaporeans — younger generations included - have the iron in them.

The debate, however, misses a fundamental point. It is not whether “Singaporeans are hungry”, but rather, what do we hunger for and if that is relevant in today’s disrupted world of artificial intelligence, geopolitical rivalry and a diminished rule-based international system.

My Experience With Younger Colleagues

As an employer, I work with many young Singaporeans who are hungry for success — at least, on the terms we know it as. It is not uncommon to find job applicants who have completed at least two to three internships by the time they graduate. Competition is acute, if not brutal.

The evidence on competitiveness is also corroborated by the amount of time we devote at work. A 2025 survey by the Ministry of Manpower shows Singaporeans worked 44 hours a week on average, exceeding 35 to 40 hours in Western developed countries, and comparable with other highly driven economies such as China and South Korea.

And what is driving our competitiveness? A year-long survey conducted by graduate career company GTI Media identified having career progression prospects, competitive compensation and job security as the top factors that matter most to graduates from local universities.

While these findings broadly reflect similar aspirations in other advanced developed economies, it is clear that neither factor is featured prominently in the current employment market which is besieged by calls for restructuring and retrenchment.

Singaporeans would be setting themselves up for disappointment if they insist on finding jobs that meet these expectations in the uncertain times today.

But beyond aspirational factors, the local work culture is also compounded by two Achilles heels, common in Asian societies: a developmental tunnel vision and a tendency to avoid uncertainty.

Milstone-Based Structure, And Avoiding Change

Our life goals are mapped on a linear progressive pathway - study hard, graduate with distinction and you will be rewarded with a job that pays well.

This cognitive frame shapes our lives in many profound ways, including our attitudes to work and relationships. For instance, married couples are reluctant to consider having children until they establish stable careers, and this until recently has been determined by a narrow definition of academic performance.

In the long term, this mindset quietly erodes our capacity to navigate the complex world. Can a single-track thinking meet the challenges of the new world order? Probably not."

18-month-old among five taken to hospital after accident between taxi, car near Gardens by the Bay (2 June 2026)

"SINGAPORE – An 18-month-old toddler was among five people taken to hospital after a traffic accident involving a taxi and a car near an entrance to Gardens by the Bay on June 1.

The police and the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF), in response to queries, said they were alerted to the accident, which happened at the junction of Marina Gardens Drive and Marina South Avenue, at about 2.30pm that day.

The authorities added that a 42-year-old female car driver and a 67-year-old male taxi driver, along with his three passengers, aged between 18 months and 66 years, were taken conscious to hospital.

One was taken to the Singapore General Hospital, and the other four to the National University Hospital.

The police said the taxi driver is assisting with investigations.

In photos seen online, a blue ComfortDelGro taxi and a dark-coloured car have stopped in the middle of a junction near the south entrance of Gardens by the Bay following an accident.

Airbags appear to have been deployed in both vehicles.

The front right side of the taxi appears to be damaged, while the car’s right passenger door is badly dented. Debris from the collision is seen scattered across the road."

Can AI improve learning? New MOE fund aims to find faster answers (2 June 2026)

"SINGAPORE – A new fund has been launched by the Ministry of Education (MOE) to support short-term studies in educational technology, including the use of artificial intelligence.

The Rapid Research Fund supports studies with specific focus areas identified by the ministry, each to last between six and nine months.

Research questions are proposed by MOE divisions, with each study led by an MOE specialist, according to the ministry’s website.

Findings from the first six studies, conducted in the first half of 2026, will be released after July. These include a case study on how teachers use learning data, and a survey of how teachers and students use AI tools for teaching and learning.

Other topics include the effect of linking gamification – or using elements of game design – to learning content on students’ motivation and learning outcomes.

Minister for Education and Minister-in-Charge of Social Services Integration Desmond Lee said on June 2 that the fund is meant to support research that can respond quickly in a fast-moving environment like an AI-infused world, alongside multi-year studies.

“We are operating in an increasingly unpredictable environment, shaped by geopolitical shifts, climate challenges and rapid technological change,” he said, adding that good-quality research is needed to enhance teaching and learning, and to guide policy.

Lee was speaking at the start of the 11th Redesigning Pedagogy International Conference, where more than 1,000 delegates from over 30 countries, including Singapore, will exchange research findings, ideas and teaching experiences.

Hosted by the National Institute of Education (NIE), Nanyang Technological University, the conference runs till June 4."

Algorithms and salad bars: Religious Rehabilitation Group studies impact of AI, tech on radicalisation (2 June 2026)

"SINGAPORE – With technology accelerating radicalisation, the Religious Rehabilitation Group (RRG) is building capabilities to understand how artificial intelligence and digital platforms affect individuals.

The voluntary organisation is studying the links between online behaviour and offline conduct, said Coordinating Minister for National Security K. Shanmugam on June 2 at the RRG’s annual retreat at Shangri-La Rasa Sentosa.

Shanmugam said the nature of threats has changed significantly since RRG was set up in the early 2000s, when its focus was on counselling detainees from Jemaah Islamiyah, the South-east Asian affiliate of Islamist militant organisation Al-Qaeda.

“Digital platforms have increased interactivity – the algorithms feed you. If you look at certain things, the algorithms keep feeding you more of the same stuff,” he said.

“Extremist content is now very directed. It’s very personalised, it’s very engaging, and it’s available (and) plentiful. So, it has accelerated the speed at which radicalisation happens.”

Shanmugam, who is also Home Affairs Minister, noted that the average time taken for an individual to be radicalised has decreased from two years to one, with some getting influenced in a matter of days.

“Now with artificial intelligence, these risks are increasing even more,” he added.

He highlighted two recent cases, including that of a 17-year-old youth who was detained in 2024, just a few weeks before he could carry out a knife attack against non-Muslims in Tampines.

He was issued a two-year order of detention.

Investigations showed he had used AI to prepare his attack manifesto and to generate a pledge of allegiance to militant group ISIS.

In another case, a youth who wanted to conduct a shooting attack at various mosques had considered 3D-printing his own firearms. He was issued an order of detention in 2025."

PDPC investigating potential data breach involving PCF Sparkletots pupil information (2 June 2026)

"SINGAPORE – The Personal Data Protection Commission (PDPC) is investigating a possible data breach involving PAP Community Foundation (PCF) Sparkletots, after a vendor informed the pre-school that information, including details of pupils and parents, was accessed without authorisation.

The school’s management notified parents and guardians of the potential breach in a letter dated June 1, seen by The Straits Times.

PCF Sparkletots said in the letter that the “potential data security incident” involved its vendor LittleLives, adding that “a portion” of the pupil management system used by the school was accessed without authorisation.

A spokesperson for PCF Sparkletots, in a response to ST’s queries, said on June 2 that based on a preliminary report, the unauthorised access has been contained. The school had been informed of the incident by LittleLives, said the spokesperson.

“At this stage, there is no confirmation that any data has been viewed, downloaded or misused,” added the spokesperson.

PCF Sparkletots’ letter to parents did not contain further details on the party behind the breach, when the incident occurred or when LittleLives alerted the school to the matter.

“Investigations are ongoing to determine the full scope and impact of the incident,” said the school in the letter. It added that it has lodged reports with PDPC and the police, and is “in close contact with the Early Childhood Development Agency (ECDA)”."

Former DPM Heng Swee Keat appointed SIT’s first chancellor (3 June 2026)

"SINGAPORE – The Singapore Institute of Technology (SIT) appointed former deputy prime minister Heng Swee Keat as its first chancellor from June 1.

He will hold that position until May 31, 2031.

As chancellor, Heng, who is also a former minister for education, will serve as SIT’s highest-ranking ceremonial office-holder and ambassador.

He will preside over key university ceremonies, including convocations, and represent SIT at major institutional and external engagements.

SIT said of Heng: “Drawing upon his extensive leadership experience and professional networks, Mr Heng will also support the university in strengthening partnerships and advancing strategic priorities, including industry and philanthropic engagement.”

The establishment of the new role “reflects SIT’s continued evolution and commitment to advancing its mission of nurturing industry-ready graduates and driving innovation through applied learning, industry collaboration and research”, the university said in a statement on June 3.

Heng said in the statement: “I share SIT’s conviction that applied research and deep industry partnership are not complementary to education – they are central to it.” He added that he looks forward to working with the SIT community."

SJI International planning to move to Hougang in 2030; current Thomson site slated for housing (3 June 2026)

"SINGAPORE - St Joseph’s Institution (SJI) International is planning to move to a new campus in Hougang in 2030, after about two decades at Thomson Road.

The school told The Straits Times on June 2 that it is “working closely with the relevant authorities” to relocate to 1033 Upper Serangoon Road.

It had earlier on Jan 23 sent out a letter to parents to update them about the planned relocation. The school opened its doors in 2007 at its current site at 490 Thomson Road.

The Hougang site is currently being occupied by Anderson Serangoon Junior College, which moved to the site temporarily in December 2023.

According to the Education Ministry’s website, the junior college will leave Hougang in December 2027 to move back to its permanent location in Ang Mo Kio, which is undergoing upgrading works.

In response to queries from The Straits Times, an Urban Redevelopment Authority spokesperson said SJI International’s tenancy at its Thomson site expires in early 2030.

The site has been zoned for residential purposes since the agency’s 2014 iteration of its master plan, a blueprint for land use in Singapore."

‘The more you know, the more wonderful it becomes’: Brian Cox on science and awe (3 June 2026)

"Synopsis: On Wednesdays, The Straits Times takes a hard look at Singapore’s social issues of the day with guests.

We live in a time where technology has made information more readily available than ever. Curiosity has been the main driver of human discovery since the beginning of time but when faced with a barrage of information, have we stopped wanting to know more?

In this episode of In Your Opinion, senior columnist Rohit Brijnath speaks with celebrated physicist, educator and rock star Brian Cox. Currently on a world tour with his live show, Emergence, he takes us on a journey across the cosmos, civilisation and human curiosity all while attempting to answer the question: how do we find wonder?

Emergence will be in Singapore on June 10. "

From marine treasures to snakes: Free talks and workshops at the Festival of Biodiversity 2026 (3 June 2026)

"SINGAPORE – Visitors can explore the natural wonders of Singapore’s land, air and sea all under one roof at the Festival of Biodiversity 2026.

More than 30 booths run by nature organisations and schools will be featured at the 15th edition of the annual event at the National Library Building on June 6 and 7.

The family-friendly event, which focuses on acting locally for global impact, also has more than 20 talks, workshops, exhibitions and game stations.

Here are some highlights:

Free Talks And Workshops

Parents can register their children for talks on migratory birds, the treasure trove of marine biodiversity during low tide, and colourful native snakes.

Aspiring shutterbugs can master the art of wildlife photography with the Nature Photographic Society of Singapore.

They can sign up for these talks at this website.

Children looking for hands-on activities can join workshops that teach them to create mini ecosystems and other arts and crafts.

Meanwhile, nature lovers can uncover the secret lives of local butterflies in a workshop that explores lesser-known behaviours of the insects, with an activity to match butterflies to their preferred host plants."

‘We pity our kids for having cop parents’: Police couple use investigative skills at home (3 June 2026)

"SINGAPORE – While some parents reserve their professional skills for the workplace, this police couple put their investigative expertise to use outside of work as well.

One school day, Superintendent of Police Michelle Foo Li-Mei and Supt Low Jiing Haur received a call from their daughter’s teacher saying that she had fallen and was complaining of back and stomach pain.

However, this was different from their child’s version of events, as she said she had fallen and hurt her knee.

The couple used their investigative experience to examine the differing accounts. After gently questioning their daughter, Foo realised it was a minor accident and assured the worried teacher that nothing serious had happened.

“We just want to find out what is wrong,” said Foo, adding that she and her husband emphasise the importance of honesty to their three children.

Low had to lay down the law at home when his older son, who was then in upper secondary school, wanted to stay over at his girlfriend’s home.

The officer reminded his son to be respectful of the girl and told him to be home by 10pm.

Trying to suppress his laughter, Low said: “I opened the (Singapore) statute and told him to read (the section on underage sex). I showed him the law and said, ‘You cannot do this.’”

Under the law, anyone found guilty of having sex with a minor between the ages of 14 and 16 may face up to 10 years’ jail, as well as a fine and caning.

While on investigative assignments in 2002, the two police officers spent a lot of time getting to know each other. Two years later, they got married and now have three children – two sons aged 19 and 16, and a daughter, 10.

Foo, 48, and Low, 51, have been juggling work and family for the past two decades, but at least one of them will attend their children’s events."

Hong Kong principal who swore at guards in Singapore sacked after school rejects his resignation (4 June 2026)

"A school principal from Hong Kong who was seen swearing at security guards at SAFRA Jurong while on a school trip to Singapore in May has had his resignation rejected and has been fired instead.

Lee Cheuk Hing, who was the principal of San Wui Commercial Society Secondary School, had tendered his resignation on May 28 following the viral incident. His last day with the school would have been on Aug 31.

However, his resignation was rejected by the school on June 3, and it requested his “immediate dismissal”, reported the South China Morning Post (SCMP).

The Hong Kong-based English-language newspaper quoted the school’s management committee as saying on June 3: “If he were to remain in office as principal before Aug 31, it would gravely disrupt the operation of the school and prevent the school’s teachers and students from moving forward as soon as possible.

“This constitutes the immediate dismissal of Mr Lee and the removal of all his duties at the school.”

The school said that Lee’s “vulgar” behaviour during the school trip violated the professional code of conduct for teaching staff, and that Lee, as the head of the institution, was held to a higher standard by parents and the public.

The school’s manager, Edmund Wong Chun-sek, said the incident would not affect the hiring of Lee’s replacement, reported SCMP.

“I believe an isolated incident will not discourage dedicated, capable and aspiring educators from applying for this principalship,” Wong, a former lawmaker, said.

He added that the decision to fire Lee was guided by the best interests and well-being of students."

Court acquits youth with autism and mental condition charged with violence against parents (4 June 2026)

"SINGAPORE - A 19-year-old youth with autism and a psychiatric condition who faced charges over violent acts against his parents has been granted an acquittal by a district court here.

Other options such as probation or a mandatory treatment order (MTO) were not recommended in this case, said District Judge Paul Quan in a judgment issued on May 26.

The prosecution had applied for a discharge amounting to an acquittal on the man’s charges and to issue a stern warning to him instead.

Judge Quan commended deputy public prosecutors Nicole Teo and Chin Jincheng, as well as the youth’s lawyer Aristotle Eng, for their efforts in finding an appropriate outcome.

The acquittal means his client has no criminal record, and it is now for the Institute of Mental Health (IMH) and his family to decide what is best for him, Eng told The Straits Times.

The youth has autism spectrum disorder and adjustment disorder, both of which were found to have contributed to the offences.

He had pleaded guilty in January to one charge of using criminal force against his father, and another charge of intentionally causing his father alarm.

Two other charges of using criminal force against his mother, and another of doing a rash act endangering the personal safety of others by standing in the way of incoming vehicles, were meant to be taken into consideration for his sentencing."

6 teen girls and 12-year-old arrested after allegedly beating up 14-year-old in Orchard Road carpark (5 June 2026)

"SINGAPORE – Seven girls, aged 12 to 17, were arrested for rioting after allegedly beating up another girl, 14, in an Orchard Road carpark.

The incident occurred at the carpark at 10pm on May 3, according to Chinese-language daily Shin Min Daily News.

The police and the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) told The Straits Times on June 4 that they received a call for help in Bedok Reservoir Road at 11.25pm that night.

The SCDF said it took one person to KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital.

Shin Min, citing the 14-year-old’s mother, reported that the girl was hospitalised for nine days following the incident."

Boys and girls show different depressive symptoms tied to early brain development: A*STAR-led study (5 June 2026)

"SINGAPORE – Boys and girls in Singapore may develop depressive symptoms differently, with patterns of brain development in early childhood linked to signs of depression in adolescence, according to a new study.

The finding suggests that researchers may need to examine mental vulnerabilities earlier in childhood, rather than focusing only on adolescent years when depressive symptoms are more commonly observed. This could help enable more timely support for children.

The study found that different parts of the brain were associated with different types of depressive symptoms in boys and girls later in life.

In girls, changes in brain regions involved in emotional processing were linked to symptoms such as low mood and poor self-esteem. In boys, changes in other brain areas were associated with symptoms including tiredness and a sense of ineffectiveness.

Findings from the Sex-specific Neurodevelopmental Pathways to Depressive Symptoms study come amid growing concerns about youth mental health in Singapore.

A separate research paper in May found that mental disorders were the leading cause of disability and death among 10- to 14-year-olds in Singapore, and the impact of mental distress on population health here is the highest in ASEAN.

In 2023, NUS’ Youth Epidemiology and Resilience study found that about one in three youth aged 10 to 18 years old in Singapore reported internalising mental health symptoms such as depression, anxiety and loneliness.

The latest study tracked how different parts of the brain developed and interacted over time. It found that girls showed a faster rate of change than boys in brain development between the ages of 4½ and six years.

Researchers also examined how these childhood brain development patterns were related to depressive symptoms reported at age 13.

They found that girls were 2½ times more likely than boys to report depressive symptoms at 13.

The study, led by the A*STAR Institute for Human Development and Potential (IHDP), was published in the scientific journal Molecular Psychiatry in April. It involved researchers from the KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital (KKH), National University Health System, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine at the National University of Singapore, and McGill University."

Upcoming renaissance fair reimagines S’pore’s history with a blend of local folklore and fantasy (5 June 2026)

"SINGAPORE – If you could be a fantasy character for a day, who would you be?

That is the question posed to those attending Lion City Faire, an upcoming renaissance fair set in a fantasy universe inspired by Singapore’s history.

Held at Fort Canning Park on June 13 and June 14, the fair reimagines our island nation’s past as a port settlement and neighbouring shores through performances, activities and workshops that blend local folklore and fairytales.

Attendees are encouraged to cosplay as a character of this mythical realm, with best-dressed prizes up for grabs.

Those who lean more towards creative art can try their hand at fashioning leather pouches and painting figurines of heroes and monsters.

Children aged 13 and older can also learn to fight like a mediaeval knight at a workshop taught by the Bastion HEMA, a historical European martial arts academy.

There will also be a marketplace with more than 70 vendors; quests for attendees to embark on; tabletop roleplaying games, like Dungeons & Dragons; and meet-and-greet sessions with British actor Theo Solomon, who voices the human-warlock Wyll in the popular roleplaying video game Baldur’s Gate III."

Dive into the deep blue at ArtScience Museum’s new ocean exhibition (5 June 2026)

"SINGAPORE – Silver helium balloons in the shape of fish drift in the air, fitted with sensors and a tail to “swim” through the room while avoiding visitors and other fish.

The art installation mimicking the schooling behaviour of fish is one of the highlights of ArtScience Museum’s latest exhibition, Into The Ocean: Journey Beneath.

Presented by the museum in collaboration with OceanX, an ocean exploration non-profit organisation, the immersive exhibition will be launched on June 6, allowing visitors to explore the different zones of the ocean, reaching depths where few humans have ventured.

The exhibition has five zones, featuring installations by artists from around the world to create a multi-sensory experience. These include colourful visualisations of how whales perceive their surroundings through echoes and vibrations and oceanic “smellscapes” featuring smells collected from coasts in the Caribbean and Costa Rica.

Visitors can also learn more about scientific concepts such as environmental DNA (eDNA) through games like eDNA Detectives, in which a player uses eDNA samples to find out which creatures have passed through the waters.

The exhibition also showcases footage captured during OceanX expeditions, and deep sea specimens from the National University of Singapore’s Lee Kong Chian Natural History Museum."

4 years’ jail for mum who allowed 15-year-old son to smoke meth (5 June 2026)

"SINGAPORE – A 52-year-old woman who allowed her teen son to use methamphetamine was sentenced to four years’ jail on June 5.

The woman, who cannot be named due to a court-imposed gag order, pleaded guilty to two charges, including exposing a child to drug utensils and methamphetamine consumption.

The court heard that the woman lived in a Yishun flat with her son, who was 15 years old at the time, and her husband. She began smoking methamphetamine in 2022.

In January 2025, her son chanced upon the drug utensils that were left in the sink. He asked his mother what they were, and she told him they were used to smoke methamphetamine.

This led the teen to consider trying the drug, said Deputy Public Prosecutor Etsuko Lim.

Over the next few months, the teen smoked methamphetamine every two to three days, using the utensils that his mother and stepfather left in the living room.

He also obtained the drugs from them.

The woman was arrested on June 23, 2025, by Central Narcotics Bureau (CNB) officers.

CNB officers found the drug utensils in her home. She admitted that the utensils belonged to her husband but said that she also used them to consume drugs.

The woman also said that she had once given her son another drug utensil."

Jail for man who asked underage girl overseas to perform sex acts in video chats (5 June 2026)

"SINGAPORE - A Singaporean man befriended an underage girl living overseas and made her perform sex acts during video chats.

At around the same time, he was being investigated for sexually exploiting another minor.

In September 2020, Sebastian Lye Chee Weng, now 32, stopped communicating with the American girl living in the state of Georgia, after he was convicted and sentenced to over eight months’ jail in the earlier case.

Following his release, Lye was placed on a remission order, and was supposed to keep himself out of trouble from March 20 to June 13, 2021.

However, he had a video call with the American girl during his remission and asked her to perform a sex act, which she complied.

Police later raided his home in April 2022 and found that he had 12,755 files of sexually explicit material involving children.

On June 5, Lye was sentenced to five years and 11 months’ jail, and three strokes of the cane.

He also has to spend an additional 66 days behind bars after breaching the remission order.

The man had pleaded guilty to multiple offences including sexually exploiting a child."

Surprise birthday parties, magic tricks and coding: Children take the lead in volunteering (5 June 2026)

"SINGAPORE - After his friends organised a surprise birthday party for him, Aarav Malik, now 19, was inspired to do the same for others.

In 2024, he started ground-up project Expedition Joy, to organise birthday parties every quarter for disadvantaged youth and the elderly at partner organisations. These include The Salvation Army and Singapore Red Cross.

Sponsored by Temasek Foundation OSCAR Fund and private donor Ferns & Philo, the initiative celebrates residents whose birthdays fall in the preceding quarter. Parties are held at venues such as Gracehaven Children’s Home and are organised with the help of volunteers.

This was one of 11 groups featured at the Festival of Deeds by Kids, an event meant to connect socially minded youth. Others include Project Phoenix, which teaches latchkey children simple magic tricks to boost their confidence and build public-speaking skills.

The children put up a performance at the festival on June 5, which was organised by Little But Loud, a ground-up initiative started by three young siblings.

During the event, Little But Loud launched a new initiative to provide a platform for social initiatives driven by youth, to help sustain efforts that often start in school but lose momentum once their founders graduate.

In the coming year, the Network of Deeds by Kids plans to engage over 150 youths, with members receiving mentorship, training and opportunities to work together.

The June 5 festival is supported by the Temasek Foundation OSCAR Fund, which aims to build an environment of care through ground-up initiatives, and the SG Partnerships Fund, launched by the Singapore Government Partnerships Office to support citizen-led partnerships."

AI as a leadership KPI: Workers clash with AI mandates (6 June 2026)

"SINGAPORE – The rise of artificial intelligence (AI) is kicking off a race among companies to quickly adopt and incorporate the technology. This is spawning new forms of workplace anxiety like “tokenmaxxing”, the act of deploying AI in pointless tasks to comply with mandates to increase AI usage.

At the National University of Singapore (NUS), most of its 12,000 or so employees have been receiving a steady stream of e-mails encouraging them to use AI since the start of the academic year in August 2025.

“AI’s meteoric rise has unlocked a wealth of exciting possibilities,” reads an e-mail from NUS president Tan Eng Chye to all staff in May. “Beyond responding with agility, NUS must actively lead and define this transformation.

“To ensure this collective endeavour, AI strategy and deployment will be embedded as a leadership KPI for senior management, deans and heads, with the shared commitment extending to every team across the university.”

Eight NUS employees, speaking to The Straits Times on the condition of anonymity, say that what is happening feels at times like the university is putting AI adoption ahead of a clear vision of how AI should improve working life.

They note how staff members are using AI to transcribe meeting minutes, write e-mails or create AI-generated art for university events.

At the same time, they have also noticed an attendant uptick in AI-related errors that create more clean-up work than if AI had not been introduced.

Meanwhile, attempts at incorporating AI into everyday tasks like filtering out postgraduate candidates in admissions processes have caused glitches that resulted in more manual work, says an employee at the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences.

“The reality is that AI is not advanced enough to help us do anything that’s worth doing in our office,” the employee adds. “We have to expend double the effort to fix it.”

In response to queries from ST, NUS senior vice-provost Bernard Tan says that AI has not been made an official leadership KPI as yet, and that annual performance reviews will measure quality of work, regardless of whether AI was used.

He points to examples of the technology in action. These include AI tools to help staff members pen speeches while maintaining their personal writing style, process large volumes of student feedback, and create interactive simulations for medical, law and social work students."

MPA launches regular tours to 130-year-old Sultan Shoal Lighthouse (6 June 2026)

"SINGAPORE – Elegant in appearance, skilfully designed and “thoroughly substantial in every particular” was how a December 1895 article described Sultan Shoal Lighthouse when it was just built.

“It has all the appearances of durability and solidity,” the article said of the lighthouse, which had cost about $34,000 and began operations the next year.

Thirteen decades later, the lighthouse is now open to the public for regular guided tours for the first time in its history, giving visitors a chance to see the grand old dame up close, and marvel at its longevity.

The tours, which are organised by the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) on a monthly basis, set off from Pasir Panjang Ferry Terminal and return three hours later.

They include an introduction to the history of Singapore’s seaports, as well as the industries on Jurong Island and Pulau Bukom."

Been there, scrolled that! This mum battled her teen’s device use and found what really works (19 December 2025)

"When Mrs Drishti Bhatia started getting worried about her daughter’s increasing screen time, she knew that confiscating her phone wasn’t the answer. Here’s how the AI Associate Trainer helped her teen build healthier digital habits while maintaining trust and connection.

By Eveline Gan

It started innocently enough, a simple way to make her 13-year-old daughter’s long commutes to and from school more bearable. Mrs Drishti Bhatia had relented and allowed her daughter Kaavya to listen to YouTube Music and watch pre-downloaded Netflix videos on her mobile phone.

Soon, Mrs Bhatia recalls how her daughter would sometimes continue watching videos even after reaching home, choosing screen time over her outdoor time or homework. “Over time, I became concerned about her screen use,” she says.

As an AI Associate Trainer who teaches AI fundamentals to students, she understands how digital platforms are designed to hook users. That’s why she grew increasingly uneasy. Even so, the tech-savvy mother knew that protecting her daughter wasn’t about banning devices.

“I don’t believe in confiscating her phone,” says Mrs Bhatia, an associate Trainer at AI Learning Lab. “For teenagers, the phone is a very important communication tool with family and friends – especially with all the major changes in Secondary 1. Taking away her device would cut her off from that social support.”

Instead, she found five ways that worked for her family and helped her teen learn to manage her own screen habits.

Tip #1: Set limits, but keep them realistic

To help her teen curb her increasing screen use, Mrs Bhatia took a balanced, collaborative approach. First, she started by setting a daily screen time limit of one and a half hours for her teen – the duration of her commute.

“I explained that I had no problem with her using her phone for entertainment, but to keep it to her travel time. That worked well, and after I noticed she was managing okay, I removed the restrictions,” Mrs Bhatia says.

Screen time limits can be set through parental control features on most mobile devices. These features also typically allow parents to approve additional screen time if say, their child needs extra time for schoolwork."

When you’re in secondary school, it’s very important that you... (19 December 2025)

"We asked three N-level graduates from Yio Chu Kang Secondary School to complete the sentence, and here’s what they said.

“Set your purpose and priorities, focus on what’s important to you, and ignore what other people think.”

Siti Syahana Elysha didn’t get into the secondary school she wanted to go to, but instead of moping, she set her mind on doing better. In Secondary 3, when choosing her subject combination, her friends advised her to drop Nutrition and Food Science because she didn’t do great in the subject. “But I like baking and cooking and decided to persevere. I managed to bump up my grades by a lot and did all my assignments on time,” she says.

This insistence on pursuing what she likes has made Siti a more independent learner and left her with zero regrets. Working towards her goal, she even managed to teach her family how to eat more healthily."

This is what happens when heart work is weaved into everything you learn in school (19 December 2025)

"From building “smart” walking aids for seniors to creating games to ease their younger peers into school, students at Park View Primary School are discovering that true success comes from using their strengths to uplift others.

By Eveline Gan

After countless tweaks and adjustments, Primary 5 student Mikhail Zheng Xi and his teammates finally heard what they had been hoping for. A sharp beep let out by the sensor on their walking stick prototype, about three meters away from a table. Around the classroom, cheers erupted.

For the Park View Primary School (PVPS) students, what began as a semester-long Applied Learning Programme (ALP), “One Love, Many Lives”, had become a lesson in empathy, teamwork and perseverance.

Their initial task, as part of their ALP, was simple: identify a real-world problem and create a tech-based solution. Then, a chat with an elderly cleaner in school had sparked their motivation to develop a solution to make life easier for seniors.

“We found out that some elderly people are visually impaired, and require a walking stick to move around. The uncle we spoke to also said it was sometimes difficult for him to move around, especially when going up the stairs,” Mikhail recalled. “That’s when my group got the idea to build a sensor stick that could help detect and alert the user of obstacles.”

Over several weeks, the students worked tirelessly to refine their Microbit sensor stick for its intended use. When their prototype finally worked, Mikhail said they felt really proud. “It was nice to see someone benefit from what we made. It helped us understand the struggles that elderly people go through.”

Fun everyday activities that can build stronger Maths skills than worksheets (30 December 2025)

"Sitting your child down to do Maths worksheets and recite the times table is one way to teach numeracy, but Ms Samantha See, an early childhood expert from the National Institute of Early Childhood Development, says there are other methods that promote better mastery of Maths concepts.

By Eveline Gan

In the race to give our children a head start in Primary 1 Maths, it is all too tempting to reach for worksheets, make them recite repetitively the multiplication tables, and practise counting way beyond 10. But what if the key to building a solid foundation in numeracy can be found in everyday routines and conversations, in the kitchen and even when doing laundry?

Ms Samantha See Xueyi, a lecturer specialising in early numeracy at the National Institute of Early Childhood Development (NIEC), says overpreparing kids by making them do worksheets and memorise multiplication table is not early numeracy. “What we should be doing is to help them develop a deeper understanding of the concepts and skills in a developmentally appropriate manner,” she clarifies.

What are pre-number concepts

Recognising relationships through matching, sorting, comparing, ordering and patterning, as well as understanding basic shapes and spatial concepts, are known as pre-number concepts. These help children build the foundational logical thinking to support more complex mathematical thinking in Primary school, explains Ms See.

For example, a child learns to match two coloured objects. Then, they use their understanding of matching to pair a numeral card to a corresponding quantity of items when they are developmentally ready.

Subsequently, they will go beyond these pre-number concepts as preschool teachers introduce number relationships, exploring ideas like “more than” or “fewer than”when comparing quantities.

“There is also an important concept – part-whole relationships – which helps children see the relationship between the whole and its parts. For example, understanding that 10 can be represented as eight and two helps prepare children for future addition and subtraction sums,” explains Ms See. “Many people don’t realise that the ability to make 10 very quickly mentally helps later on when they work with bigger numbers.”

Looking back: Past issues of Contact magazine (31 December 2025)

"Looking for insightful stories about teachers and their experiences? While “Contact: The Teachers’ Digest” is no longer being published, you can still explore a rich collection of articles in its archived editions here, which highlight the voices and journeys of educators."

The first day of primary school: What parents hope for most (13 January 2026)

"The first day of Primary One isn’t just about lessons and routines. For many parents, it’s about trust, reassurance, and the small moments that matter.

By Sabrina Lee

The first day of Primary One is a milestone that brings excitement, nerves, and hope for what lies ahead. At Sembawang Primary School, we spoke to three parents about what went through their mind, seeing their children enter a new environment. We also asked a teacher how the school staff help students settle in and reassures parents on the first day.

Mum celebrates small steps to independence

Ms Parameswari Segaran, mother of Vihaan, with her husband Mr Gobi Sathiavel

“As Vihaan starts Primary One, my hope is for him to learn to adapt, enjoy learning, and grow in confidence as he finds his way.

Today really brought those hopes to life. I stood next to him during recess as he carefully put his plate away after eating. It was a small thing, but it meant a lot to me. I could see that he was nervous and unsure, so I told him it was okay and gave him a bit of encouragement. Watching him find the courage to do it on his own was both comforting and emotional.

What’s been reassuring, from the school briefings and today’s experience, is seeing the school’s focus on students’ well-being and character, alongside learning. The nurturing environment, clear support, and attention to social and emotional growth give me confidence that Vihaan will be well supported as he settles in, becomes more independent, and finds his footing at this important stage of his life.”

Leading with heart: How three principals shape lives with care and clarity (14 January 2026)

"Good leadership keeps the heart of our schools beating strongly every day. Three principals — Mr Michael de Silva, Mr Kevin Pang and Mdm Goh Meei Yunn — share how they draw the best from various leadership approaches to create sustainable excellence in schools.

Innovation that comes through trust and collaboration

Among educators, it is common lingo to say that teaching and running schools take a lot of hard work AND heart work.

Everything that happens to their students – from grazed knees and friendship hurts, to academic strides, family relationships, and triumphs big and small – are all in a day’s work for principals and their staff. This can also make schools more complex to lead than the average organisation.

In his nearly 40 years of service at the Ministry of Education, Mr Michael de Silva had taken on various leadership positions at HQ and schools, the latest being Principal of Yishun Innova Junior College before his retirement last year.

School principals are appointed through discerning selection and advancement processes, and well-trained and mentored for the task, he says. Added to that is how well the teaching fraternity looks after its own.

“It is simply practical,” he says. “If we want good outcomes for students, the people doing the work – our teachers – need to be supported, respected, and well.”

As care and trust is established, innovation and collaboration come more easily.

“I try to bring out the best in my staff by creating sustainable systems, structures, and a culture that allow them to do their best work.” When forming teams, for example, he creates what he calls “collaborative leadership” where educators support one another’s growth while serving students more effectively."

7 leadership tips from the Principal’s Office: On forging culture (14 January 2026)

"School culture acts like an invisible force that brings teachers and students together, and shapes good values and habits. Schoolbag speaks to Mr Kevin Pang, who takes over as Principal of Anglo-Chinese School (Independent) this year, on how he forges a strong culture – starting with how it’s defined.

How does one build a culture where people feel they truly belong? How does one lead culture change without losing trust? How do we turn shared values from wall posters into daily practice? These are enduring questions for both new and seasoned leaders.

Mr Kevin Pang successfully guided Yuhua Secondary School through its post-merger transition towards a renewed culture and identity. He has also led across a wide spectrum of school settings, from junior college, to special needs institution, and now ACS (Independent), a specialised independent school with a long and storied heritage.

He offers strategies to forge a stronger culture that resonates.

1. Define culture as lived experience, not stated aspiration.

“To me, school culture is the daily lived expression of what we believe, value, and practise together,” says Mr Pang. “It is reflected not just in policies but in the ‘soft culture’ of everyday interactions between students, staff and stakeholders — how decisions are made, how we treat one another, and most tellingly, how we respond to difficulties.”

At Yuhua Secondary, the mission “Care, Connect, Contribute” shaped decisions large and small – from looking after every student and staff’s well-being (caring), why Town Halls with students and dialogues sessions with staff mattered (connecting), to making courageous actions to transform school programmes and infrastructure (contributing).

When the culture is strong, he says, “people sense alignment, belonging and meaning — they know why what we do matters and how they can contribute to it”.

Leaders need to translate aspirations and purpose into lived practices. Vision and mission statements must come alive and be lived out as identity.

“Each school should have something proud and distinctive that defines itself,” says Mr Pang. That identity becomes the invisible force that guides behaviour even when no one is watching."

7 leadership tips from the Principals’ Office: On navigating change (14 January 2026)

"With change as a constant, the steady hand of leadership keeps schools running and students learning every day. Schoolbag asks Mdm Goh Meei Yunn, a seasoned principal who takes over the reins of School of the Arts (SOTA) this year, how she steers staff, students and parents through various education phases and tough situations too.

How do we lead when the ground beneath us is shifting? How do we stay true to our values while adapting to new realities? How do we guide our team through change when we’re still grappling with it myself?

These are some questions that leaders grapple with especially in an era where unpredictability is promised and social media is there to amplify every misstep.

Mdm Goh Meei Yunn has navigated schools through different phases of Singapore’s education landscape for the past 25 years.

Before SOTA, she assumed leadership appointments including Principalship at two primary schools and stints at the MOE Schools Division’s former Educational Leadership Development Centre. Mdm Goh, who has a degree in Music, started her career as a teacher in the Music Elective Programme at Dunman High School.

She shares some practical strategies from her experience that’s useful for navigating change in any group or organisation.

1. Work on the personal impact before leading others through change

When dealing with change, Mdm Goh typically doesn’t start with strategy or policy. She starts with herself.

When Singapore’s education system was evolving in the 2000s towards more holistic education and a reduced emphasis on grades, she felt unsettled.

“I grew up in the older system,” she explains. “So as a beginning teacher in the 1980s and 90s, I prided myself on improving on my students’ academic performance every year. But as our education philosophy shifted away from celebrating straight As, I was caught between two worlds.”

Then a young parent of two, it was doubly hard for Mdm Goh to imbibe the shift in approach to teaching and learning – she could understand why parents would continue to prioritise good grades or preferred schools for their children, as that was the benchmark they were brought up on; “I believe all parents of my generation went through that,” she says.

After working on her inner conflicts, she found it easier to lead empathetic conversations with her colleagues and students’ parents facing similar struggles. As a parent herself, she found it easier to connect with other parents, as she was able to articulate their inner parenting insecurities."

7 leadership tips from the Principal’s Office: On people management (14 January 2026)

"Strong leadership can bring out the best in us – what more in schools where our students are being nurtured and cared for every day? Schoolbag speaks to Mr Michael de Silva, a veteran educator who led schools and shaped leaders across nearly four decades. He talks about how to build sustainable teams, navigate complexity, and keep care and performance working hand in hand.

How do I manage a diverse team of colleagues? How can I get consensus rather than compliance? What makes teams and performance sustainable? These are questions even experienced leaders revisit from time to time.

People management is about developing individuals into their best selves at work or in school — something Mr Michael de Silva practised with commitment and distinction across almost four decades as an educator and leader.

Beyond his roles at MOE HQ as a cluster superintendent and head of the Educational Leadership Development Centre, he served as Principal of Innova Junior College from 2013 until its merger with Yishun Junior College. He then helmed the newly formed Yishun Innova Junior College from 2019 until his retirement last year.

“In schools, many of us spend more time with our colleagues than with our own families. Because so much of our lives is lived in the workplace, people management isn’t a separate leadership function — it is the work. As we teach and support students, we also grow as individuals, and we grow the people around us.”

Drawing on decades of leadership while delivering measurable outcomes for students, he offers field-tested practices that strengthen teams in schools and workplaces alike.

1. Care is the work

On balancing leading with care and with efficiency, Mr de Silva makes a simple assertion: the two are not separate. “They are actually the same work,” he says. If we want good outcomes for students, the people doing the work — our teachers — must be supported, respected, and well. This is not a soft idea. It is simply practical.

“Even if someone takes a very instrumental view and sees teachers as a means to an end, the conclusion is the same: if you rely on a tool to get good results, you make sure that tool is in good condition and sharpened. People are obviously not tools, but the principle still applies.” When teachers feel valued and supported, they do better work. Care is not a distraction from performance; it is what makes performance sustainable.

Leading with heart begins with acknowledging what is already felt. At the start of a new term, he might tell his staff that he, too, wished the holidays were longer — “you know what’s in their hearts, because that’s in your heart too,” he explains. Such small acts of honesty build connection, trust, and emotional safety.

Care does not mean lowering expectations. “In practice, I try to understand the real pressures teachers face and give support or clarity where needed, while still holding clear expectations and timelines.”

Pro-tech-ting kids in the age of AI (16 January 2026)

"Artificial intelligence is taking the world by storm, and parents must start thinking about what it means to raise children in an era of humanlike chatbots and capable image generators. A parent working in tech shares her take on this.

By Rafidah A Razak

AI. LLMs. These acronyms are so commonplace one would have to be living under a rock to not know what they stand for: artificial intelligence and Large Language Models. They are also touted to be technologies we need to learn and use to thrive in future. So, it would make sense for parents to expose their kids to these tech tools as soon as possible, right?

Ms T, who prefers to stay anonymous, begs to differ. The mum of two boys aged five and seven wants to teach them the art of slow living – a mindset that focuses on doing things mindfully and with intention. And it includes life without AI and generative AI (GenAI) in their early years.

As an AI consultant and UX (user experience) designer, Ms T’s day-to-day job is to recognise and keep up with worldwide technological developments, such as how China’s Cyberspace Administration has recently released regulations around the use of AI. These directives are intended to protect their children and elderly as the government has recognised how quickly human-like AI technologies are being integrated into society.

“AI and technology are going to be everywhere around them as they grow up. Learning how to use AI is so easy, because the outputs are just there for them to consume,” she says. The hard part, she reckons, will be teaching children how to be more human. How to think critically, be creative and authentic, and understand the invisible processes that underlie the fast outputs that we have come to expect from technology."

In pictures: First day of school moments (19 January 2026)

"Being back at school is giving fresh-start energy − new things to learn, new friends to meet, and moments that will shape the year ahead.

By Sabrina Lee

Every first day looks a little different − in MOE Kindergarten @ Sembawang, to Sembawang Primary, and in Bukit Batok Secondary. As a new school year begins, students step into new classrooms, make new friends, and experience many firsts, supported by their parents, teachers and school staff.

A small wave, and a big step forward – the school year begins at MOE Kindergarten @ Sembawang with equal parts excitement and nerves.

For school staff, it’s a familiar gate; for the children, it’s a brand-new world waiting.

A gentle reminder, a helping hand − even the smallest acts of care make a big difference on the first day."

Why the teaching profession cannot be a revolving door (21 January 2026)

"Its strength lies in experienced teachers who bring maturity, insight and confidence built over years.

By Liew Wei Li

Mr Ahmad Arif Bin Ibrahim did Singapore proud recently, bagging a bronze medal together with his Duathlon Mixed Relay team at the 2025 SEA Games. Away from the track, he is also a maestro at Maha Bodhi School where he teaches Physical Education.

He masterfully engages students, and knows how to adapt lessons on the fly. These are not skills learnt overnight.

This raises an important question: Will he still be teaching in 2035?

The Ministry of Education (MOE) has said that it will actively hire more new educators from 2026 to strengthen our teaching workforce. But recruitment alone is not enough. Teaching must remain an attractive long-term career, and not a revolving door.

After over 20 years in education, I have witnessed teachers transform from “sages on stages” to something far more sophisticated. Experienced teachers are like concert maestros: instinctive, precise and deeply attuned to their students.

Why the experience matters

Take a disengaged student who shows little interest in the concepts taught.

An experienced teacher like Mr Arif knows how to draw him in with simple personalised applications of real-world learning, the psychological safety of established classroom routines, or interesting and appropriately challenging tasks to spark the joy of learning.

The same instinct shows up when a student is underperforming academically.

An expert educator like Mdm Usha d/o Krishnasamy, a 23-year veteran and Lead Teacher at North View Primary School will scan the class, assess their needs, and provide inclusive, yet differentiated instruction to her learners, including those with Special Educational Needs. She knows how to pitch appropriate challenges to them for confidence building, and give timely feedback so they can improve.

What students gain from experienced teachers is precious. Research tells us that they are more likely to attend school, engage constructively, and learn more."

Students on the teachers who shaped their secondary school journey (22 January 2026)

"Four Evergreen Secondary School students share the small moments – from words of encouragement to questions that made them think – that will stay with them long after they graduate.

By Sabrina Lee

“Mr Anan pointed out my strengths before I could see them myself.” – Garrett Lim

When Garrett was nominated to take on the role of Discipline Head of the prefectorial board in Secondary 3, it felt daunting. “I honestly didn’t think I had the guts for it,” he says.

But Mr Anan, who leads the Student Leadership Development Committee, reassured Garrett. Mr Anan pointed out moments he had observed from as early as Secondary 1, such as when Garrett stepped up to make announcements to classmates about proper attire or haircuts.

“To me, it was very basic actions., I didn’t even think of it as ‘leadership’ at that time,” Garrett says. But that conversation with Mr Anan helped Garrett reframe his thinking and boosted his confidence.

“Mr Anan is someone I feel comfortable turning to for guidance. He’s firm when needed, but always encouraging. He’ll tell me, ‘You’ve got this.’”

What performing arts CCAs really teach students (26 January 2026)

"How do performing arts develop resilience and transform students into confident performers who dream bigger? Schoolbag gets them to tell us.

By Sabrina Lee

Performing arts CCAs place students in situations that ask more of them: to listen closely, respond to feedback and keep going when practice gets demanding. For Ashley Tham and Graeden Dispo, dance and music became avenues to test themselves, steady their focus and discover what effort over time can achieve.

Ashley Tham learns to move with confidence

When Ashley steps onto the stage, her movements are steady and assured. That assurance did not come overnight – it was shaped through practice and a deep commitment to dance.

Ashley first joined Fusionz Dance at APSN Tanglin School in Secondary 1 to explore a CCA she already felt drawn to. She had begun dancing earlier, starting in Primary 2 at Chaoyang School. “Dance makes me feel happy and strong,” she shares. While she was comfortable being on stage, remembering choreography, staying in sync with others and staying attentive through long rehearsals were challenging at first. There were moments of fatigue, but she kept showing up.

What helped her persist was a supportive CCA environment. Her teachers focused on building up her self-confidence. “We checked in with Ashley regularly and set small, achievable goals,” says co-teacher-in-charge Ms Syafiqah Binte Mohamed Salleh. “Celebrating small wins helped her keep going.”

Rehearsals became a space where Ashley learnt to respond to feedback, adapt when routines were demanding, and stay committed even when progress felt slow. By participating in numerous in-school and public performances, she learnt to stay composed under pressure.

“Dance teaches students how to manage pressure and perform with clarity,” says Ashley’s dance instructor, Mr Mohammad Ridzwan Bin Rashid, known to students as Mr Ewan.

Those skills carried into her sporting pursuits as well. A competitive swimmer, Ashley recently represented Team Singapore at the 2025 Dubai Asian Youth Para Games, winning two silver and two bronze medals."

Discovering the joy of serving together (5 February 2026)

"These Parent Support Groups are inspiring parents and children to step out and lend a hand to those in need, proving that volunteering as a family doesn’t have to be complicated.

By Ai Lei

Parent Support Groups (PSGs) in schools are showing that giving back can be a family affair. Through school-led initiatives, both parents and children are involved in serving others – from distributing food to families in need to bringing help and joy to seniors. Find out how PSGs from these four schools provide opportunities for parents and children to bond through volunteering.

Punggol Green Primary School: Partnering parents to inculcate values

Punggol Green Primary School’s collaboration with Food from the Heartbegan as a Values-in-Action project led by its Primary 5 students. These students rallied their peers to contribute non-perishable food items for families in need. These food items were also displayed on shelves for beneficiaries to redeem at Food from the Heart’s Community Shop @ Punggol.

Now in its fifth year, the initiative has expanded, with participation from the school’s PSG. Parents saw the shared acts of service as a meaningful way to give back while strengthening bonds with their children. Together, they went door-to-door to distribute food packs to 50 households in Punggol and Hougang.

Ms Norhidayana Jabar, Lead Teacher/Malay Language, reflects, “This initiative shows how learning goes beyond the classroom, as students learn to be kind, caring and responsible members of the community.”

For the community, the effort provided not just essential groceries but also a sense of warmth and connection. In particular, a resident had shared how the food packs helped ease her family’s worries when they were going through a difficult month.

The students experienced the joy of service firsthand, with many taking the initiative to prepare personalized greetings to introduce themselves to the residents. Parents too were deeply moved. PSG chairperson Ms Claire Zhang shares, “The smiles you see from the residents and from your own children are truly priceless.” Creating these shared experiences allowed parents to actively participate in their child’s holistic development, reinforcing the values taught in school."

What students learn when they perform together (13 February 2026)

"From school rehearsals to public performances, students reflect on how performing arts CCAs teach them to pay attention to others and work together.

By Sabrina Lee

Across a guitar ensemble and an angklung group, four students share how performing arts CCAs shape the way they listen, adapt, and pull their own weight during performances.

Zi Ling and Maya learn it takes a team to carry a melody on the angklung

When St. Anthony’s Canossian Secondary School’s Angklung Ensemble plays, no one carries the melody alone.

“Everybody only controls one note,” says Secondary 4 student Hiew Zi Ling. “So, to play a song, we must listen to each other, watch the conductor, and shake our instruments at the right moment.”

As a student leader, Zi Ling looks out for juniors who are still adjusting. “Everyone has their own way of learning,” she says. “And I’ve learnt to be patient and to encourage them.”

For Zi Ling, the Angklung Ensemble stood out when she was in Secondary 1 because she and a close friend did not share classes and wanted to join a CCA that gave them time to bond. “I stumbled across an angklung performance during the Singapore Youth Festival,” she says. “The bamboo instrument looked so unique, and I found it fascinating how such a simple instrument could make such clear, resonant sounds.”

With little to no musical background, she thought the angklung would be easy to learn at first. “Playing the angklung in an ensemble means keeping time, working as a team, and paying close attention to everyone else’s cues,” she says."

Empowering everyone during Total Defence Day (13 February 2026)

"Through fun and educational activities, White Sands Primary School and Pasir Ris Crest Secondary School come together every year to let their students learn about how everyone has a role to play when it comes to Total Defence.

Learning how to perform CPR on a CPR dummy from a St. John Brigade cadet. Colouring scenes of playground interactions while National Police Cadet Corp cadets explain how Social Defence is built over time. Identifying signs and emergency numbers that will be useful during an emergency from a group of Girl Guides.

These are just some of the activities that White Sands Primary School (WSPS) students engaged in during their recess, facilitated by 51 students from uniformed groups from Pasir Ris Crest Secondary School (PRCSS). The initiative, which arose from a partnership between the two schools, is part of Total Defence Day commemoration.

“We were already partnering with WSPS in Values in Action, so it was a natural step to take when we were looking to extend our outreach and advocacy initiatives,” says Ms Candice Soh, Subject Head of Student Involvement and Agency at PRCSS. “It is a meaningful event that also empowers our students, as they impart their knowledge of Total Defence to younger students.”

Now in its fourth year, these Total Defence Day recess activities have become something that the WSPS students look forward to annually."

Where Play Sparks Growth - How MOE Kindergartens are developing our preschoolers (26 February 2026)

"School today is no longer just about worksheets and tests.

At MOE Kindergartens (MK), “purposeful play” is an important part of its curriculum. Sneak a peek into what this looks like in the different learning spaces at MK@Casuarina!"

Hot take: How these 3 parent influencers keep their kids off their devices (26 February 2026)

"Influencers are all about attracting eyeballs to their accounts. So we posed three parent influencers this tough question: How do you limit screen use for your own kids? They share what methods work for them and what don’t.

Fifteen hours. That’s Runner Kao’s daily screen time report. The social worker turned content creator admits that the number is staggering – it’s nearly all of his waking hours! But it’s hard to bring it down when his livelihood depends on it.

Parent influencers face a daunting task: Limit their kids’ screen time while building careers online. Mummy influencer Fizah Nizam often works on the go, with device stuck to her hand. When she tells her daughter to put her iPad down, she gets this reply: “You tell me, ‘don’t use the iPad’, but then why are you on the iPad?”

For influencer Tommy Wong, it’s also about reconciling his online career with values he wants to instil.

All three parents’ homes have become living labs for digital parenting, testing grounds for strategies every modern parent needs in the fight against extended screen times. The result? Hard-won wisdom from the front lines.

What failed: Don’t try this at home

1. Loose warnings and flexi boundaries

Like many well-meaning parents, Ms Fizah tried to set boundaries around screen use. But she was fuzzy about the number of hours she would allow, and she might also let devices babysit her kids when she was busy.

Tight deadlines characterise the content creator and film producer’s life. “I admit there were days when I was weak, and I’d tell the kids, ‘Sorry, I really need to get this done. Take the iPad,” says Ms Fizah.

She might throw in words of caution like “don’t play for too long”, which were ineffective. When she stepped in depended on her resolve for the day, which depended on her work schedule. Ms Fizah’s daughter, aged 10, would get “lost in her own world for hours” on the screen. And even when the device was switched off, Ms Fizah noticed her girl perpetually zoning out. “It was like she was floating in water. The after-effects linger.”

The wake-up call came – literally – from her daughter’s school. “I think Sahara has some issues with her eyesight,” the teacher said. After the school health screening a few weeks later, their fears were confirmed. “It shocked me. Her degree was really high!” Ms Fizah exclaims."

How do teachers learn? By creating (27 February 2026)

"Our art teachers don’t just teach art – they make it too. Here, four of them reflect on how creating and exhibiting their own work shapes the way they guide students.

By Sabrina Lee

Art teachers guide students through creative work where uncertainty is part of the process. They know that feeling firsthand as artists themselves. But it is not often that we see their work being showcased and get a rare glimpse into their own creative processes.

So, Schoolbag popped by the 13th Biennial Art Teachers’ Exhibition, to speak to four teacher-artists whose works are being exhibited. This edition of the event required participating teachers, for the first time, to create new works in response to a theme instead of submitting existing pieces. This meant starting from scratch – testing ideas, experimenting with materials, and deciding what to keep, change or discard as the work developed. They reflect on what it means to sit with that uncertainty, and how the experience shapes the way they guide their students.

“Making art keeps me grounded as a teacher.”

Mdm Jessica Lai, Art Teacher, Peirce Secondary School

“My artwork is a watercolour piece made up of an accordion-style book that loops into a circle, with collaged mushrooms placed at the centre. It draws on Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, especially the moment when Alice is asked, ‘Who are you?’ and must decide whether to take a bite of the mushroom. That in-between state – questioning identity and deciding whether to act – stayed with me. Working through that sense of being ‘in between’ made me more aware of how often students sit in that same space when they are learning.”

“When I make art for myself, the process feels intuitive. I move easily from one idea to the next.

Taking part in this exhibition made me slow down and look more closely at my own thinking. Starting a new artwork meant breaking ideas into smaller parts and paying attention to each decision as it unfolded.

Sitting with that uncertainty reminded me what learning feels like, and why it’s important for students to see that thinking doesn’t always come neatly or quickly – even if that means learning alongside my students.

When students understand that feeling unsure is part of learning, they become more willing to try, trust their ideas, and find their own way forward.”

Here’s what MOE announced at Committee of Supply 2026 (4 March 2026)

"At the 2026 Committee of Supply Debate, MOE announced initiatives to enable Singaporeans to learn together and be equipped for an AI-transformed future. What can our learners look forward to?"

More than just design: Inside the Da Vinci Programme (5 March 2026)

"At West View Primary School, selected academically strong students attend after-school activities that develop 21st Century Competencies like empathy, teamwork and communication skills.

By Arielene Wee

On the day that Primary 6 students Daisy Ma and Aarnik Mahajan were supposed to present their group’s prototype to a panel of judges, the prototype broke.

The students from West View Primary School had spent weeks interviewing friends and family members to understand the challenges they face in growing plants, brainstormed for sustainable solutions, and designed a prototype of an auto-watering device to help water plants.

With the help of their teachers from the Design Thinking Capstone Project, Daisy and Aarnik’s group quickly rebuilt their prototype from scratch, and even improved on the original design.

“We were very sad when our first prototype failed, but then we tried again,” says Daisy. “We even came up with a new idea of placing a camera on the device to check when the plant is dry and needs more water.”

Aarnik adds, “At the end of the presentation, we were really proud of what we made. I learnt to see things differently and not give up, even when we face challenges that seem difficult to overcome.”

That act of failing, then trying again and succeeding, is exactly what the Design Thinking Capstone Project aims to instil in students.

Learning to solve problems with empathy

Working on capstone projects around sustainability is one of three components of the Da Vinci Programme at West View Primary, a two-year programme for Primary 4 and 5 students who are selected based on academic strengths and teacher recommendations. The other components are the Brain programme, which focuses on developing communication and presentation skills, and Excellence 2000 (E2K) Mathematics, which develops mathematical reasoning.

In 2024, Prime Minister Lawrence Wong announced in his National Day Rally speech, that the Gifted Education Programme (GEP), in its current form, would be discontinued. Instead, students with strengths and talents in the academic domain would be stretched through a different approach.

Under the current GEP, students transfer to one of nine designated primary schools that host the programme in Primary 4. With the revised approach, these students would remain in their schools, which are all equipped with school-based provisions to develop them in English, Maths and Science – beyond the normal curriculum.

Students who are assessed to benefit from even further stretch can choose to attend centre-based advanced modules after school at designated schools nearby. The modules will start running from 2027 for Primary 4 students.

At West View Primary School, students with strengths and talents in the academic domain attend the Da Vinci Programme, which is held after school. What distinguishes it from other school-based programmes is its strong emphasis on design thinking, which Principal Mr Eugene Lee introduced when he joined the school in 2024."

More than just numbers: Inside the Mathematics Expert @ Work programme (5 March 2026)

"At Pei Hwa Presbyterian Primary School, the programme helps students strong in Mathematics to discover how it connects to real-world problems. They get better at problem-solving too.

By Arielene Wee

As part of the Mathematics Expert @ Work (MEW) programme at Pei Hwa Presbyterian Primary School, students get to build popcorn containers to learn about volume, and calculate optimal lift travel times to learn about rates and speed.

Mrs Sharon Wang, MEW teacher at Pei Hwa Presbyterian Primary, shares that such activities are designed to “stretch them beyond what is taught in the classroom”.

In 2024, Prime Minister Lawrence Wong announced in his National Day Rally speech, that the Gifted Education Programme (GEP) would discontinue in its current form. Instead, students with strengths and talents in the academic domain would be stretched through a different approach.

Under the current GEP, students transfer to one of nine designated primary schools that host the programme in Primary 4. With the revised approach, these students would remain in their schools, which are all equipped with school-based provisions to develop them in English, Maths and Science – beyond the normal curriculum.

Students who are assessed to benefit from even further stretch are invited to attend centre-based advanced modules after school at designated schools nearby. The modules will start running from 2027 for Primary 4 students.

For students with strengths and talent in Mathematics, primary schools can offer school-based provisions that are supported by MOE’s Gifted Education Branch and the Academy of Singapore Teachers. These are the MEW programme, Excellence 2000 (E2K) Mathematics Programme, and Primary Mathematics Project Competition.

At Pei Hwa Presbyterian Primary School, all three provisions are offered to Primary 4 and 5 students, who are selected based on their academic strengths in Mathematics and teacher recommendations.

Beyond structured steps and fast answers

MEW lessons are designed to make connections between abstract mathematical concepts and their practical applications. Additionally, students are trained to clearly articulate their reasoning and decision-making process.

“Unlike normal Mathematics lessons, where students solve equations and present calculations in a systematic manner, MEW involves a deeper conceptual understanding. Students have to explain the steps they take, and justify their reasoning,” says Mrs Wang.

The result of this is that students are less answer-driven and more process-focused, she observes. When one method fails, they try another. When they encounter difficulty, they persevere. Sometimes, they think out of the box too.

“As humans, we always want to solve things in the quickest way. But we teach our students to explore different ways to solve problems. In life, we never have just one method to solve things,” she adds.

“It doesn’t matter which way you take, as long as you get to the answer. The attempt to try, and then bounce back when you fail, is what we want to see.”

More than a love of books: Inside the Reading Circles programme (5 March 2026)

"At Seng Kang Primary School, students strong in the English language take part in activities that help them enjoy the books they read, while developing a greater understanding of the world around them.

By Arielene Wee

“I used to take a whole month to finish reading a Percy Jackson book, but now I can finish it in one and a half weeks,” says Jayden Wong, a Primary 6 student at Seng Kang Primary School.

For fellow Primary 6 student Syuhada Puteri Muhammad Iskandar, reading sometimes felt like a chore. Today, she says proudly that she reads every single day.

Both students credit this shift in their reading habits to the school’s Reading Circles programme.

“Reading Circles has allowed me to discover different books and genres, and I’ve realised that reading is not always boring,” Syuhada says.

Beyond reading more frequently, Jayden and Syuhada are also reading differently than before. Through Reading Circles, they have learnt to see from different characters’ perspectives, and draw connections between the stories they read to the world around them.

Fostering students’ love for the English language

In 2024, Prime Minister Lawrence Wong announced in his National Day Rally speech, that the Gifted Education Programme (GEP) would discontinue in its current form. Instead, students with strengths and talents in the academic domain would be stretched through a different approach.

Under the current GEP, students transfer to one of nine designated primary schools that host the programme in Primary 4. With the revised approach, these students would remain in their schools, which offer school-based provisions to develop them in English, Maths and Science – beyond the normal curriculum.

Students who are assessed to benefit from even further stretch are invited to attend centre-based advanced modules after school at designated schools nearby. The modules will start running from 2027 for Primary 4 students.

For students with strengths and talent in the English Language, three school-based programmes are offered by primary schools, supported by MOE’s Gifted Education Branch. These are the Reading Circles, Creative Writing programme, and Wits & Words debate programme.

At Seng Kang Primary, Reading Circles is an after-school programme for selected Primary 4 and 5 students, i.e., those who display strong interest in reading and demonstrate critical thinking and creative responses in class. It is conducted over eight sessions in the school year."

Junior College gave them opportunities they never expected (6 March 2026)

"The Junior College years aren’t just about studying for the A Levels – it’s also a time to discover new interests and pathways. We caught up with three recent graduates from St Andrew’s Junior College to hear about their experience at school.

By Arielene Wee

“I didn’t expect to go for work attachments, given the rigorous JC curriculum. But the school provided me with such opportunities, which were stepping stones for me to explore my interests.” - Cherianne Cheng

While Cherianne had always been interested in the Sciences, she wasn’t sure of what she wanted to pursue as a career when she first stepped foot in JC.

Through the school, Cherianne found out about work shadowing opportunities at St Hilda’s Community Services and St Andrew’s Community Hospital. She participated in them and saw firsthand what it was like to look after elderly patients in healthcare settings.

Cherianne also joined the “Saints Advocate” CCA in school, which focuses on community service. She planned befriending services for the elderly with the Lions Befrienders and Kwong Wai Shiu Hospital.

“I’m now very clear that I want to pursue a career in healthcare, because of all these opportunities I had in JC,” she says. “It’s a field that allows me to combine both my passions in Biology and in serving the community.”

Does your child seem stressed? Let’s chat...in the kitchen (9 March 2026)

"How do we help our children cope with everything from friendship troubles to social media pressures? Psychiatrist Dr Jared Ng offers 7 practical strategies and the importance of open communication – anytime, anywhere.

In today’s digital age, children have many more ways to spend their time, but they also face more pressures that extend far beyond the classroom. From friendship woes to social media comparisons, young people are navigating complex emotional landscapes and sources of stress that require more parental support than before, not less.

Dr Jared Ng, a father to three teens and a psychiatrist in private practice who previously worked with children in hospitals, explains that understanding stress begins with recognising its dual nature.

Is it eustress or distress?

“Stress is really any event or situation that puts a strain on somebody’s coping resources,” he says. When it comes in the form of “good” stress, it is called eustress, “for example, an exam, a sports competition, or even coming onto a podcast, right? It makes someone want to do better”.

However, when stress becomes chronic and overwhelming, it transforms from eustress to distress, says Dr Ng – the harmful type that “wears the person down” and leads to physical, emotional, and psychological problems.

What can parents do?

1. Watch for symptoms of distress and academic struggles.

Telltale signs include persistent headaches and abdominal discomfort with no medical cause, or difficulty falling asleep or frequent nightmares. There are also emotional indicators such as increased crying, irritability, and social withdrawal from activities, family gatherings, or friends.

Then there are kids who “are really trying very hard in class, but they just can’t seem to focus or concentrate”, Dr Ng observes. “And despite trying, they start to do worse and worse in school.” What may compound the stress is when this gives rise to even more scrutiny from their parents and educators, so a lighter touch may be needed when investigating the problem."

Taking a whole-of-school approach to Project Work (13 March 2026)

"When Project Work became a pass/fail subject in 2024, Mr Benzie Dio, Head of Department of English & Project Work at National Junior College, seized the opportunity to rethink how it was taught. Getting the whole school on board, he made it the driver of the 21st Century Competencies.

Anyone who has done group work can attest to this: when roles are assigned based on your teammates’ strengths and interests, the group is halfway to achieving its goals.

Now, imagine scaling it to the school level, where each subject department is tapped on to contribute their teachers’ expertise to Project Work (PW), an interdisciplinary subject. Then, pair PW groups and teachers with similar interests.

While this sounds like a scenario where dream teams are created, putting it into practice when you have 500 students and 40 teachers can turn it into a logistical nightmare. Yet, Mr Benzie Dio, Head of Department of English and PW at National Junior College (NJC), who came up with the idea, didn’t flinch at the mountainous task. Instead, he saw it as an opportunity to better drive home the 21st Century Competencies that PW aims to develop in students.

A change that came about due to the 2024 Project Work syllabus revision

The trigger to develop this whole-of-school approach to teaching PW came about when MOE refreshed the syllabus and made it a pass/fail subject in 2024.

“I looked at the objectives, the disposition and values that we want to see in our students with this revised syllabus,” says Mr Dio, who has been teaching for more than 30 years and saw the introduction of PW as a subject back in 2003.

From the learning outcomes of the revised syllabus, he picked up keywords and terms such as:

• Interdisciplinary

• Collaboration

• Focus on real-world issues; and

• Effective communication

There was also a lot of focus on Emerging 21st Century Competencies (E21CC) – namely critical, adaptive, and inventive thinking, and collaboration and communication skills. So, Mr Dio thought it will be a good opportunity to rethink the school’s approach to teaching PW, to get it to be the driver of these competencies."

A teacher who overcomes hurdles by taking charge (13 March 2026)

"Creating your own opportunities for learning and growing isn’t always the easiest. But Mr Kassidy’s can-do attitude has not only helped him steer his career, but also created a more inclusive environment for his students to grow more holistically.

When Mr Kassidy began his teaching journey at NIE in 1999, he was trained to teach English, Mathematics and Social Studies. But a few years into his career as an educator he felt that he could make a greater impact on his students by pivoting to teaching physical education (PE).

“I’ve always been quite outdoorsy, and I enjoy seeing children grow not just in skill, but in character,” sharesd Mr Kassidy, who is now the Head of Department (HOD) for PE and Co-Curricular Activities (CCA) at Rosyth School.

There was just one big hurdle standing in Mr Kassidy’s way then: the low enrolment number for NIE’s PE in-service diploma, which he had to take to make the switch to becoming a PE teacher. So, he and a group of like-minded friends started gathering other teachers with similar inclinations. Eventually, they got a group of 30 teachers together, so classes could commence.

Nearly two decades after his move, Mr Kassidy faced a similar challenge when he joined Rosyth School in January 2025. “We have a lot of students in each CCA, but not everybody can take part in competitions at the national level. I can sense the students’ disappointment when they’re unable to,” he said. So, he wanted to expand the N1 Cluster Invitational Games, which schools in his area had been hosting until it was put on pause due to the pandemic.

Reopening and expanding the games

Launched in 2017 for primary and secondary school students in the N1 Cluster, the games gave students who did not take part in the National School Games (NSG) – either because they were not selected or the numbers were too small to form a team for the NSG – a chance to compete. However, post-Covid, only the primary school basketball and football girls competitions were revived and organised by Rosyth School due to resource and manpower constraints.

Mr Kassidy thought about bringing the games back because he has seen firsthand how sports and CCAs build resilience, and knows competitions offer students the character-building experience of failing and bouncing back. “Whether it’s the NSG or cluster games, we want the kids to have the experience of competing; to learn about being humble in victory and gracious in defeat,” he elaborated.

With a fresh pair of eyes, since he was new to the school, he started asking: why not let more students join the games by expanding it to include both boys and girls from the basketball, football, and badminton CCAs?"

These teachers are trying, learning, and teaching AI to their students (13 March 2026)

"At one junior college, educators are proving that artificial intelligence doesn’t have to be scary if you’re trying it out with friends.

By Lee Qing Ping

English teachers everywhere know this experience: You want to give your students meaningful feedback on their essays, but a lot of time is spent correcting typical grammar errors. You have the usual suspects: “Fewer” books, not “less”. “Better”, not “more better”. Ms Shermin Chee, a Language Arts teacher, knows this well.

But with a little encouragement from colleagues to try using tech in her teaching, she found a way forward. What if AI could help pinpoint these commonly made mistakes instead, and free her up to work on higher-order feedback?

She discovered she could use optical character recognition tools to turn her students’ handwriting into typed text (but not if it’s too messy, so write neatly, kids).

Then, with AI’s support, she tweaks and tailors feedback to her students. Her students later make corrections themselves, writing their edits in green ink so she can see they’d actually engaged with the suggestions.

“Now, they’re more careful not to make the same mistakes,” she says. “And I can use the time to teach higher-order thinking, like strengthening their essay arguments.”

Ms Chee’s transformation is part of a growing movement happening at Temasek Junior College (TJC), where teachers are on to something: How to use AI to transform classrooms for the better.

Beyond the hype: What teachers are actually using AI for

The reality of AI in TJC’s classrooms is practical: thoughtful solutions to everyday challenges that have plagued educators for decades.

Mr Tan Seng Kwang, Senior Teacher of Physics in the school, has been leading the way in this.

“If there’s a better way to do work, we should try it, and share it,” says Mr Tan.

When his students roll virtual dice on their tablets, watching atoms “decay” with each roll of the die that shows six, they’re experiencing concepts that would typically rely on their imagination. Mr Tan taught himself to code these simulations using AI, describing what he wants in plain English and letting the technology build it.

“I used to spend hours writing JavaScript,” he explains, scrolling through interactive experiments. “Now I just tell the AI what I need, and it creates the simulation. Then I share the prompts with other teachers so they can make their own.”

This way, educators can focus on what humans do best: Inspiring curiosity, facilitating meaningful discussions, and building genuine connections with students."

Open House for Primary Schools 2026 (23 March 2026)

"What do you need to know before visiting open houses with your child? Read on for more details on how you can support your child in choosing primary schools!

Getting a peek into the school grounds, meeting the teachers and students, experiencing each school’s culture – open houses provide opportunities for you and your child to choose a primary school most suitable for them. Here are some points to keep in mind as your child embarks on this exciting new chapter.

While attending the virtual/physical open houses for primary schools, consider the following:

1. Your child’s strengths and interests

Talk to your child about what they enjoy doing, be it playing sports, making music, creating art, or gaming. Have conversations about their kindergarten experiences to understand which subjects and activities they like or dislike. In preparation for new learning opportunities in primary school years, ask them what else they would like to learn and try. Then, find out more about the primary schools that can potentially nurture their strengths and interests or offer new areas of interest.

2. Distance between home and school

The daily journey to and from school is an important consideration. Consider the means of transport your child will be using. Regardless of the mode of transport, be it by car, school bus, or public transport, what is the fastest and safest way for them to commute to and from school? A long commute can affect your child’s energy level and readiness to learn and participate in school activities, which can impact their overall school experience."

Open House for Secondary Schools 2026 (23 March 2026)

"What do you need to know before visiting open houses with your child? Read on for more details on how you can support your child in choosing secondary schools!

Getting a peek into the school grounds, meeting the teachers and students, experiencing each school’s culture – open houses provide opportunities for you and your child to choose a secondary school most suitable for him/her. Here are some points to keep in mind as your child embarks on this exciting new chapter.

1. Have a conversation with your child about their strengths and interests

Talk to your child about what they look forward to in secondary school and what worries them most about secondary school life. Have them share their favourite lessons and activities in primary school and what they think their strengths and interests are.

In your conversations with them, you can also have them rank what they enjoy about their school experiences. This can range from the learning environment to academic programmes to CCAs and even socialisation spaces in school! Their insights will give you a better understanding of what matters to them and identify schools that align with their strengths and interests.

2. Think of different aspects of the school experience

When discussing secondary school options with your child, consider the school’s distinctive electives and programmes, culture and ethos, subjects and CCAs offered, as well as the distance from home. These will all impact your child’s school experience."

4 strategies to help your child navigate bullying situations (6 April 2026)

"Hurtful behaviours and bullying often occur when teachers and parents are not watching. So, children benefit from having strategies they can use when they face such situations. Here are four approaches schools teach students that parents can reinforce at home, and tips on how to initiate discussions.

#1: Stay calm.

“Staying calm in the face of students who engaged in hurtful behaviour is important. Bullies often thrive on the emotional reactions of the targeted students. Giving neutral and steady responses will diminish their intended effort and extinguish their excitement and motivation to continue with the hurtful behaviour,” says Bendemeer Secondary School’s (BDMS) Senior School Counsellor Ms Nicole Choong.

The lesson here is to be in control and remain calm. Choose to ignore the comments and not take them personally. Report immediately to a trusted adult like a parent or teacher.

Tip: Staying calm is sometimes easier said than done. Role play this with your children. Practise taking deep breaths, counting slowly to five, and responding in a measured manner.

#2: Be assertive. Then walk away.

In Punggol Green Primary School (PGPS), students are guided on how to express their feelings clearly. Mdm Cai Aimei, Head of Department of Character and Citizenship Education, says, “We teach our students to say, ‘Stop, I feel (emotion) when you (action)’. in a polite and assertive tone, then walk away and seek help from a trusted adult.”

By learning how to recognise hurtful behaviours and respond appropriately during the Form Teacher Guidance Period and assembly talks, students are better equipped to handle difficult situations confidently.

The school also prepares students for similar situations that happen outside school grounds. “We want our students to know where to go for safety, whether it is safer to return to school, go home, or seek immediate help from a nearby adult,” says Mdm Cai.

Tip: Give your children the vocabulary to say “stop”. Try out the different tones of voice and phrases together so they are confident of saying them. Also discuss with your children where are the different places they can safely walk away to based on the locations they are usually at, such as if they encounter these situations in school, at the playground, or at the bus stop."

From fixed to fluid: Mobile workbenches spark fresh energy in Science labs (6 April 2026)

"Some shape-shifting has been taking place in Unity Secondary School, which is piloting redesigned workbenches with mobile segments. The segments on heavy-duty castors can be configured to accommodate different experiment set-ups and learning activities.

There has been a burst of fresh energy coming from the Science labs in Unity Secondary School lately.

The catalyst? Redesigned mobile workbenches with mobile segments that expand the possibilities of how lab layouts could be configured.

Since their implementation in January 2026, the Science Department has experienced greater flexibility in how it designs the learning environment, to better support practical investigations, collaboration, and varied teaching approaches.

Will it be a U, a T, or L shape today?

During a demonstration on the use the mobile workbench segments, Ms Sumitha Poonia Murthy, Level Head for Science, showed how the mobile segments could be rearranged to provide extended worktops for larger experimental setups.

By joining two mobile segments lengthwise, for example, she can now use a longer frictionless board to conduct experiment on measurement of distance, speed and force of a moving object. The longer board allowed students to roll objects over a longer distance, thus allowing her students to collect more data points, which improves the accuracy of the experiments.

Ms Sumitha also demonstrated how the mobile workbench segments can be configured into a U-shape configuration. This configuration allows her to better monitor and guide her students when using microscopes and making biology sketches.

For wet experiments involving liquids, chemicals or biological materials, L-shape configuration can be adopted to separate practical apparatus from learning materials, thus keeping laptops and worksheets away from wet area.

“This clear zoning enhances safety and space organisation, enabling students to be task focus and move seamlessly between the design, construction, and testing phases of the activity,” she explains.

Watch as Ms Sumitha claps her way to different workbench configurations in this reel:

How parents and schools bring the working world to students (10 April 2026)

"From giving engaging presentations in school to offering job shadowing opportunities, Parent Support Groups and their professional networks have been key to the success of career guidance programmes in these three schools.

By Ng Mei Yan

For most students, career guidance begins long before they ever set foot in their first job interview. Events like Careers Day, learning journeys and job shadowing have allowed students (even those in primary school) to be exposed to a wide range of jobs and the many skills needed to thrive in them.

These initiatives are the result of a strong partnership between schools and Parent Support Groups (PSGs). Working together, they have been instrumental to the growth and success of Education and Career Guidance (ECG) programmes for students.

Find out how three schools and their PSGs are collaborating to give students their first look into the working world, inspiring them to dream big for the future.

At Hougang Secondary School, Careers Day plays out like a mini convention

At Hougang Secondary School, the annual Careers Day plays out like an industry symposium. Students attend small-group sessions to engage with professionals across various fields ranging from media and human resources to technology and design.

The approach is a hit with students, but it also actively involves parents from the PSG, along with alumni and other partners, who step in to help in any way.

“Our PSG members have not only participated directly but also used their professional networks to bring in more speakers,” says Mrs Tan Wei Jing, Subject Head of Partnership & Outreach.

More than simply filling up speaking slots and creating authentic learning moments, parental involvement goes a long way towards inspiring young minds. “Parents are primary influencers in their children's career decisions and possess valuable real-world insights that can bridge the gap between academic learning and industry realities,” Mrs Tan shares.

Beyond school-based sharing, PSG members also joined students in a customised learning journey to Nanyang Polytechnic (NYP) School of Engineering to better understand the courses offered and different career pathways in engineering. Since 2024, some 140 students from the school have benefitted from the tour.

PSG member Goh Yu Ling who accompanied her son on one such learning journey in 2024 shares, “I wanted to support my child’s’ post-secondary education and career exploration by learning with him,” she says.

The experience was transformative for Yu Ling’s son, who has always been fascinated by automobiles. The tour broadened his understanding of engineering applications, and led to deeper career discussions between the pair. “He’s now working hard towards pursuing engineering studies,” she adds.

The impact made on Yu Ling’s family is exactly what Mrs Tan and her colleagues hope to achieve with the ECG programme. Says Mrs Tan, “When parents are informed about career options and pathways, they can better support their children’s exploration and decisions, creating a stronger support system at home.”

Designed for well-being: How staff collaboration shaped a better workplace (10 April 2026)

"Staff satisfaction levels are up at Hillgrove Secondary School, where a comprehensive renovation of staff spaces has created brighter, more flexible environments that better support educator well-being and collaboration.

These days, Ms Valerie Wong doesn’t take her lunch at her workstation. She prefers to step away to the sunlit pantry for her meal. If her colleagues are there, she lingers for a breather and bit of chitchat.

"I don't even bring my phone there,” says Ms Wong, Lead Teacher, Mathematics at Hillgrove Secondary School.

Renovations to staff facilities at the school have created spaces that feature abundant natural lighting, higher ceilings, better spatial flow, and areas that encourage collaborative work done in comfort.

A room with a view – and much more

A key highlight is the new staff lounge and pantry, strategically positioned to offer a 270-degree view of the greenery outside.

It replaces the area where the Mother Tongue Language department used to sit. Mr Lim Joon Ling, Senior Teacher, Chinese Language, recalls how he and his colleagues worked amid tall cubicle partitions and teaching materials. They happily gave the space up for the greater good during design consultations, to move towards the centre of the staff room.

Mr Chiang Hock Yee, Vice-Principal (Admin), explained that during the co-creation and design-thinking process with MOE’s Infrastructure & Facility Services Division (IFSD), votes were cast by teachers to decide on the best use for this prime location.

This increased buy-in and ultimately ensured its popularity and success. Now, all can enjoy the brightness and the greenery, he says.

Staff are protective of the intended use of the inviting new lounge area. Everyone consciously avoids using the space for meetings, preferring to reserve it for chilling, notes Ms Wong. Administrative Executive Nurul Batrisyia describes the new environment as “more relaxed and calming”, with an “openness” that wasn't there before.

To Mr Lim, the most gratifying part of the upgrade was how users were being consulted for their views. It spoke to the school’s collaborative spirit, which the upgrade further fosters.

Mr Chiang concurs. “We could see that the collaborative spaces encourage more sharing and bonding among staff. The more conducive physical working environment also enhances staff well-being.”

Real mums from Lion Mums get tips in this parenting vodcast (14 April 2026)

"You’ve seen them on screen, now hear what parenting in real life is like for actresses Nurul Aini and Lina Ng. They speak with experts, educators, and fellow parents for perspectives in four new episodes of MOE’s vodcast series, Canteen Chats with Lion Mums.

If you’re a parent, take a moment to acknowledge how much you’re doing.

Parenting today comes with challenges that previous generations never faced – whether it’s navigating school issues, understanding AI’s impact on learning, or keeping up with growing expectations.

MOE’s vodcast series Canteen Chats with Lion Mums explores these realities in four new episodes. Lina Ng and Nurul Aini, from the drama series Lion Mums, continue their conversations with educators, experts, and fellow parents. Together, they discuss parenting issues ranging from dealing with conflicts at home to mismatched expectations between parents and children. Most importantly, these episodes serve as a reminder that you’re not facing these challenges alone.

Here’s what each episode covers, and why you should add them to your watchlist.

Episode 5: Is AI helping or hurting your child’s learning?

This episode takes a balanced look at parenting in the age of artificial intelligence. Actress Nurul Aini joins parents and experts to make sense of this rapidly changing landscape and its impact on children’s learning.

Watch this if: You’re concerned about AI misuse in your child’s homework or feeling overwhelmed by the pace of technological change.

Watch for:

• How Singapore schools are teaching students to use AI as a thinking tool rather than a shortcut to answers

• A sandwich approach you can use to guide your child’s AI use at home

• Warning signs that indicate when children might be becoming too dependent on AI assistance

Cyber bullying: What parents need to know (15 April 2026)

"Cyber bullying may often occur in spaces that are not easily visible or accessible to parents and other adults. We ask teachers and counsellors to break down the three common types of cyber bullying, and how parents can have open discussions with their children.

Cyber bullying is a complex issue, but bullying someone online is not unlike bullying in person. In fact, it can be worse as it is easier to carry out away from view and may be harder to detect and prevent. Yet, the effects can be very public. The negative messages can spread fast and wide, and very quickly, the damage could be more hurtful and more lasting.

Here are three main forms of cyber bullying: revealing secrets, making fun of others, and exclusion. Note that the list is not exhaustive – there’s also flaming, harassment, denigration, and more – nor mutually exclusive, as one or more of these forms of hurtful behaviours could take place at the same time.

1. Revealing secrets

Friends confide in each other and keep each other’s secrets… until they fall out. Ms Nicole Choong, Senior School Counsellor at Bendemeer Secondary School, shares that when things go south, students who lack maturity might resort to posting personal things about their friends that were shared with them in confidence.

Such acts could result in students feeling unsafe or upset. It is therefore essential that students learn respectful behaviour, strong social skills and proper cyber etiquette.

2. Making fun of others

Bullies are often emboldened by the cloak of anonymity that social media provides. The actions taken and comments made may be harsher than what a person might say to another in person. An observable trend on the rise suggests that some students create anonymous social media accounts just to post negative comments about their classmates.

Appearance, for example, is often a common topic, says Ms Choong. Younger students tend to be a bit more blunt when they talk about their peers. At this developmental stage, students can be more sensitive towards criticism, especially about their appearance, and such words can hurt, she cautions. “It is crucial to consider how the person on the receiving end feels. Simple habits such as pausing to ask if what they are about to say is helpful, necessary, or kind can make a big difference.”

3. Exclusion

Like school hallways and playgrounds, chat groups have become a place online where children jostle with one another for social status.

Mdm Nur Rakeezah Bte Abdul Rahim, Head of Department (Student Management) at Westwood Secondary School shared that online rumours can also lead to students being ostracised, affecting their sense of belonging. She notes that even close friends can fall out and be excluded by their peers. In such situations, it is important to have conversations with students and help them understand that such behaviour constitutes social bullying. It is also important to repair strained relationships.

“Circle Time is one strategy that can help students reconcile. That said, some students affected may not feel ready to resume the friendship. We need to recognize that friendships cannot be forced, so guide students to be respectful of one another’s boundaries and differences, as everyone deserves to feel safe and respected,” adds Mdm Rakeezah."

“What can I do if my child is a victim of hurtful behaviours and bullying?” (22 April 2026)

"Children may have various reasons why they don’t tell their parents when they have encountered hurtful behaviour and bullying. We ask experts what parents can do if they suspect their children are being bullied.

Hurtful behaviours are actions that undermine a student’s sense of safety, and hinder effective learning and healthy development. They can be physical, verbal, social, or virtual in nature – and may or may not be intentional. However, when the actions carry hostile intent, an imbalance of power, and are repeated, persistent and done on purpose, it will be classified as bullying.

Take, for example, a group discussion or group work scenario. A student repeatedly interrupts and dismisses their teammate’s ideas, leading to the latter feeling excluded and unheard. Is it hurtful behaviour? The answer is, yes. But is it bullying? That will depend on whether the student did it unintentionally, because he or she does not have the best communication skills, or on purpose, because he or she knows that doing so will hurt their teammate.

As parents, it is natural to be concerned about any hurt your child receives, especially when you are not around. You may ask: What happens to my child when I’m not there beside them? Are they dealing with something they cannot handle? How can I help?

“How would I know if my child is being hurt or bullied? And what can I do?”

A good start is to maintain channels of honest and open communication with your child and to take a regular interest in their lives. This will make it easier for them to approach you and share any kinds of experiences when they arise, without fear of how you would react, says Ms Nicole Choong, Senior School Counsellor at Bendemeer Secondary School.

As hurtful behaviours and bullying can happen in and out of school, a strong school-parent partnership could also help to surface and manage these incidents more easily.

“What are some signs I should look out for?”

Hurtful behaviours or bullying that are of a physical nature may be the easiest to spot. Unexpected bruises, cuts or bumps are visible signs that something might be amiss. Your child might also report lost or damaged clothing, books, or stationery.

It can be more challenging to detect bullying that is verbal, social or cyber in nature. However, there are still warning signs that parents can watch out for.

“The most important warning sign of bullying is when you notice a sudden change in your child's behaviour,” says Ms Shirley Sim, Lead School Counsellor at MOE. “For example, if your normally cheerful child becomes unusually quiet for no apparent reason, this should raise concerns.”

Other signs to watch for include changes in eating or sleeping patterns, or if you notice you’re your child is suddenly losing friends, or refusing to go to school. You might also notice them becoming more sensitive than usual, such as getting easily upset by things that wouldn't normally bother them. This increased sensitivity often stems from the insecurity and helplessness that bullying creates.

“How should I respond?”

Ms Sim sets out the five things parents can do to support your child, if you suspect they are at the receiving end of hurtful behaviours or bullying.

1. Start with presence and connection

Create a space for them to share their experience with you. Children are often hesitant to share difficult school experiences with parents, particularly when they are concerned about how you might react.

Being mindful of your initial responses allows you to put our child’s experience, feelings and needs at the centre. Set aside distractions, sit at their level, and listen without immediately jumping to solutions. Your presence as their safe harbour is the first intervention."

Is AI Taking Over Schools? (29 April 2026)

"MOE schools and teachers have kept an eye on AI developments even before large language models (LLMs) like ChatGPT gained mainstream popularity.

When it comes to using AI in education, it’s not about racing to a yet-to-be-determined finish line. It’s about evaluating AI tool’s capabilities, as well as potential pitfalls, so our students acquire the essential skills to succeed in an AI-transformed world.

What kind of a tool is AI like?

Like a calculator, but you're still the one pushing the buttons

A calculator has preprogrammed functions to help with complicated sums.

But you still need a strong foundation in Maths, so you know which formula and concepts to use to solve Maths questions. And have the intuition to know when the numbers are off!

Like a GPS, but you're still the driver

A GPS (Global Positioning System) helps you plan your route.

But you, the driver, still need to look out for unexpected dangers. Blindly following the GPS is like offloading your agency to AI. You still need to know how to navigate and read maps, so you won't be helpless if you lose your way.

Like a multi-cooker, but you're still the chef

A cooker has many modes for different dishes.

But you're the one who decides which dish to cook, what ingredients to use and which mode to use. And you taste the dish to know if it's yummy!"

From silence to synergy: New school library spells new ways to learn (29 April 2026)

"At Queenstown Secondary School, the traditional library has evolved into Learning Commons @ Quest – a vibrant hub where students engage in everything from quiet reading to animated group discussions, reflecting a broader shift in how school libraries support 21st-Century learning.

Of late, you're more likely to hear the buzz of quiet collaboration than the traditional "shhhhh" at Queenstown Secondary School's library.

The space that goes by the catchy new name of Learning Commons @ Quest has become a magnet for students who come not just to borrow books, but to engage, create, and connect.

"More students come in, to read, revise, do their homework, have discussions in one of the meeting rooms, or just stay a little longer than they usually would," says Ms Park Han Na, Head of Department for English Language at Queenstown Secondary School, who oversees the library space.

The renovation of the library, which reopened last year, represents a reimagining of how libraries can support modern use and learning. Gone are the tall, stationary ranks of metal bookshelves, limited seating and heavy atmosphere. The space now has mobile bookshelves in wood, and flexible-use spaces, all bathed in natural light and designed with calming earthy tones.

Secondary 3 student Mohamed Noh bin Mohd Norhisam has been spending more time there; he likes the “clean look”, compared to the previous space which had “weird colour combinations”. He also appreciates the library’s different zones for different group sizes — “it creates a conducive environment for everyone to learn and study”.

Secondary 4 student Chloe Pang is also a fan. "The revamped library has really changed how I study in school. It’s now a space I choose to go to, whether it’s to revise, finish up work, or just read quietly,” she says. “The environment feels more comfortable and less stressful, which helps me stay focused for longer."

Three zones, endless possibilities

The new Learning Commons borrows design guidelines from MOE’s English Language and Literature Branch (ELLB) for the School Library of the Future, where curriculum can be experienced, the love for reading catalysed, and students supported to explore and initiate inquiry and research.

This experience starts from the moment the visitor enters the Welcome Area, which draws students in with bright and engaging displays curated by the Library Assistant according to monthly themes such as subject focus and festive occasions.

Further in, each of the three zones serves distinct learning needs whilst maintaining the flexibility to adapt as students' requirements change throughout the day."

Why do schools “take so long” to investigate cases of hurtful behaviour and bullying? (8 May 2026)

"Schools constantly emphasise that hurtful behaviours and bullying are not tolerated. So, why can’t investigations be expedited? A principal shares with Schoolbag why schools need time to get to the root of the issue, and why it’s crucial to engage students with restorative practices before meting out any disciplinary measures.

Having worked with students across the different levels – primary, secondary and junior college – Ms Winnie Tan is no stranger to dealing with cases of hurtful behaviours and bullying. The Principal of CHIJ St. Nicholas Girl School says investigating these cases have gotten increasingly complex over the years due to a number of factors.

“Children are exposed to a lot more things, and they may have different perspectives on a topic,” elaborates Ms Tan. “Parents are also more involved in the education of their children, which is a positive thing.” This results in many different perspectives, be it from the alleged perpetrator or the victim, that the school has to consolidate and consider during investigations. “Bringing everyone together to see the different perspectives – that takes time.”

Children of different age ranges present different challenges for investigations

Unwelcome words or actions are not immediately labelled as bullying, as children, especially younger ones, may not be able to fully comprehend that what they are doing is causing hurt to others. That is why investigating intentions matter.

Ms Tan cites an example of a child who might want things to be done in a certain way. “Some children like people to follow their instructions and may unknowingly put someone else in an awkward or uncomfortable position where they feel hurt. We need to help them realise that their action or words have hurt someone else, and resolve and mend the relationship from there. Having said that, if investigations reveal that there was a clear intention to cause hurt from the onset, disciplinary actions could be carried out to help the child learn that his or her behaviour has consequences, so that they will think twice before doing the same thing again in future.”

Teenagers present a different set of challenges as they are more mature and their emotions are more complex. They may also be able to conceal intention, making it difficult for educators to determine if they really meant to hurt the other party – especially if there is no concrete evidence, such as physical assault.

Ms Tan recalls a case that couldn’t be resolved, because the perpetrator refused to admit that he/she was deliberately hurting the victim and there was no definitive evidence. “While the school and friends continued to support the victim, we were unable to come to a resolution. But years after the students graduated, the perpetrator confessed to the teacher during a gathering he/she was not ready to admit to their hurtful actions then, and that he/she felt very bad to have caused so much pain for the teacher and the other student.”

Each reported case of hurtful behaviour or bullying presents its own set of challenges for the educators and staff who are involved in investigating it. Thus, investigation time differs with the complexity of the case."

“My 8th choice of polytechnic course turned out to be my best one” (8 May 2026)

"Shallini Siva Kuma was in shock when she found out that she didn’t get into her dream course in 2022, but it opened doors she never imagined.

By Joyce Yang

When Shallini Siva Kuma received her Joint Admissions Exercise (JAE) posting results on a sleepy January morning in 2022, the words on her computer screen jolted her wide awake. She had been posted to her eighth choice: a Diploma in Interaction Design (now known as Diploma in Experience Design) at Nanyang Polytechnic (NYP).

“I stared at my laptop and thought: When did I even list this as one of my choices? What is this course about? I started crying because I was so, so scared. I didn’t know if it would bring me closer to my dream of becoming an art teacher,” recalls the 22-year-old.

Inspired by her mother, a teacher of over 30 years and her love for the subject, Shallini has always seen art as her one true passion. She had pinned her hopes on her top three choices – all animation courses – believing they were her ticket to teaching art. After all, her own art teacher, Mr Chua Wei Qiang from Yishun Town Secondary School, comes from an animation background.

Little did she know, the course she hadn’t planned on would help her discover new strengths and expand her career paths, with her mom and teachers cheering her on.

Seeking reassurance

That very morning when she got her posting results, Shallini reached out to Mr Chua, who patiently unpacked the field of Interaction Design to calm her nerves. What stuck with her wasn’t the details of web, app, and installation design, but a single line of reassurance from her teacher.

“He said, ‘No matter what you do, I know that you will excel.’ I felt more motivated hearing that, and it gave me hope that I will figure it out,” says Shallini.

Shallini’s time in NYP got off to a rough start. She was already uneasy about committing to a three-year course she hadn’t wanted, and adapting to tertiary life only added to the pressure.

“I told my friends and family that I was so scared and lost, and I really didn’t know what I was doing,” she recalls.

The turning point

But Shallini didn’t suffer in silence for long. Seeing her struggle in class, her NYP lecturers reached out and reassured her that no question was out of bounds. When she cried, they comforted her, promising that they would get through it together.

“My lecturers became my reason to keep going and see what’s at the end of this tunnel,” says Shallini.

Gradually, as she found her footing in the modules, she also uncovered her own reasons to persist. Chief among them was a newfound openness to other career paths sparked by a conversation with her mother. “My mum said, ‘Don’t limit yourself to just one path. There are so many things in the world you can pursue with your creativity.’ That encouraged me to venture out of the box I’d put myself in.”

This shift in mindset set the stage for Shallini to flourish in her final year. What ultimately transformed her perspective was a project she co-led with her best friend, turning an empty classroom into an Alice in Wonderland-themed experience for NYP’s Open House in 2024.

From crafting whimsical installations to designing an interactive touchscreen, Shallini and her team poured everything they learnt over the past three years into the project – to great success. “The students who visited went, ‘Wow, this is so cool,’ and were very amazed. A few even came up to ask if they’d get to create something like this in the course.”

Growing cacao trees yielded not only chocolates, but also work opportunities for this school’s students (11 May 2026)

"It started as a casual offer from a neighbour to grow cacao trees on the school grounds. Since then, this sustainability initiative has led to partnerships with local businesses that enable Serangoon Garden Secondary School’s students to gain work experience too.

By Joyce Yang

When Mr Michael Tan, a resident living near Serangoon Garden Secondary School (SGS), ran out of space to plant cacao trees in his garden, the determined plant parent had to think out of the box. That was when the school’s backyard caught his eye.

The retiree, who was operating a cacao post-harvest facility in the Philippines in 2019, thought the sloping, shaded plot of land was ideal as cacao trees thrive with good drainage and indirect sunlight. So, he met with the then-principal Mdm Valerie Goh and Vice Principal (Admin) Mr Zainal Abidin Mahmood. Mdm Goh gave the go-ahead and the 1.5-year-old seedlings were transplanted in July 2021.

A timely partnership that coincided with the Ministry of Education’s sustainability programme

While the onset of the pandemic caused the delay in SGS’s partnership plans with Mr Tan, it also resulted in it serendipitously taking root in the same year that MOE introduced the Eco-Stewardship Programme. The initiative prompts schools to use their green spaces more intentionally.

For SGS, it meant turning their green spaces into vegetable, herb and spice gardens maintained by the Earth Club, a newly-formed co-curricular activity (CCA) then. Naturally, its members were the first to get wind of Mr Tan’s proposition.

“The students’ first question was: You can grow cacao trees in Singapore? They didn’t believe us when we said we could turn the pods into chocolate bars,” recalls Ms Wee Lip Hui, Subject Head of Social Studies who oversees the eco-stewardship programme. She also wanted to set realistic expectations for the students, so she told them, “For that to happen, everyone has to do their part to care for the trees and get a good harvest.”

As the club knew nothing about cacao trees then, they got Mr Tan to impart his knowledge through workshops and hands-on demonstrations, showing the students the ropes until they could care for the trees independently. For Mr Tan, the takeaway he wants for students is simple: “I hope it enriches their learning journey.”

“The entire process aligns to SGS’s ‘I know, I do, I advocate’ approach for eco-stewardship, which encourages students to learn, practise, and contribute to building a sustainable Singapore,” Ms Wee adds."

“I am, I can, I have!” How SDR nurtures students’ confidence and growth (19 May 2026)

"Hao Tian and Jing Wen, both former students of the School-based Dyslexia Remediation (SDR) programme, have grown from struggling readers into confident learners and leaders. Their stories show how teacher support, resilience, learned strategies and self-belief shaped not just their literacy skills, but their wider journey in school and in life.

For 12-year-old Chan Hao Tian, reading and spelling never came easily – sounding out words and making sense of written text felt like an uphill battle. However, after two years in the SDR programme, he has gained the skills and confidence to tackle these challenges head on.

“I am proud of myself for answering questions in class,” says Hao Tian, when reflecting on his personal growth and the confidence he has been building over time.

The Primary 6 student at Changkat Primary School now reads aloud comfortably and approaches unfamiliar words using strategies acquired through the two-year SDR programme, which supports Primary 3 and 4 students with dyslexia in reading and spelling (check out the programme here).

In the SDR programme’s small-group setting, Hao Tian was surrounded by peers who faced similar reading challenges. Realising he was not alone helped him feel more at ease in class. He says, “I feel better knowing that there are others like me.” Over time, he gained greater confidence to make friends and seek support when he needed help – something he takes pride in. As he puts it, “I have friends who help me in my schoolwork.”

Hao Tian’s SDR teacher, Ms Loy Hin Jong, played a key role by encouraging him to begin with words he could read confidently before moving to more challenging ones. This approach did more than improve his reading skills. It helped him cultivate his own inner voice of encouragement, developing a personal mantra: “Don’t be afraid. You can do it.”

That growing self-belief did not stay within the SDR classroom. It also shaped how Hao Tian approached challenges in his regular lessons.

He now confidently seeks help when needed: “I can ask my teacher how to spell difficult words.” He credits his English Language teacher, Mrs Maybelline Low, for regularly reminding him to apply Word Attack strategies he had learnt when he comes across unfamiliar words in regular English class. For example, when he encountered the word ‘uncontrollably’, Hao Tian used the strategy of looking for smaller words to identify the base word ‘control’.

Hao Tian’s story shows how confidence can grow when children are encouraged and empowered."

To use AI or not, that’s the question (19 May 2026)

"For the Social Studies team at Edgefield Secondary School, the use of AI tools has to align with teaching objectives. And when not using AI helps students think more deeply, the teachers do not hesitate to keep it out of classrooms.

It is an undeniable fact that artificial intelligence (AI) tools are improving rapidly. But the decision on when and how to use it in teaching is something that educators approach with care and thought constantly.

Take the Social Studies team at Edgefield Secondary School (EFSS), for example. When AI tools first became widespread a few years ago, their potential for augmenting teaching and learning obvious, the team experimented with them. But when the tools’ limitations at that point quickly became clear, the teachers took a step back.

Here’s a look into the team’s thoughtful adoption of AI tools, and how they are moving forward intentionally as technology continues to advance rapidly.

Learning Objectives As The North Star

Social Studies is built on critical thinking and perspective-taking, shares Mr Darren Woo, Subject Head (Value-In-Action) at EFSS, who also teaches Social Studies. Through assignments and essays, students learn to strengthen their communication and collaboration skills, as well as hone civic, global and cross-cultural literacy.

“But handing back marked assignments didn’t always lead to growth,” says Mr Lim Mingxun, who taught Social Studies at the school, and is currently with MOE’s SkillsFuture Division.

Students often focused on their marks rather than their thinking. And while traditional feedback written in the margins of scripts had its strengths, some skipped the feedback entirely, while others read the comments but were unsure how to act on them.

AI tools, which can give personalised feedback, seemed to be a potential solution.

Experimenting, Failing, Evaluating

When the launch of ChatGPT made waves, the Social Studies team got themselves up to speed with prompt engineering. They came up with guidelines and scaffolds so that students can learn better and deeper with these AI chatbots.

“But we found students picking answers without processing the why. The metacognition aspect – where they understand their own thinking – was lacking,” says Mr Woo.

“Also, there isn’t just one right answer for Social Studies,” explains Mr Lim. “We want to see how students think and argue. But at that point, AI wasn’t great at giving meaningful feedback in the way that we wanted students to learn. They need space for conversations and feedback – to clarify ideas, ask questions, and reflect on how to improve.”

Mr Woo adds, “Even if we fed every possible answer into an AI tool, it could never capture the nuances and human emotions. Context is everything in the humanities. That’s where the human touch comes in.”

A caring village for caregivers themselves (21 May 2026)

"Through peer support and bonding activities, Springfield Secondary School is partnering its Parent Support Group (PSG) to build the “village” to help support parents in raising children with special education needs.

By Joyce Yang

When Ms Poonam Pal’s son, Rishi, started Secondary 1 at Springfield Secondary School, he was the first student from Pathlight School (Primary) that the school had welcomed. He was also one of a few students with special educational needs (SEN) in his class.

Naturally, Ms Poonam felt anxious.

“As a parent of a child on the spectrum, we’re a bit more worried that they won’t feel accepted by other kids, because we’ve seen that happen at the playground,” she says.

Today, those fears have proven to be unfounded. Rishi has graduated from secondary school, progressing through school much like his peers and making friends along the way. He has also performed in a play and even read a book aloud in front of the entire school. When he finished his recital, the crowd had erupted in cheers.

Given Rishi’s speech delays, these milestones would’ve seemed unimaginable four years ago, if not for the school’s belief in him.

“As a parent, I’m very protective of him and it’s hard to step back. But I’m thankful that the school had more faith in Rishi than I did,” Ms Poonam adds.

Parents Helping Parents

Today, Ms Poonam proudly shares Rishi’s journey with fellow parents of students with SEN during the school’s Coffee Talk sessions. Facilitated by members of the Parent Support Group (PSG) and supported by the school’s SEN officers, these sessions provide a safe space for parents to come together in an informal setting and share their reflections.

Coffee Talks began when former principal Mrs Mabel Leong recognised that while much support was available for students, caregivers were often overlooked. She approached then-chairperson of the PSG, Ms Siti Aishah Bte Abdullah, to help make it happen.

“Peer support is one of the best tools, because parents tend to open up more when they are among parents with similar problems,” Ms Aishah says. It is especially helpful for parents who have just discovered that their child has SEN, as their diagnosis is often followed by a period of reckoning.

When Ms June Lim’s daughter was diagnosed with ADHD and ASD, another parent helped her make sense of her emotions by sharing about Kübler-Ross’s grief cycle.

“We have to grieve the news before we can accept it, and this cycle of grieving doesn’t just happen once,” says Ms Lim. “Even when parents have come to terms with it, there may be family members who do not agree with the diagnosis. There’s a lot of emotional turmoil that parents face.”

Conflict resolution as a combined effort (28 May 2026)

"Behind every class chat group and parent query at Hong Wen School, there's a quiet but vital force keeping the peace: the Parent Support Group. Chairman Mr Jorwe Lee shares how respectful communication supports the school in maintaining a positive and constructive environment for the students.

By Karen Fong

Mr Jorwe Lee jokes that his wife “saboed” him when she asked him to join Hong Wen School’s Parent Support Group (PSG). But in reality, the father-of-two was more than happy to take part as it was a way for him to be more present for his son, who is in Primary 5; his daughter will enrol in the school next year.

“I realised that because of work commitments earlier in my career, I did not get to spend as much time with my son when he was younger,” Mr Lee, who is now Chairman of the PSG recalls. “When I moved into a new role, it allowed for better work-family balance. I’m also very blessed to have supportive line managers who value community involvement.”

As head of the EXCO for the PSG group, Mr Lee and his team work with over 1,500 parents across the various primary levels. They moderate around 70 chat groups that range from level chats to class chats, fielding queries that range from settling new Primary 1 students to resolving conflicts.

“What I really value is the strong partnership between the school and parents. When we work together, we can create a supportive environment for the children,” he says, adding that working with the PSG and Hong Wen’s school leaders has reinforced the importance of community when it comes to raising children.

School-Home Partnership And Adult Role-Modelling matter

“Through the PSG, I have had the opportunity to interact with many parents, teachers and school leaders, and it has given me a deeper appreciation of the effort that goes into nurturing students,” he says. “The school guides students in their learning and character development, while parents support and reinforce these values at home.”

Seeing adults work together harmoniously and communicate well is something that benefits the children, especially in cases of conflict. Mr Lee believes showing students how parents and the school work to solve problems is very beneficial to their growth.

“Ultimately, the PSG’s role is to encourage respectful communication and support the school in maintaining a positive and constructive environment for the students,” he says. He believes the most important thing to do for all involved when a conflict occurs is to listen carefully and understand the concerns from different perspectives. “Often, people simply want to feel heard and understood.”

He recalls an incident where students got into a physical altercation. Naturally, parents were protective of their children, but in the process of fact-finding, it soon came to light that both parties contributed to the escalation of the conflict.

“Situations like this can cause a lot of emotions. Parents can get very agitated,” he says. But by communicating and understanding the whole situation, parents were able to calmly act to resolve the issue. “In this case, both students were in the wrong, and their parents were able to work through this with them afterwards.”

How special education educators help students grow with confidence (29 May 2026)

"From classroom routines to life after school and hands-on vocational learning, three MOE-SG Enable award recipients show how students in Special Education schools grow when support is thoughtful, patient and centred on their strengths.

By Sabrina Lee

In special education, progress can be easy to miss if one is only looking for big milestones. It is, in fact, in the small moments, such as a student asking for a break instead of walking out of class, sharing what kind of future they hope for, or noticing that the fish tank water looks different from the day before, that growth shows.

When Support Is Slowly Lifted, Confidence Steps Forward

Ms Kaminee Ramakrishnan was a psychology graduate training to become a counsellor when she first walked into Eden School. She had taken on the teaching role to broaden her experience before moving into psychology or counselling-related work, but once she stepped into the classroom, she realised teaching was what she wanted to do.

There, she worked with young students on the autism spectrum, many of whom were non-verbal and easily affected by changes or sensory overload. One boy, who rarely spoke, was struggling to regulate himself. Ms Ramakrishnan, overwhelmed herself, picked up a bubble toy nearby – less as an intervention than as something to do with her hands.

The boy stopped to watch the bubbles and eventually calmed down.

“I remember standing there thinking: they’re really not that different from us,” she says. “He didn’t need someone to control him. He needed support to regulate himself. And strangely enough, bubbles worked for both of us that day.”

Today, Ms Ramakrishnan is a Senior Teacher at Grace Orchard School which serves students diagnosed with Mild Intellectual Disability and those with co-occurring Mild Autism Spectrum Disorders. When a 15-year-old student with autism entered her class, transitions were difficult; changes in routine could trigger distress, and he relied heavily on school staff through the day.

Rather than focusing only on stopping behaviours, Ms Ramakrishnan and the school team – including co-teachers, the occupational therapist, psychologist and social worker – asked what those behaviours were communicating. They considered whether he was overwhelmed, unsure of what was expected, or needed a safer way to ask for a break.

Together, they built predictability into his day through structured routines, visual schedules and personalised checklists, helping him better understand what to expect and what was expected of him.

It took close to a year before he could sit through a lesson without leaving, or ask for a break instead of walking out of class. There were setbacks. After school holidays, behaviours that had seemed to settle would resurface. One difficult week left the team wondering if they had pushed for his independence too quickly. Then one afternoon, he picked up his Maths worksheet and completed it without being prompted.

“It may seem like a small thing,” Ms Ramakrishnan says. “But for us, it meant he was beginning to internalise the routines again.”

The clearer shift came in the student’s second year. Ms Ramakrishnan watched him walk into class, take out his materials, and calmly ask if he could go for his scheduled walk. A few months later, he could participate in a larger group setting with minimal support.

“Once students begin believing, ‘I know what to do,’ you often see anxiety decrease as well,” she says.

Ms Ramakrishnan tells parents that stepping back is not the same as leaving a child to cope alone. It means teaching the child, gradually and safely, to trust his own abilities.

“Different does not mean less,” she says. “Independence is possible, growth is possible, and every child deserves the chance to be seen beyond their diagnosis.”

Ms Kaminee D/O Ramakrishnan, Grace Orchard School, is a recipient of the MOE-SG Enable Promising SPED Teacher Award (PSTA) 2025."

“We picked different schools for our two boys based on their personalities” (5 June 2026)

"This is just one of the unconventional decisions Mr Norman Suon and his wife made, so their kids could grow on their own terms. What is their parenting philosophy that made them accept this inconvenience? Schoolbag finds out.

By Ng Mei Yan

Each night, before everyone retreats to bed, Mr Norman Suon and his two sons – Christian and Joseph, now 13 and eight, respectively – perform an elaborate “NBA handshake”. Think a string of hand-claps, finger waves and elbow bumps. “The sequence has grown longer over the years. It is our love language. We feel odd if we forget to do it, no matter how old they get,” he shares.

This playful ritual is one of the results of Mr Suon, a country manager with a technology firm, and his stay-at-home spouse Wendy’s parenting approach. An approach that has taken shape through trial and error, crystallised into key pillars: consistent discipline and love, expressed through respect for individuality and open communication.

It is also the reason why he and his wife decided to send their boys to different schools and trusted Christian to choose his own secondary school, among other things. Though, Mr Suon admits, they weren’t always this certain about their parenting.

A Rocky Start Meant Learning To Set Boundaries

When the Suons decided to start a family in their late-20s, they were unprepared to say the least. “We were the first among our peers and the family to have a child, so we had no guidance and no plan,” he recalls with a laugh.

But the couple stuck by a simple goal: to raise their children to be better versions of themselves. That was how they first came up with three simple rules for their boys:

1. Respect the parents and the elderly

2. Practise gratitude

3. Never take what isn’t theirs

“These are the non-negotiables that are easy enough to understand, and lead towards our parenting goal,” he explains.

Structure applies to screentime too. Long before official guidelines from the government were released, the family instilled a no-screens rule from Monday to Thursday and limited use from Friday to Sunday. Even then, sessions were broken into small chunks of 30 minutes. On the weekends, the family prioritised time for outdoor activities like running and cycling. This is still the case now.

“Of course, children being children will ask for more screentime. We give them a few more minutes from time to time,” says Mr Suon.

Discipline Followed By Reconnection

While the Suon household may seem strict, it is not short on warmth. For Mr and Mrs Suon, discipline never ends with punishment but with a tight hug. “It is important that the child knows the love is still there,” says Mr Suon.

This has been part of the family’s practice since their older child Christian was a toddler.

When mistakes happen, Mr Suon and his wife guide the boys through what went wrong and what could be done better. Christian has even started initiating such discussions on his own, suggesting how he might have handled certain situations differently."

MOE to Introduce Enhanced Measures to Promote Healthier Screen Use in Students (30 November 2025)

"As part of Grow Well SG launched in January 2025, the Ministry of Education (MOE) will introduce enhanced measures in secondary schools to help students cultivate healthier screen use habits and better support student well-being in the digital age.

Tightened Guidelines for Use of Smartphones/smartwatches in Secondary Schools

Screen use among students has been shown to displace important activities such as sleep, physical activity and social interactions with friends and family, and is linked to poorer holistic well-being. Earlier this year, MOE had provided guidelines on managing students' use of smartphones and smartwatches in primary and secondary schools, with school rules tailored according to school profile, context and curriculum needs.

Under current guidelines, secondary school students should not use smartphones/smartwatches during lesson time. As part of the enhanced measures starting from January 2026, these guidelines will be broadened to include non-lesson time. This means that the use of smartphones/smartwatches will not be allowed during school hours, including recess, co-curricular activities, supplementary/enrichment/remedial lessons, etc. The students' devices will be kept in designated storage areas (e.g. lockers) or school bags during school hours. Where necessary, schools may allow students to use smartphones by exception."

Release of 2025 Singapore-Cambridge GCE N(A)- & N(T)-Level Examination Results on 18 December 2025 (11 December 2025)

"The results of the 2025 Singapore-Cambridge General Certificate of Education Normal (Academic)-[N(A)] and Normal (Technical)-[N(T)] Level Examinations will be released on 18 December 2025, 2pm."

2025 Secondary 1 Posting Results (12 December 2025)

"The Secondary 1 (S1) Posting results will be released on 19 December 2025, at 9am."

Release of 2025 Singapore-Cambridge GCE N(A)- & N(T)-Level Examination Results (30 December 2025)

"Candidates who sat for the 2025 Singapore-Cambridge General Certificate of Education (GCE) Normal (Academic) [N(A)] and Normal (Technical) [N(T)] Level examinations received their results today.

8,987 candidates from the Secondary 4 N(A) course and 4,479 candidates from the Secondary 4 N(T) course sat for the examinations. 8,934 (or 99.4%) candidates from the N(A) course have achieved Grade 5 or better in at least one N(A) subject, while 4,375 (or 97.7%) candidates from the N(T) course have achieved Grade D or better in at least one N(T) subject.

This year, 56.3% of the school candidates from the N(A) course sat for subjects in the GCE Ordinary Level (GCE O-Level) examinations. Schools will take their combined GCE N(A)-Level and school-based GCE O-Level preliminary examination results into consideration when determining their eligibility for progression to Secondary 5 N(A) or post-secondary pathways."

Supporting Teachers' Well-Being and Recalibrating Their Work (5 January 2026)

"The Ministry of Education (MOE) values our teachers and the unique nature of their work in stewarding young lives. We recognise the demands placed on our teachers and are taking a multi-pronged approach to strengthen the profession, support their well-being and manage their workload. This includes recalibrating what teachers do and rethinking how teachers work."

Release of 2025 Singapore-Cambridge GCE O-Level Examination Results and 2026 Joint Admissions Exercise (7 January 2026)

"The results of the 2025 Singapore-Cambridge General Certificate of Education Ordinary Level (GCE O-Level) examination will be released on 14 January 2026, 2.00pm."

Release of 2025 Singapore-Cambridge GCE O-Level Examination Results (14 January 2026)

"Candidates who sat for the 2025 Singapore-Cambridge General Certificate of Education Ordinary Level (GCE O-Level) Examination collected their results from their secondary schools today.

A total of 22,468 candidates sat for the 2025 GCE O-Level Examination. 22,430 (99.8%) of these candidates have achieved Grade C6 or better in at least one O-Level subject2. 21,740 (96.8%) and 19,522 (86.9%) of the candidates have achieved Grade C6 or better in at least 3 or more, and 5 or more O-Level subjects respectively. This is comparable to the performance of candidates for the GCE O-Level Examination in previous years."

Catholic Junior College to Be Relocated to Punggol Under Junior College Rejuvenation Programme (16 January 2026)

"Catholic Junior College (CJC) will be relocating to a new campus near Punggol Digital District. CJC's move, which is part of Phase 2 of the Junior College (JC) Rejuvenation Programme, will facilitate collaborative and interactive learning to support future educational needs and allow for greater synergies with neighbouring institutions."

Grow Well SG Health Plan Expanded to More Children (21 January 2026)

"As part of the Grow Well SG national health promotion strategy, the Ministry of Health (MOH), together with the Ministry of Education (MOE) and the Ministry of Social and Family Development (MSF), has expanded the Health Plan initiative to more children. The expansion will further strengthen the development of healthy habits from an early age by covering all Kindergarten 1 (K1) and Kindergarten 2 (K2) preschoolers as well as Primary 4 to 5 students from January 2026. Primary 6 students will continue to be supported through the school curriculum, enabling them to learn about lifestyle choices to sustain healthy habits."

2026 Joint Admissions Exercise Posting Results (27 January 2026)

"The posting results for the 2026 Joint Admissions Exercise (JAE) will be released on Tuesday, 3 February 2026, 9am."

Around 69,000 Student-Athletes to Participate at National School Games 2026 (27 January 2026)

"The National School Games (NSG) 2026 will see its highest participation to date, with around 69,000 student-athletes from more than 300 schools competing across 29 sports. Minister for Education Mr Desmond Lee officiated the NSG Opening Ceremony at The Kallang OCBC Arena today.

The NSG, which runs from January to September this year, is Singapore's largest and most extensive annual youth sports event with more than 250 divisional competitions for boys and girls. Organised by the Singapore Primary Schools Sports Council and the Singapore Schools Sports Council, the NSG aims to provide opportunities for students to participate in inter-school competitions and encourage character-building among student-athletes as they pursue sporting excellence."

Open for Nominations: Most Inspiring Tamil Teachers' Award 2026 (2 February 2026)

"From 2 February to 13 March 2026, students, educators, parents, and members of the public are invited to nominate Tamil Language (TL) teachers for the Most Inspiring Tamil Teachers' (MITT) Award 2026.

Jointly presented by Tamil Murasu, the Tamil Language Learning and Promotion Committee, and the Singapore Tamil Teachers' Union (STTU), the MITT Award recognises TL teachers in primary and secondary schools, junior colleges and Millennia Institute who have made significant contributions to the teaching and learning of TL."

Nominations Open for Arif Budiman Malay Language Teacher Award 2026 (2 February 2026)

"From 2 February to 13 March 2026, students, educators, parents, and members of the public are invited to nominate outstanding Malay Language teachers for the Arif Budiman Malay Language Teacher Award (AGAB) 2026.

Jointly organised by the Malay Language Council, the Malay Language Teachers Association, Berita Harian and the Malay Language Learning and Promotion Committee, the award recognises outstanding Malay Language teachers in primary and secondary schools, junior colleges and the Millennia Institute who have made exceptional contributions to the teaching of the Malay Language."

Joint MOM-MOE Statement on Merger of WSG and SSG (12 February 2026)

"Prime Minister and Minister of Finance, Mr Lawrence Wong announced at Budget 2026 that Workforce Singapore (WSG) and SkillsFuture Singapore (SSG) would merge into a new statutory board jointly overseen by the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) and the Ministry of Education (MOE). This merger will strengthen the integration of Singapore's jobs-skills ecosystem.

Through this new agency, we will be better positioned to align future skills with future job needs, delivering more seamless end-to-end career and employment services for Singaporean workers. A single agency overseeing jobs and skills will also allow us to respond faster and more effectively to changes in the fast-evolving economy and labour market."

Release of 2025 Singapore-Cambridge GCE A-Level Examination Results on 27 February 2026 (20 February 2026)

"The results of the 2025 Singapore-Cambridge General Certificate of Education Advanced Level (GCE A-Level) examination will be released on Friday, 27 February 2026, 2.30pm."

$556 Million Set Aside to Boost the Social Science and Humanities Research Ecosystem in Singapore (26 February 2026)

"At the 2026 Social Science and Humanities Ideas Festival launch held at the Singapore Management University (SMU) today, Minister for Education, Mr Desmond Lee, announced that $556 million will be set aside to further strengthen the local social science and humanities (SSH) research ecosystem over the next five years (FY2026 to FY2030). This is an increase of 21%, or $99 million, from the $457 million that was set aside for FY2021 to FY2025.

The new tranche of funding will continue to support the Social Science Research Council (SSRC) in growing Singapore's thought leadership in locally relevant research, as well as strengthening efforts to expand the pool of promising Singaporean researchers. Key initiatives launched under the aegis of the SSRC include the Social Science Research Thematic Grant (SSHR-TG), the Social Science and Humanities Research Fellowship (SSHRF), and the SSRC Graduate Research Fellowship (GRF). To date, the SSRC has awarded funding to 54 research projects under the SSHR-TG, 21 early career researchers under the SSHRF, and 48 projects under the SSRC GRF. The research projects span a variety of topics, including evolving geopolitics amidst a changing world order, public housing in Singapore, and insights on ageing in Singapore. For more information on the SSRC and the various research projects supported, please visit https://www.ssrc.edu.sg."

Release of the 2025 Singapore-Cambridge GCE A-Level Examination Results (27 February 2026)

"Candidates who sat for the 2025 Singapore-Cambridge General Certificate of Education Advanced Level (GCE A-Level) examination received their results from their schools today.

A total of 10,977 candidates sat for the examination, with 10,393 (94.7%) attaining at least 3 H2 passes, with a pass in General Paper (GP).

This is the first cohort to sit for the GCE A-Level examination under the revised computation method of the University Admission Score (UAS). Under the revised system, the fourth content-based subject is included only if it improves the candidate's final UAS. Project Work is excluded from this computation as it is now a Pass/Fail subject."

Growing Together Through Lifelong Learning (3 March 2026)

"Enhancements to ITE's Work-Study Diploma Employer Incentives

The Institute of Technical Education (ITE) Work-Study Diploma is a key diploma upgrading pathway for ITE Nitec and Higher Nitec graduates. Employers deliver about 70 to 80 per cent of the curriculum through on-the-job training (OJT), and ITE delivers the remaining 20 to 30 per cent through classroom learning. This programme allows trainees to earn and learn while working towards a diploma qualification. Since its launch in 2018, ITE has expanded the pathway significantly, from 4 courses and 100 trainees to 45 courses and 1,600 trainees in 2025. Graduate employment outcomes have been positive, with graduates earning a median starting salary of $2,975.

As part of MOE's ongoing efforts to expand the SkillsFuture Work-Study Programme, and to support our ITE students to upgrade to a Diploma and strengthen their employment outcomes, MOE and SkillsFuture Singapore (SSG) will enhance the employer incentive for the ITE Work-Study Diploma.For new cohorts from April 2026, ITE will:

a. Increase the incentive quantum from $15,000 to $20,000 per eligible trainee whom employers hire and train; and

b. Simplify the incentive disbursement. Currently, the $15,000 incentive is paid out based on employers' claims upon completion of specific qualifying activities. Depending on the amount claimed, employers might not access the full $15,000. In contrast, the new $20,000 incentive will be disbursed at several milestones over the course duration. This means an employer who sponsors an eligible trainee through the full Work-Study Programme will receive $20,000 through a streamlined administrative process."

We Learn for Life Together: Building a "We First" Society Through Education (3 March 2026)

"At the 2026 Committee of Supply Debate, the Ministry of Education (MOE) announced initiatives to enable Singaporeans to learn together and be equipped for an AI-transformed future. These initiatives reflect MOE's commitment to support the learning needs and aspirations of Singaporeans of all ages, as we build a "We First" society together."

Learning Together with Different Strengths and Needs (3 March 2026)

"Refreshed Approach to Support Primary School Students with Academic Strengths and Talents

From 2027, the Ministry of Education (MOE) will implement a refreshed approach to support primary school students with academic strengths and talents, and discontinue the Gifted Education Programme (GEP) in its current form.

School-Based Provisions

MOE will support more students in accessing existing school-based provisions to develop them in their domains of strength. These provisions, which include in-curriculum extensions and after-school programmes (e.g. Excellence 2000 (E2K) Mathematics and Science), were introduced since 2007, and they are provided in every primary school today. Around 10% of the cohort will be able to benefit, up from around 7% today."

Centre-Based Advanced Modules

Students assessed to benefit from further stretch beyond school-based provisions can choose to attend weekly advanced modules after school at a nearby designated centre. These students will no longer need to transfer to one of the nine primary schools that currently host the GEP.

The centre-based advanced modules are designed to stretch students intellectually and further cultivate their curiosity, creativity, and critical thinking. They are different from the academic curriculum in schools, and are not designed to prepare students for examinations. Beyond nurturing cognitive strengths, these modules will also develop students' psychosocial skills, and build communities of like-minded peers."

Minister for Education to Attend the 16th International Summit on the Teaching Profession in Tallinn, Estonia (8 March 2026)

"Minister for Education, Desmond Lee, will attend the 16th International Summit on the Teaching Profession (ISTP) in Tallinn, Estonia, from 9 to 11 March 2026.

The ISTP is a by-invitation annual meeting for leaders of top-performing or rapidly improving education systems to discuss effective practices and policies in education. The Summit this year, themed "Switching Gears: Teachers and Learners in the Future Learning Environment", will explore the pivotal roles teachers play in shaping future-ready education systems. It will examine the evolving teaching profession amid rapid technological advancements and global challenges, professional autonomy for teachers and school leaders, and the integration of new technologies into teaching and learning, such as Artificial Intelligence."

Salary Adjustments to MOE Schemes of Service (16 March 2026)

"Salary Adjustments for Officers on MOE Schemes from 1 October 2026

Three groups of MOE staff – Education Officers (EOs), Allied Educators (AEDs) and MOE Kindergarten Educators (MKEs) – will receive salary adjustments from 1 October 2026. This is to ensure that their overall salary packages remain competitive, and for MOE to continue attracting and retaining good educators.

About 33,000 serving EOs, 1,700 AEDs and 1,100 MKEs will receive a 2% to 9% increase in their monthly salaries. Salaries for EOs, AEDs and MKES were last reviewed in 2022."

Singapore Youth Festival Celebrates 60 Years with Enriched ArtsXPerience for Students (26 March 2026)

"New Drama Category for Primary School Students to Build Communication Skills

The Singapore Youth Festival (SYF), Singapore's longest-running youth arts festival, will celebrate 60 years of inspiring young artists, connecting them with audiences and mentors, and empowering them to develop their creative voices this year.

Themed 'SYF60: The ArtsXPerience — Inspire, Connect, Empower', SYF60 will build on the festival's signature showcases and introduce new elements to deepen creative collaborations and inspire students to grow through the arts. These include a new Arts Presentation Drama category for primary school students, an 'XP' card journey for participants and audiences, and cultural exchange opportunities with young artists across ASEAN."

MOE to Expand UPLIFT Scholarship to EAGLES Recipients (27 March 2026)

"The Ministry of Education (MOE) will expand the UPLIFT Scholarship to include students who receive the Edusave Award for Achievement, Good Leadership and Service (EAGLES) from the 2026 Edusave award cycle>

This expansion is part of wider efforts to recognise students' non-academic achievements, and builds on MOE's ongoing commitment to develop our students holistically.

With the expansion of the UPLIFT Scholarship, a total of about 700 students from lower-income families are expected to benefit from the scholarship every year.

About the UPLIFT Scholarship

Introduced in 2019, the UPLIFT Scholarship recognises the achievements of students in Independent Schools (IS) and Specialised Independent Schools (SIS) who have performed well academically or in specific talent areas, and are from lower-income families. Students who are awarded the UPLIFT Scholarship receive $1,200 in cash per year.

To be eligible for the scholarship, students must be Singapore Citizens from families with gross monthly household income of $5,500 or below, or gross monthly per capita income of $1,375 or below. Students must also be recipients of the Edusave Scholarship for Independent Schools (ESIS), or enter the IS/SIS through the Direct School Admission (DSA) process. Students awarded the UPLIFT Scholarship via the ESIS (Tenured) at Secondary 1, Secondary 3, or Pre-University 1, as well as DSA, will have their scholarships renewed as long as they meet the renewal criteria, for the duration of their course of study. Students may also receive the UPLIFT Scholarship for a tenure of one year, if they are awarded the ESIS (Yearly Award)."

Celebrating 20 Years of Tamil Language Learning and Promotion (29 March 2026)

"The Tamil Language Learning and Promotion Committee (TLLPC) marks its 20th anniversary this year. Over the past two decades, TLLPC has been dedicated to promoting the Tamil language, fostering cultural literacy, and engaging schools and the community. To commemorate this milestone and reflect its enhanced role of promoting Tamil language learning through greater digital engagement and youth and family involvement, TLLPC will be rebranded as the "Tamil Promotion Committee" (TPC), accompanied by a new logo.

Chairman of TLLPC and Minister of State in the Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth and the Ministry of Manpower, Mr Dinesh Vasu Dash, unveiled the refreshed name and logo at the launch of this year's Tamil Language Festival on 29 March 2026, at MediaCorp Campus.

Two Decades of Tamil Language Learning and Promotion

Since its establishment by the Ministry of Education in 2006, TLLPC has actively promoted the Tamil language by partnering schools, community organisations and cultural partners. Over the years, its programmes have inspired a love for the Tamil language among students through literature, performing arts, and community-based activities, fostering the active use of the language in everyday interactions, and an appreciation of Tamil heritage and culture."

Temporary Support for Transport Service Providers (9 April 2026)

"To ensure that access to transport services is not disrupted for school students, seniors, patients, and persons with disabilities, the Ministry of Education (MOE), Ministry of Social and Family Development (MSF) and Ministry of Health (MOH) will provide temporary support measures to Government contracted or subsidised transport service providers for services rendered in the months of April to June 2026. This move is to help these transport service providers to continue operating without disruption in the near term, given the cost pressures caused by the increase in fuel prices arising from the Middle East conflict.

MOE, MSF and MOH will provide support equivalent to 13% of transport fare revenues. In general, the support would help defray the increase in operational costs arising from higher fuel prices incurred by operators providing regular transport services to primary schools, special education (SPED) schools, disability services, and patients receiving long-term care and Community Dialysis services. With the support, operators should keep fares stable during this period.

Subsequently, transport fares may have to rise if fuel prices remain elevated. There are existing subsidies to support students, seniors, patients and persons with disabilities if they are not able to afford their transport."

Honouring Special Education Teachers and Schools (14 April 2026)

"In celebration of their contributions to the education of students with moderate-to-severe special educational needs (SEN), Senior Parliamentary Secretary for Education, Dr Syed Harun Alhabsyi, presented the MOE-SG Enable Awards to recognise four Special Education (SPED) teachers and four projects from SPED schools at the SPED A.C.E (Affirmation·Celebration·Engagement) Day today. Two SPED teachers were also awarded the MOE Master's Scholarship in Special Education (MSSPED) at the event.

The MOE-SG Enable Awards are a joint initiative between the Ministry of Education and SG Enable and comprise the Outstanding SPED Teacher Award (OSTA), the Promising SPED Teacher Award (PSTA), and the Innovation Award (IA).

The OSTA and PSTA celebrate SPED teachers' excellence in supporting their students' development and learning. The OSTA is awarded to experienced teachers with at least six years of teaching experience, while the PSTA recognises teachers with three to five years of experience. This year, the OSTA and PSTA recipients were selected from a total of 179 nominations from colleagues, parents, students and members of the public."

Recommendations from MOE's Comprehensive Action Review Against Bullying (15 April 2026)

"Strengthening our collective response to tackle bullying through a stronger partnership between schools, families, and the community.

The Ministry of Education (MOE), with the support of the COMmunity and PArents in Support of Schools (COMPASS) Council, has completed the Comprehensive Action Review against Bullying, aimed at strengthening existing efforts to better address hurtful behaviours and bullying in schools.

Bullying is a complex and serious issue that calls for a sustained, collective response. Building on existing efforts, MOE conducted internal reviews, and also engaged over 2,000 educators, parents, students, professionals and members of the public since August 2025. The majority agreed that addressing bullying holistically requires multiple parties working together – involving collective action from schools, families, and the wider community through strengthened systems and processes in schools, positive culture-building, and coordinated society-wide efforts.

Review Recommendations

Following the review and feedback received, MOE, with the support of COMPASS, has developed nine comprehensive recommendations across four key areas.

First, we will continue to inculcate the right values in our students. We will enhance values education in the curriculum and co-curriculum to develop students' character and social-emotional skills such as empathy, resilience, and conflict management. For example, more role-play and authentic scenarios will be incorporated to allow students to practise perspective-taking, conflict management and resolution, and learn how they can be upstanders. Schools will further empower students to lead and foster a pro-social peer culture where they look out for one another, stand together against hurtful behaviours, and support students who are affected by such hurtful behaviours.

We recognise that schools play a central role in creating a safe, caring and enabling environment for our students. Many schools have established processes to prevent and respond to bullying while fostering a culture of care, trust and mutual respect. We will continue to deepen a culture of kindness and respect in all our schools. We will also strengthen schools' management of hurtful behaviours and bullying, including cyber-related incidents. Schools will be provided with clearer guidelines on case management processes, including communication timelines, safety planning, disciplinary measures, counselling and restorative actions, to address hurtful behaviours and bullying in a timely and consistent manner. We will increase the availability and accessibility of reporting channels and support for affected students. Schools will also address hurtful behaviours and bullying more proactively in schools through early identification, intervention, and support, with stricter disciplinary measures for all serious offences, including bullying.

Third, MOE will provide additional needs-based funding for schools to hire additional manpower, which will support schools in student management whilst managing teacher workload. Schools may engage youth workers, pastoral care officers, and/or parent liaison officers to support school staff in student management work. We will tap on technology to improve case management processes and facilitate timely communication and intervention. To deepen educator capacity in student management and parent engagement, MOE and schools will also enhance professional development for educators, including skills for investigation, conflict resolution, and parent engagement."

World Book Day 2026 Promotes Culture of Reading with Inaugural Singapore Chinese Book Fair (18 April 2026)

"共同推广阅读文化：2026年世界书香日首次同时举办新加坡华文书展

More than 800 secondary and pre-university students participated in this year's World Book Day Opening Ceremony at Hwa Chong Institution (HCI) on Saturday, 18 April 2026. Jointly organised by the Committee to Promote Chinese Language Learning (CPCLL), National Library Board (NLB) and HCI, the annual event aims to promote a culture of reading in Singapore.

Guest-of-Honour Mr Xie Yao Quan, who is Group Leader of CPCLL, Deputy Speaker of Parliament and Member of Parliament for Jurong Central SMC, launched the student publication《清醒地梦着》— a compilation of outstanding essays written by students in the Author-in-Residence Programme . Mr Xie also presented the Chinese Language Elective Programme (CLEP) Best Improvement Award to 28 secondary and pre-university students."

2026 Primary One Registration Exercise (29 April 2026)

"The registration period for children's admission to Primary One (P1) in 2027 will be from Tuesday, 30 June 2026 to Friday, 30 October 2026.

Information on the P1 Registration process, registration phases, eligibility criteria, and user guides can be found at www.moe.gov.sg/primary/p1-registration.

As announced during the Ministry of Education's (MOE) Committee of Supply speech in March 2026, MOE is currently reviewing the P1 Registration Framework. However, this year's P1 Registration Exercise will not be affected. We will announce details of the review when ready."

Close to 190 Students Showcase Language and Reasoning Skills at the 5th National Chinese Riddle Competition (2 May 2026)

"189 students from 25 secondary schools participated in the fifth National Chinese Riddle Competition (全国中学生灯谜比赛) on Saturday, 2 May 2026, at Hwa Chong Institution (HCI). Jointly organised by the Committee to Promote Chinese Language Learning (CPCLL), Tung Ann District Guild, Riddle Association (Singapore) and HCI, the competition aims to foster students' appreciation and love for Chinese language and culture through the traditional art of riddle-solving.

Minister of State for Education and Chairperson of the CPCLL, Ms Jasmin Lau, delivered a speech and presented awards to the winners. At the competition, participants took part in a preliminary pen-and-paper quiz, with the top 10 teams in both the Chinese and Higher Chinese categories advancing to the Finals to compete in a live fast-paced buzzer round."

Start of 2026 Direct School Admission Exercises & ITE and Polytechnic Early Admissions Exercise (5 May 2026)

"The Direct School Admission (DSA) Exercise for admission to secondary schools and junior colleges (JCs) in 2027 will open for application from Wednesday, 6 May 2026. Separately, applications for early admission to the Institute of Technical Education (ITE) and polytechnics based on course-specific aptitude and interests will start from Wednesday, 20 May and Monday, 1 June 2026 respectively.

DSA Exercise

DSA provides a pathway for students to gain admission to secondary schools or JCs based on their interests, aptitude, and potential, beyond their performance at the national examinations. Upon admission, students can further develop their talent in their secondary schools or JCs. Secondary schools and JCs can take up to 20% of their non-Integrated Programme Secondary 1 (S1) / Junior College 1 intake via the DSA Exercise."

Student Dancers Bring "Positivity" to Life at Chinese Street Dance Competition 2026 (23 May 2026)

"46 students from six secondary schools and pre-university institutions competed in the Finals of the seventh Chinese Street Dance Competition, where they introduced the story behind their choreography in Mandarin and expressed their interpretation of this year's competition theme "Positivity 正能量" through energetic dance routines.

Jointly organised by the Committee to Promote Chinese Language Learning (CPCLL) and local media content company MCC, this annual competition aims to promote the learning of Chinese language and culture through music and dance.

Minister of State for Education and Chairperson of the CPCLL, Ms Jasmin Lau, delivered a speech and presented awards to the winning teams at the Finals and Awards Ceremony held at Our Tampines Hub's Festive Plaza today."

Singapore's Young Research Talents Clinch 7 Awards at International Science and Engineering Fair 2026 (25 May 2026)

"Eight Singapore students competed against more than 1,700 students from about 60 countries, regions, and territories at the Regeneron International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF) 2026, where they clinched a total of seven awards. Singapore has participated in ISEF annually since 2001.

In total, four individual projects and two team projects were submitted to the ISEF, which was held in Phoenix, Arizona, USA from 9 to 15 May 2026. Through the competition, our students exchanged insights with young scientists from around the world and gained valuable learning experiences."

Education Conversations (28 May 2026)

"The Ministry of Education (MOE) has launched the Education Conversations, a series of outreach efforts that invites Singaporeans to share their views and help shape education policies that strengthen students' holistic development and prepare them for the future.

The Conversations began in April 2026 with focused group discussions involving education professionals, parents and youths. MOE will continue them through 2026 and into 2027, both in person and through the Education Conversations microsite, on topics including:

a. Moderating examination stakes, such as the use of the Primary School Leaving Examination (PSLE) for Secondary 1 posting

b. Reviewing the Direct School Admission (DSA) scheme to strengthen student development, improve selection, and enhance accessibility

c. Strengthening the education experience, including Character and Citizenship Education (CCE) and Co-Curricular Activities (CCA), to nurture values and life skills"

Students Showcase Creativity and Language Skills at the 5th Young Reporter News Challenge (29 May 2026)

"This year, 491 students from 52 secondary schools participated in the fifth edition of the Young Reporter News Challenge (《我来报新闻》挑战赛). Jointly organised by the Committee to Promote Chinese Language Learning (CPCLL), MediaCorp 8world and Speak Mandarin Campaign, with support from the Singapore Centre for Chinese Language, the competition aims to develop students' interest and ability to communicate and present in Mandarin, as well as their media literacy skills.

Ms Jasmin Lau, Minister of State for Education and Chairperson of the CPCLL, delivered a speech and presented awards to 28 winning teams at the Awards Ceremony."

Pre-University Seminar 2026 – WE: With Everyone (5 June 2026)

"Around 550 students from 30 pre-university institutions participated in the Pre-University Seminar 2026 Closing Ceremony held at the National University of Singapore. Into its 57th edition, the annual seminar was co-organised by the Ministry of Education with Temasek Junior College this year. Themed 'WE: With Everyone', the seminar explores what it means to build an inclusive nation where every voice matters, every contribution counts, and every citizen shares in our collective success. Students explored the future of Singapore across three sub-themes and gained insights into a range of issues, policies, and perspectives to build a more united Singapore, through rich discussions and interactions at the event. The three sub-themes were "Our People, One Heartbeat", "Our Places, One Home", and "Our Purpose, Infinite Possibilities".

Minister for Education Mr Desmond Lee attended the Closing Ceremony on 5 June, where he delivered the keynote address and interacted with students in an engaging dialogue. Minister Lee also addressed questions about Singapore's current challenges and future directions surrounding the theme."

36,000 MOE teachers, allied educators to get up to 9% pay increase from Oct 1 (16 March 2026)

"SINGAPORE: From Oct 1, around 36,000 teachers and educators will get a 2 to 9 per cent increase in their monthly pay, the Ministry of Education (MOE) said on Monday (Mar 16).

The move is meant to ensure that their overall salary packages remain competitive and to enable the ministry to "continue to attract and retain good educators", said MOE in a press release.

The increment will be given to around 33,000 education officers, 1,700 allied educators and 1,100 MOE Kindergarten educators.

Salaries for education officers, allied educators and MOE Kindergarten educators were last reviewed in 2022."

Absent family support, they went from children’s home to rented flat. This is how they managed (16 March 2026)

"SINGAPORE: When Edward (not his real name) first unpacked his belongings in his new room, he felt triumphant.

“I’ve won in life already,” he thought as he moved into a flat — at age 19 — with three others he had grown up with at Melrose Home.

The residential care facility, run by the Children’s Aid Society (CAS), is for children and youth aged seven to 21 with adverse family circumstances, such as abuse and neglect.

And after nearly a decade of dormitories and fixed routines, Edward had his own bedroom and could arrange things however he liked. He could choose what to cook, when to head out and stay up as late as he wanted.

But responsibilities soon hit him harder than he had expected. He struggled to keep up the rent as expenses piled up, and he borrowed from a flatmate at times to make ends meet.

“It was a big reality (check),” he said. “We had no clue (about) the cost…of living outside.”

About 500 children and adolescents are in out-of-home residential care in Singapore. By the time they turn 21, about 30 individuals a year will age out of care without being able to reintegrate with their families.

Without support, the transition to independent living can be especially challenging for care leavers like Edward, with housing among their most pressing concerns."

MSF returns Han Hui Hui's children with conditions; activist gets POFMA order over claims made in livestream (17 March 2026)

"SINGAPORE: Political activist Han Hui Hui was on Monday (Mar 16) reunited with her children after they were removed from her care over safety concerns, the Ministry of Social and Family Development (MSF) and the Singapore Police Force (SPF) said on Tuesday.

She was also issued a Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act (POFMA) correction direction over false statements she made in a Facebook livestream about the removal of her children. This video was later posted on Facebook and YouTube.

These posts are no longer available, according to CNA's checks on Tuesday night.

"The government takes a serious view of the deliberate communication of falsehoods," said SPF and MSF.

The correction order was made on the instruction of Minister for Social and Family Development Masagos Zulkifli. This was done to protect public trust and ensure that accurate facts are put up, said the authorities.

CNA understands this is the first time a POFMA correction direction has been issued in relation to falsehoods about the government's handling of children under protective care.

Madam Han is required to carry a correction notice."

Former teacher on trial for sexual grooming and indecent acts with student (18 March 2026)

"SINGAPORE: A former teacher is on trial for sexually grooming an underage student and for indecent acts with her in a parked car.

The prosecution on Tuesday (Mar 17) urged the court to convict the 41-year-old former secondary school teacher of all four charges against him, calling his conduct "a deliberate, calculated and persistent campaign of grooming".

His defence lawyer, Mr Kalaithasan Karuppaya, maintained that none of the alleged acts took place.

The man pleaded not guilty to three counts of committing an indecent act with a minor and one count of sexual grooming of a minor.

The court imposed gag orders covering the identities of the victim, the accused and the name of their school."

As more youths get arrested for drugs, is the onus on parents to start conversations early? (19 March 2026)

"SINGAPORE: When Ms June Yong first raised the topic of drugs to her children, her youngest child was 11.

The conversation was likely prompted by news reports about youths experimenting with drugs or youth offenders getting arrested, she told CNA.

In their household – with three teenagers now aged between 13 and 17 – such discussions are not unusual, typically unfolding over dinner. Sometimes, they would also touch on other vices.

"We’ve been talking about sensitive topics since their primary school years," said Ms Yong, remembering how her children once brought up pornography after hearing about it in school. That made her and her husband realise they could not shield their children from everything.

"For us, we were intentional about bringing up difficult topics from young. We wanted to have the first word in, rather than waiting for them to hear from friends," said Ms Yong, who works as a family life educator at non-profit organisation Focus on the Family Singapore.

But not all families have these conversations.

Last month, the Central Narcotics Bureau (CNB) released its annual statistics report, which showed a rise in young drug abusers arrested in 2025. The youngest was 12 years old.

Of the 1,165 new drug abusers arrested in 2025, about half of them were below 30 years old, an increase of about 9 per cent from the previous year. The rise was more significant in the under-20 age group.

National Council Against Drug Abuse (NCADA) chairman Tan Chong Huat noted that almost two in five youths have yet to receive guidance from their parents or guardians about drug abuse.

The council's 2025 National Drug Perception Survey found that 62.8 per cent of youths said their parents had spoken to them about drugs."

Gojek driver who inched vehicle into traffic controller at international school gets convicted of rash act (19 March 2026)

"SINGAPORE: In his attempt to escape the traffic at an international school, a Gojek private-hire driver caught in a slip road inched his vehicle forward, injuring a traffic controller who had asked him to wait his turn.

Darryl K Tan Swee Heng, 43, was convicted on Wednesday (Mar 18) of one count of a rash act endangering the personal safety of others, which he had contested in vain.

The court heard that Tan, a Singaporean, had received a job on his Gojek application to pick up passengers from Dulwich College in Bukit Batok sometime before 4pm on Mar 24, 2023."

With AI doing the grunt work in law firms, where does this leave junior lawyers and fresh grads? (20 March 2026)

"For law student Sarika Chatterjee, the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in her studies can be a double-edged sword. While it makes her academic life easier, it has made her worry about what she can offer law firms after graduation.

The third-year law undergraduate at the National University of Singapore (NUS) said that she uses AI for basic tasks such as preparing summaries of cases or assigned readings, including condensing a 120-page reading into a 10-page examination-style summary.

"There seems to be this general air of 'everything is going to be fine'. But we students know that … law firms are increasingly investing more in specialised legally trained AI, and some partners at firms have already acknowledged that AI is able to take over the basic legal work that is done by junior associates.

"We do not receive any specific support related to AI, and it seems that we have been left to our own devices when it comes to dealing with AI in the workplace," the 21-year-old said.

She is now focusing on developing skills such as client management and presentations.

Although Ms Chatterjee is concerned, she takes some solace in AI's limitations, including its inability to provide in-depth analysis and the difficulty it has in handling cases without legal precedents.

From automating routine tasks to threatening livelihoods and displacing roles at both entry and senior levels, AI is reshaping industries and jobs – and the legal sector is no exception."

Slang and informal digital language are seeping into essays and class discussions. Here's how I deal with it as an educator (20 March 2026)

"These days, it's getting increasingly common in classes to hear a student discuss a philosophical argument with careful reasoning, then moments later remark that an idea is "lowkey problematic" or that someone's well-made point "slaps".

Online, expressions such as "fr" ("for real"), "ngl" ("not gonna lie") or "it's giving" ("it seems" or "it suggests") circulate widely across TikTok, Instagram and messaging applications. Occasionally, these expressions also surface in class discussion boards.

Being an educator, I've always advocated that students speak "properly". However, what I'm seeing appears to be much more complex than a simple decline in language standards.

Are young people forgetting how to speak good English? That is a question that has long been a subject of national debate, well before the advent of social media and internet slang.

For now, good English isn't "disappearing" exactly. Instead, it's more about the changing environments in which certain types of language are used.

Seeing slang and abbreviations such as "rizz" ("charisma") and "IJBOL" ("I just burst out laughing") increasingly seep into situations where more formal language is typically used and expected, it raises a new concern: Are young Singaporeans losing the ability to shift between informal digital language and the kind of English required in academic, professional and public settings?

And, perhaps more importantly – does the distinction even matter anymore?"

From silence to ‘Mama’: The 26-year-old helping babies and children with hearing loss learn to listen (23 March 2026)

"Most parents celebrate their baby’s first “Mama” or “Dada” but rarely consider how much goes into this speech milestone. For a child with hearing loss, those utterances may not be a given.

So when Tiffany Lim’s first assigned case, a four-year-old with hearing loss who had spent most of his childhood in a world of silence, called out to his mother and grandparents for the first time, it meant everything to her.

“Up until then, he was in his own bubble,” she recalled.

The 26-year-old is an auditory-verbal habilitationist (AVH) at KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital’s (KKH) Audiology Service. She works in a niche field, helping children and babies with hearing loss develop listening and language skills after they are fitted with hearing devices.

The work is deeply family-centred, with parents coached to support listening and language development both during sessions and at home.

In Singapore, around one in 1,000 newborns has significant hearing loss, according to KKH.Auditory-verbal therapy is recommended to monitor the child’s hearing device use and their spoken language development, said Lim.

On average, the KKH Audiology Service attends to 2,500 to 3,000 patients with hearing loss each year.The service sees children from around six months up to 18 years old. Some are born with hearing loss; others lose their hearing later due to acquired infections or medical conditions."

Founding dean of NTU's Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information Eddie Kuo dies aged 85 (23 March 2026)

"SINGAPORE: Professor Eddie Kuo, the founding dean of the Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information (WKWSCI) at Nanyang Technological University (NTU), died on Monday (Mar 23) at the age of 85.

In a post on Facebook, WKWSCI said that Prof Kuo was a "pivotal figure" who shaped the school in its earliest years and laid the groundwork for its growth.

"His contributions to NTU and to the development of communication as a discipline in Singapore have left a lasting legacy," it said.

"He will be remembered with great respect and affection and will be deeply missed by all who had the privilege of knowing him."

CNA Explains: What causes GIRO errors and what you can do if it happens (23 March 2026)

"SINGAPORE: To pay for their children’s student care, some parents set up GIRO arrangements with Little Professors Learning Centre, expecting routine monthly deductions of fees.

Instead, they got a rude shock. Some were charged the wrong amount in certain months – and charged twice in others.

One mother, who was supposed to pay S$30 (US$24) a month, was charged S$196.80 on three occasions and S$68 once.

The Consumers Association of Singapore (CASE) received 10 complaints regarding unauthorised GIRO deductions between Jan 1 last year and Mar 16 this year.

CNA looks at how GIRO works, and whether the decades-old system has any alternatives."

Commentary: How to redirect the ‘responsible parent’ script in Singapore’s education system (25 March 2026)

"SINGAPORE: In Singapore, much has been said about the need to break away from an education “arms race”.

This was reiterated by Education Minister Desmond Lee in parliament this month, when he cautioned that a fixation on grades can pit children against one another, diminish their joy of learning and crowd out character-building.

Mr Lee’s remarks reaffirm efforts that the Ministry of Education has pursued for more than a decade – including doing away with mid-year examinations, softening labels of giftedness or academic excellence or lack thereof, and dampening obsession with “top” schools – in hope that the anxiety and stress experienced by parents and students would recede. The ministry is also studying how to further reduce the stakes of examinations.

The key point, however, is this: Lowering stress involves more than adjusting milestones. It also means changing the incentive environment around them, so families feel they can step off the treadmill without taking an irreversible risk.

When Education Meets Being "Kiasu"

But why are people on the treadmill in the first place? Findings from the recent IPS-CNA national identity study suggest something deeper may be at work.

When 2,000 Singapore residents were asked what traits define a Singaporean, the two most common responses were, surprisingly, not Singlish or our local food culture.

Instead, they were "valuing education" and "being kiasu". The latter, according to those who participated in the study, was a negative identity marker.

If these are traits that sit near the centre of how we imagine a “typical Singaporean”, then the schooling, tuition and education arms race that have been widely debated in the public sphere are not only behaviours to be corrected. It is also part of an identity system, reinforced through everyday decisions and social expectations. This also helps explain why well-intentioned messaging, such as the idea that “every school is a good school”, may have struggled to shift lived realities."

Bra checks, exams and a ghost: How a Singapore director turned her school years into an award-winning film (26 March 2026)

"One of the first skits Tan Siyou ever worked on was because of a school punishment.

In secondary school, some of her friends snuck food into the school library to eat in air-conditioned comfort. Their punishment: Come up with a skit for morning assembly to remind everyone that eating in the library is prohibited.

When she heard of her friends’ punishment, she was furious. Tan could relate – she once skipped class to sleep in the library and got banned from entering.

“I know you are not supposed to eat in the library. But it was very hot and this is such an innocent act. Why would (teachers) publicly shame you?” the film director in her 30s reasoned.

“I was like, they want skit, we give them skit.”

Tan joined the group to write the script and turned the skit into an elaborate production with props. She played the teacher who had doled out the punishment and acted the part so well that the teacher in question was upset, she recalled.

Today, the Singaporean is an award-winning writer and director. Her short films Hello Ahma and Strawberry Cheesecake premiered at major international festivals, including the Toronto International Film Festival, Berlin International Film Festival and Locarno Film Festival.

Amoeba, her feature debut, was inspired by her experiences in a high-pressure girls’ school. Screened at film festivals across the world, including Canada, South Korea, China, the United States and Japan, it takes audiences into the inner world of four Singaporean girls who form a gang, navigating school, adolescence, friendship and a ghost encounter.

Amoeba first premiered in Singapore at the Singapore International Film Festival in November 2025 and will make its theatrical release on Mar 26 at Filmhouse at Golden Mile Tower. A sneak preview on Mar 21 that included a post-screening question-and-answer session with Tan and cast members sold out two days after the tickets went live on Mar 7.

Delivered in a blend of Mandarin, English and Singlish, the coming-of-age film won multiple awards in 2025, including Best Youth Film at the Asia Pacific Screen Awards in Australia, the Youth Jury Award at the Pingyao International Film Festival in China, and the FIPRESCI Prize at the Golden Horse Awards in Taiwan.

Tan was also nominated for best new director at the Golden Horse Awards."

Commentary: Why the central kitchen model for school meals works for my family (26 March 2026)

"SINGAPORE: When it was announced that a new central kitchen model would be rolled out in 13 schools this year, there was a wave of dismay.

Some were unimpressed with the appearance of the catered meals and the lack of variety. Others lamented the loss of opportunities for children to learn budgeting and financial skills.

But my family was excited about the change because it meant we would finally be able to know which dishes were safe for our children.

Both my children were born with multiple allergies. Some allergens cause milder reactions like hives and eczema, but there are others that trigger severe effects such as vomiting, restricted breathing and pain along the digestive tract. To keep them safe, I have been packing all their meals – recess, snacks and lunch – every weekday since they started school.

My children are not alone. According to Dr Mohana Rajakulendran, a paediatrician who specialises in food allergies and eczema, around 5 per cent of children in Singapore have diagnosed food allergies.

This means in every class of 30 to 40 children, at least one child would have a food allergy that might not allow them to consume food from traditional canteens that do not display allergen information.

The most common food allergies among children in Singapore are milk, egg, peanut and seafood, including shellfish. “While seafood allergy is more common in older school-going children and adolescents, there has also been an increasing trend of peanut allergy locally,” Dr Rajakulendran told me.

With the new central kitchen model in place at my child’s school, I can review the menu ahead of time and decide if there is a safe option for her. I love hearing the joy in her voice when she says she can finally enjoy the same food as her classmates."

Former primary school teacher gets jail for sexual relationship with her underage former student (26 March 2026)

"SINGAPORE: After teaching mathematics to a boy for two years in a primary school, a woman developed a romantic relationship with the minor that turned sexual when he was in lower secondary.

The 35-year-old Singaporean woman, who cannot be named due to gag orders preventing her and the victim's identification, was sentenced to 22 months' jail on Thursday (Mar 26).

She pleaded guilty to one charge each of sexual exploitation of a child and causing sexual penetration by a minor.

Another two charges including sexual grooming and stalking were considered in sentencing.

The Ministry of Education had previously said that the woman was suspended from March 2024 and is no longer teaching in any school."

Singapore denies entry to Malaysian activist over involvement in domestic politics, promotion of unlawful civil protest (27 March 2026)

"SINGAPORE: A Malaysian activist has been refused entry to Singapore for engaging in political activism in the country, Singapore’s Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) said on Friday (Mar 27), describing her as an “undesirable visitor”.

Fadiah Nadwa Fikri had encouraged some youths in Singapore to adopt “her brand of radical advocacy”, said MHA in response to CNA’s query.

“She encouraged them to go beyond protests, to mobilise students and different communities in Singapore, and to undertake disruptive and violent actions to support specific causes,” the ministry said.

“We will not tolerate foreigners getting involved in our domestic politics, nor the promotion of unlawful, violent and disruptive methods of civil protest.”

In a post on X on Sunday, Fadiah, who was awarded a PhD by the National University of Singapore (NUS) in January, claimed she was deported to Malaysia and banned from entering Singapore.

She described her scholarly work as examining the intellectual history of decolonisation and anti-imperialism."

Singapore tops global gains in QS university subject rankings, driven by focus on skills and employability (27 March 2026)

"SINGAPORE: Singapore’s higher education system has emerged as the world’s most improved in the latest Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) World University Rankings by Subject, released on Wednesday (Mar 25).

The country’s universities now have 42 subjects ranked in the global top 10, placing it first in Asia and third worldwide behind the United States and the United Kingdom.

About two-thirds of subjects - 76 out of 115 - also climbed in the rankings.

Experts said strong investment in research and talent, including AI, coupled with a strong focus on skills and employability, is driving Singapore’s global competitiveness in higher education.

NUS Records Most Subjects In Global Top 10

At the National University of Singapore (NUS), a record 28 subjects were ranked in the global top 10, marking the school’s strongest performance since the QS subject rankings were introduced in 2011.

These include civil and structural engineering, where students combine classroom learning with real-world applications.

The course rose one place to No. 2 this year."

My husband's brush with the law is a chance to teach our kids about rehabilitation (27 March 2026)

"One day, my eldest daughter came home from kindergarten and, bouncing up and down with excitement, said to me: "Mum! Did you know on Thursday we have careers day and a real-life policeman is coming to school! Is he the one that caught Dad?"

We've seen it in television shows and movies: A young child being told that their parent is "out of the country" or "away on business" when, really, they're serving time in prison.

Seeing such scenes on a screen, I always thought it was corny – but I never thought it would happen to me.

When A Partner Has Done Time

When other couples prepare to have kids, they may ask themselves certain questions, such as: "Should one of us stay home to be a full-time parent?" or "What kinds of beliefs and values do we want to teach our kids?"

For my husband and me, there was one more consideration, one that many other couples in our circles didn't have to confront: "Do we tell our children their dad has been to jail?"

Four operators appointed to replace Little Professors Learning Centre at eight primary schools (30 March 2026)

"SINGAPORE: The Ministry of Education (MOE) has appointed four student care centre (SCC) operators to provide after-school care services for students in eight primary schools affected by Little Professors Learning Centre's (LPLC) breach of contract.

The four new operators are: Learning Studio Educare, Principals Academy Inc, Young Men's Christian Association of Singapore and Nascans, said MOE in a press release on Monday (Mar 30).

The centres will start operations from Apr 6, and the appointment will include Kindergarten Care services for the primary schools with MOE Kindergartens.

The move comes about six weeks after LPLC’s contracts were terminated over issues including unpaid staff salaries and double fee deductions."

Four operators appointed to replace Little Professors Learning Centre at eight primary schools (30 March 2026)

"SINGAPORE: The Ministry of Education (MOE) has appointed four student care centre (SCC) operators to provide after-school care services for students in eight primary schools affected by Little Professors Learning Centre's (LPLC) breach of contract.

The four new operators are: Learning Studio Educare, Principals Academy Inc, Young Men's Christian Association of Singapore and Nascans, said MOE in a press release on Monday (Mar 30).

The centres will start operations from Apr 6, and the appointment will include Kindergarten Care services for the primary schools with MOE Kindergartens.

The move comes about six weeks after LPLC’s contracts were terminated over issues including unpaid staff salaries and double fee deductions."

Singaporean comedian Mark Lee reflects on bond with his 12-year-old daughter (30 March 2026)

"It's no secret that Singaporean comedian and actor Mark Lee is a doting father. Remember that video of his kids running to hug him when he returned from an overseas work trip a few years back?

But it does seem like his kids are all starting to grow up. The 57-year-old reflected on his relationship with his daughter during promotions for his latest project.

In the new Taiwanese comedy Uncle Odyssey, Lee plays a man separated from his wife, who left with their daughter. Having lived apart for years, he and his daughter, played by Golden Bell Best Actress winner Huang Peijia, reconnect in his middle age, when the roles get reversed and his daughter has to care for her father.

In a recent interview, Mark Lee revealed that his youngest child in real life, Calynn Lee, is in fact very much like Huang in the movie.

“Because my youngest daughter also walks around with a straight face all the time," he quipped. "Sometimes when I try to hold her hand or pat her shoulder, she just glares at me."

Mark Lee and his wife, Catherine Ng, 52, also have an elder daughter Calista Lee, 17, and a son, Maksonn Lee, 14.

That said, Mark Lee understands that his daughter loves him deeply."

X and TikTok issued letters of caution by IMDA for serious weaknesses in detection, removal of harmful content (31 March 2026)

"SINGAPORE: The Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) has issued letters of caution to X and TikTok and placed both platforms under enhanced supervision, following “serious weaknesses” in their measures to detect and remove harmful online content.

IMDA’s Online Safety Assessment Report 2025, released on Tuesday (Mar 31), found that X failed to effectively tackle child sexual exploitation and abuse material (CSEM), while TikTok showed serious gaps in detecting and removing terrorism-related content.

According to IMDA, a letter of caution reprimands regulated entities on serious weaknesses discovered by the regulator and requires them to take steps to address these weaknesses.

Under the enhanced supervision measures, the two platforms must provide regular progress updates to IMDA in implementing rectification measures, until the regulator is satisfied that the issues are adequately resolved.

The measures include enhancing their detection systems with the use of AI, and taking into account specific code-words and tactics that bad actors have used to target Singapore users.

They must also submit supporting data and information to IMDA by Jun 30 to demonstrate the effectiveness of their rectification measures."

'Nutrition labels' for AI apps among measures being studied to boost online safety: Josephine Teo (31 March 2026)

"SINGAPORE: Labels that clearly spell out what artificial intelligence applications can do – and where their limits lie – could be introduced as part of broader efforts to strengthen trust and safety in the digital space, said Digital Development and Information Minister Josephine Teo.

This is in view of the potential challenges posed by the abuse of AI tools such as AI chatbots, according to a factsheet released by the Ministry of Digital Development and Information (MDDI) on Tuesday (Mar 31).

Speaking to reporters ahead of the second Online Safety Assessment Report, which was also released on Tuesday, Mrs Teo said the proposed labels would help users better understand what AI-enabled services are designed to do, their intended uses and limitations, similar to how labels for food or medicine inform consumers."

Former preschool principal gets jail for failing to report toddler molestation by school cook (1 April 2026)

"SINGAPORE: A former preschool principal who failed to report the molestation of a toddler by a school cook was sentenced to 10 days' jail on Wednesday (Apr 1), even though the prosecution sought a fine of at least S$8,000 (US$6,200).

The 62-year-old woman, who cannot be named due to gag orders protecting the identity of the victim, had pleaded guilty to one charge of failing to report the cook's offence. Another charge of conspiring to obstruct justice was taken into consideration.

In sentencing, the judge pointed to the "striking" irony that the principal had been attending a course on safeguarding children from abuse when she first learnt of the offence.

The judge said the case serves as "a sobering reminder that child protection cannot be reduced to the mere completion of courses or formal training", but that educators must internalise and "faithfully discharge" the responsibilities that accompany the profound trust placed in them.

The cook, 61-year-old Teo Guan Huat, was sentenced in November to more than nine years’ jail for molesting three toddlers during naptime over seven months in 2023."

Serial voyeur finds job as student care teacher, takes videos of boys using the toilet (1 April 2026)

"SINGAPORE: A serial voyeur who was released from his latest prison stint took up a job as a part-time student care teacher and took multiple videos of boys defecating in toilets.

The prosecution said Ezekiel Isaiah Tee Xu Jie specifically targeted boys aged between nine and 15 at a church or student care centres he had applied to work at, or near to, and checked their age before selecting his victims.

The 26-year-old Singaporean man pleaded guilty on Wednesday (Apr 1) to three counts of voyeurism, with another two charges to be considered in sentencing.

The court imposed a gag order preventing the publication of anything that might identify the victims. This includes the locations of the offences.

Tee had been convicted thrice before of voyeurism-related offences."

Social ties, support are key drivers of giving in Singapore: Study (1 April 2026)

"SINGAPORE: More than three-quarters of Singapore residents have given back to others at some point, with 68 per cent doing so in the past year, according to the latest National Giving Study.

The findings, released on Tuesday (Mar 31), also show that giving in Singapore goes beyond formal volunteering and donations.

It includes everyday acts such as helping neighbours, distributing meals, picking up litter or even caring for community cats.

Conducted by the National Volunteer and Philanthropy Centre (NVPC), the study surveyed more than 3,600 people between July and October last year.

The 2025 edition adopted a wider approach than previous years by looking at both structured giving, such as volunteering and donations, and informal acts of mutual aid.

Researchers also refined the methodology to focus on what people actually did, rather than how they interpret terms like volunteering or donating, in order to provide a more inclusive picture of how people contribute."

Former teacher charged over sexual acts with underage student in latest such case (2 April 2026)

"SINGAPORE: A former teacher was charged in court on Thursday (Apr 2) with multiple charges over sexual acts with an underage student.

The Singaporean, who is in his 30s, was handed nine charges in total - six of committing indecent acts with a young person and three charges of sexual penetration of a minor.

A gag order imposed by the court prevents the publication of anything that might identify the accused and the victim, including the incident locations.

Court records indicate that the pair have a "former teacher and student relationship".

According to charge sheets, the alleged offences took place between February and December in 2023."

New bento meals in schools ‘disgusting’? Here’s why caterers find it tough to strike a balance (3 April 2026)

"SINGAPORE: “Uncle, your vegetables every day are carrots.”

“Uncle, your rice is too hard.”

“Uncle, your meat is too small — we can’t see the meat.”

These are some of the complaints Wilmar Distribution’s institutional catering manager, Michael Tan, has heard from pupils in schools his company serves under the Central Kitchen Meal Model.

Since its introduction in January, the model — aimed at schools facing a shortage of canteen vendors — has replaced on-site cooking with meals that are pre-ordered, prepared off-site and delivered to school.

On paper, the meals tick all the boxes. They follow the Healthy Meals in Schools guidelines (wholegrains, protein, vegetables and fruits) provided by the Health Promotion Board (HPB), with products that meet Healthier Choice standards.

Think chicken rice with skinless, lean meat; pizza made with wholemeal flour; mee goreng with wholegrain noodles. And absolutely no deep-fried food.

But in the canteen, where these meals meet their young critics, healthier does not always land."

Teen arrested after allegedly licking iJooz straw and putting it back in vending machine (3 April 2026)

"SINGAPORE: A male teenager has been arrested following an incident where a boy had filmed himself allegedly licking a straw from an iJooz vending machine and putting the straw back.

The police said on Friday (Apr 3) in response to CNA's queries that a report was lodged and that the 18-year-old has been arrested for public nuisance.

They added that investigations are ongoing.

In a video posted on the Singaporeincidents.sg Instagram page, a boy is seen taking a straw from an iJooz vending machine, which serves freshly squeezed orange juice, and licking it.

He then appears to place the straw into the machine again.

The caption claimed that the teen posted the video on his Instagram account on Mar 12. It did not reveal the account.

iJooz said on Mar 27 in response to CNA's queries: "On the evening of Mar 24, iJooz was made aware of a video that has been circulating on social media, of a youth who filmed himself licking a straw from an iJooz vending machine and placing the straw back in to the straw dispenser."

iJooz said it lodged a police report on Mar 25 and will work with the police and other authorities on this matter."

'I got lucky. Not everyone does': The ups and downs of having children in one's teens (3 April 2026)

"During her second year of polytechnic, Ms Shanel Lim, then almost 18, took a pregnancy test with her then-boyfriend in a public toilet. When she saw the two lines on the test denoting a positive result, she broke down right there and then.

"I just crashed out and cried," she said.

Immediately, she made an appointment with a gynaecologist. That visit revealed that she was already approaching her third trimester.

What worried her more than the impending arrival of a newborn was the timing.

"I didn't want to add on to my already full plate," she said, citing family issues at home on top of her schooling.

She worked up the courage to tell her parents, who were initially upset. However, her mother soon shifted focus to making sure Ms Lim was eating well and getting enough nutrients for the baby.

As luck would have it, Ms Lim's estimated due date fell during her polytechnic holidays. She sat her exams two weeks before going into labour. After her one-month confinement, she went straight back to school – and quickly found herself struggling to balance education and childcare.

"The cost of raising a child really hit me like a truck," said Ms Lim. Milk powder and diapers were her two biggest expenses.

As a single mother, Ms Lim was not entitled to the Baby Bonus, a government scheme that provides cash gifts and co-savings for married couples with children.

"Children of single parents are still children of Singapore," she said."

As my teenagers grow up, I'm learning to love them from a little further away (4 April 2026)

"Nobody tells you that the hardest part of parenting is not when your children need too much from you. It's when they start needing less.

It was physically exhausting when my kids were babies, but that was the part I was good at. I fed them and bathed them and told them stories and held them to sleep, and even though I was bone-tired at the end of every day, I loved being their entire world.

Then, as they grew up, they needed more: more space, more privacy, more of a life that didn't include me.

Teenagers are a different breed. They are in the process of becoming people – separate, autonomous, occasionally exasperating, grown-up people – and this journey requires distance.

They need the space to explore different versions of themselves without the pressure of parental presence. They need friendships and secrets and the freedom to make mistakes and overcome challenges on their own.

Back when I was a teenager behind a closed bedroom door, needing space from my parents, I didn’t understand how difficult it might have been for them. But I get it now."

This father turned his HDB corridor into a 'tactical training' play area for his children (4 April 2026)

"At first glance, the outdoor space outside Mr Munir Rohani’s Housing and Development Board flat resembles a combat training school.

Lined with rubber mats, face masks, vests and toy weapons, the area has been transformed into a "training zone" by the 59-year-old father of six.

It is an elaborate play space he created with the help of his children, most of whom are now in their late teens and early 20s, in the hope of fostering family bonding."

Teenager admits raping younger sister when she was 13 after years of molestation (6 April 2026)

"SINGAPORE: A boy molested his only sister, three years his junior, from when she was eight years old, progressing to raping her when she was 13.

The offender, now 19, pleaded guilty on Monday (Apr 6) to two counts of molestation and one count of rape. Another three similar charges will be considered in sentencing.

The offender cannot be named due to gag orders protecting his sister's identity."

NTU to give all students access to premium Google AI tools under curriculum overhaul (6 April 2026)

"SINGAPORE: Nanyang Technological University (NTU) will soon hand all undergraduates full access to a suite of Google AI tools, from August 2026, as part of a push to integrate AI into its curriculum.

The tools include Gemini Enterprise, Google AI Studio and Vertex AI.

In a news release on Monday (Apr 6), NTU said it plans to increase the number of courses incorporating AI to about 40 per cent by 2030, up from about 5 per cent currently.

The university added that it is the first in Singapore to adopt AI in education at this scale.

Free AI Tools

Students will get computing credits to use the Google software to build and deploy their own AI agents for learning and problem-solving. They can create dozens of such AI agents to support their studies, said NTU.

"These agents are portable - NTU graduates can continue to use and improve them even after they enter the workforce to enhance their productivity.

"This feature will make the university’s graduates highly competitive in the job market," NTU said.

This move was made in consultation with the NTU Students’ Union, the school said, adding that access to the Google software will be offered to all undergraduates, regardless of discipline.

"These tools cater to a broad range of technical backgrounds, from first-time users to advanced builders, helping students experience new ways of learning."

Man to be charged after allegedly slapping four-year-old boy outside preschool in Woodlands (6 April 2026)

"SINGAPORE: A 36-year-old man will be charged in court on Tuesday (Apr 7) after allegedly slapping a boy.

On Mar 6 at about 4.50pm, the police were alerted by KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital of an alleged assault on a four-year-old boy.

The child sustained injuries to his cheek, police said on Monday.

“Preliminary investigations revealed that the man had allegedly slapped the boy at a bus stop outside a preschool in Woodlands,” the police added.

The man was arrested on the same day.

He will be charged on Tuesday with voluntarily causing hurt and using criminal force with enhanced penalties for offences against people below 14 years old.

The man will also be charged with intentionally causing harassment."

Third teen charged with trafficking of etomidate vape pods (6 April 2026)

"SINGAPORE: An 18-year-old was charged in court on Monday (Apr 6) for allegedly trafficking etomidate-laced vaporiser pods, the Health Sciences Authority (HSA) said.

Goh Shao Zhi Cornelius is accused of selling the pods to buyers after advertising their availability via messaging platform Telegram.

Following a tip-off, HSA officers raided Goh's residence on Saturday. They seized one vaporiser, 108 pods and a packet of duty-unpaid cigarettes.

"Laboratory testing confirmed that the seized pods contained etomidate," HSA said, adding that investigations are ongoing.

Goh is the third teenager to be charged for allegedly trafficking etomidate vape pods, after two cases last year involving an 18-year-old and a 17-year-old.

His case has been adjourned to May 4."

Singapore to prepare 10,000 students for future shaped by autonomous ‘physical AI’ (7 April 2026)

"SINGAPORE: Over the next five years, at least 10,000 students in Singapore will be trained to work with “physical AI”, where intelligence is no longer confined to computer screens but embedded directly into robots, drones and autonomous machines.

The initiative, supported by the National Robotics Programme (NRP), will span from primary schools to universities.

Through hackathons and industry projects, students will move beyond basic coding to solve real-world problems.

Robots With “Common Sense”

While traditional robots follow pre-set rules, the next generation of machines will need to sense, decide and act independently, industry players say.

Professor Mohan Rajesh Elara, co-founder of Singapore-based cleaning robot firm LionsBot, said the current limitation of robots is a lack of situational awareness.

“The robots of today are driven by the codes that (a) programmer wrote...definitive rules that enable the robot to complete a task.”

“But a robot of today, if (it’s) doing the job and if a fainted person is on the floor, the robot often will take this person for an obstacle. The idea is, how can we empower robots with common sense to interpret this scenario?" Prof Mohan added.

New NTU AI model tracks food freshness in efforts to reduce waste, boost food security (8 April 2026)

"SINGAPORE: Supermarkets and wholesalers may soon be able to keep produce fresh for longer while reducing food waste, with the help of a new artificial intelligence tool developed by Nanyang Technological University (NTU).

The model created by the university’s Future Ready Food Safety Hub (FRESH@NTU) – a joint venture with the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR) and the Singapore Food Agency (SFA) – can predict how bacteria grow in different types of food. This allows retailers to better determine shelf life, storage conditions and stock management.

Researchers can, for example, track how Salmonella – a major cause of foodborne illness globally – grows on food over time.

“What we are trying to do here is to mimic the condition of the storage and we see how bacteria grow, so we can collect the data,” said Dr Youssef Ezzaky, a research fellow at FRESH@NTU.

“Then we feed this lot of data to (facilitate) machine learning, to train and to generate accurate models.”

Reducing Food Waste

As Singapore imports 90 per cent of its food, more accurate tracking of shelf life could mean stored food supplies do not need to be replaced as frequently – potentially cutting food waste and reducing reliance on constant imports, said observers.

Using its AI-based predictive modelling framework, the team can estimate contamination levels of harmful pathogens under real-world storage conditions along the supply chain with greater accuracy.

Professor William Chen, director of FRESH@NTU, said their approach captures snapshots at specific points along the distribution chain.

Using pork as an example, he explained that monitoring factors such as temperature and moisture throughout the process, from slaughterhouses to retailers, makes it possible to assess the meat’s freshness and safety."

Singapore Art Book Fair 2026 drops ‘Walking Exhibitor’ open call after backlash (9 April 2026)

"The Singapore Art Book Fair (SGABF) has closed the open call for its proposed “Walking Exhibitor” option for emerging art bookmakers after the initiative drew criticism online.

In a statement posted on Instagram on Thursday (Apr 9), organisers said they would halt the open call and “take some time to workshop through the mechanics of the fair” following feedback from the public.

“We hear your concerns,” the organisers wrote, adding that the portable display case used in the proposal had been selected because the team “appreciated its technology”, but that they now understand it “was inappropriate”.

They added that the concept was not intended to “come at the expense of new and emerging artists”.

The Walking Exhibitor format was first announced on Apr 6 as part of preparations for the 2026 edition of the fair, which will take place from Aug 28 to 30 at T:>Works.

Under the proposal, selected participants would display and sell their publications using a portable display case rather than a conventional booth table. The option cost S$150 (US$117).

Organisers had described the initiative as an attempt to “soften spatial hierarchies and extend book-based interactions beyond the tabletop”, adding that it aimed to make the fair “less of a marketplace and more a field of encounter”.

However, the announcement quickly sparked debate online, with many questioning the cost and structure of the scheme."

Government to cover 13% of fare revenues for school bus, care transport operators amid fuel cost pressures (9 April 2026)

"SINGAPORE: The government will provide three months of support to transport operators serving school students, people with disabilities, some seniors and patients, to help the sector cope with rising fuel costs.

The support - equivalent to 13 per cent of transport fare revenues - will cover services provided from April to June.

"This move is to help these transport service providers continue operating without disruption in the near term," the Ministry of Education (MOE), the Ministry of Social and Family Development (MSF) and the Ministry of Health (MOH) said in a joint media release on Thursday (Apr 9).

"With the support, operators should keep fares stable during this period."

The announcement builds on Tuesday's ministerial statement in parliament, where Acting Minister for Transport Jeffrey Siow said the government will temporarily co-fund cost increases for certain essential bus services to cushion the impact of the Middle East conflict on Singaporeans.

However, the ministries said fares may still have to rise if fuel prices remain elevated beyond the three-month support period.

"There are existing subsidies to support students, seniors, patients and persons with disabilities if they are not able to afford their transport," they noted."

Tertiary education subsidy scheme enhanced to better support Malay students and families (10 April 2026)

"SINGAPORE: More Malay families will receive help with tertiary education costs under enhancements to the Tertiary Tuition Fee Subsidy (TTFS) scheme, Acting Minister-in-charge of Muslim Affairs Faishal Ibrahim announced on Friday (Apr 10).

The scheme's income eligibility criteria will be raised across all tiers from academic year 2026/2027, and a new 25 per cent subsidy tier will be introduced for middle-income households with per capita income of up to S$2,400 (US$1,000).

The revised structure is as follows:

• Household per capita income of S$1,700 and below - 100 per cent subsidy

• Household per capita income of S$1,701 to S$2,000 - 75 per cent subsidy

• Household per capita income of S$2,001 to S$2,200 - 50 per cent subsidy

• Household per capita income of S$2,201 to S$2,400 - 25 per cent subsidy

The TTFS is a government grant administered by Mendaki that provides subsidies for eligible students pursuing their first full-time diploma and degree programmes at local government tertiary institutions. On average, it has supported about 10,000 Malay students annually over the past five years."

I'm now pregnant with my sixth child, but the pain of past miscarriages never goes away (10 April 2026)

"Many people may know me as a mother of five. Not many would know that I lost another baby last June, when I was 20 weeks' pregnant.

Even fewer people know that I'm pregnant again.

In a country where people are having fewer babies than ever, my brood of five already stands out. As I imagine announcing the impending arrival of my sixth child, I can practically hear the jokes already – but no, I'm not having another baby to collect 'em all like Pokemon.

Regardless of numbers and stats about our national fertility rates, for any mum or mum-to-be, expecting another baby soon after a loss is a profoundly complex place to be in. Sadly, it's one many can identify with – after all, about 20 per cent of pregnancies end in a miscarriage.

To me, it's equally sad that no one really seems to talk about what it's like to suffer such a loss."

Police investigating misconduct allegations raised by former youth sailor (13 April 2026)

"SINGAPORE: Police are investigating misconduct claims made by a former youth sailor on social media.

In a statement on Sunday (Apr 13), the Singapore Sailing Federation said it was aware of “serious allegations of misconduct posted online by a former athlete involving another athlete”.

The claims relate to incidents in 2022 and 2023.

The federation added that it had filed reports with the police and the Safe Sport Commission on Apr 7 “to enable authorities to conduct the necessary investigations and provide appropriate support”.

Responding to CNA queries, police confirmed on Monday that a report had been lodged and investigations are ongoing.

In a series of Instagram Stories posts, the former athlete, who was a minor at the time, alleged that she was sexually assaulted by a teammate in 2022 when she was with the National Sailing Centre.

The federation said it was committed to the Safe Sport Unified Code and "maintaining a sporting environment free from all forms of harassment"."

Cultural shows, craft and sports activities at Istana open house on Apr 19 to mark Hari Raya, Labour Day (13 April 2026)

"SINGAPORE: The Istana will open its grounds to the public next Sunday (Apr 19) in celebration of Hari Raya and the upcoming Labour Day, the President's Office Istana said in a media release on Monday.

The open house will take from 8.30am to 6pm and feature a range of performances that reflect Singapore's multicultural heritage, such as the dikir barat traditional Malay music form, Malay dance, Bharatanatyam, a type of Indian classical dance, and Indian folk dance.

Performances will be presented by the MacPherson Philharmonic Orchestra, Punggol View Primary School Children’s Choir, Singapore Polytechnic Indian Cultural Society, Singapore Polytechnic Malay Language Society and Voices of Singapore Children’s Choir.

Visitors can participate in hands-on activities such as lawn bowling, painting a Singa the Kindness Lion bench and craft-making with recycled materials. A scavenger hunt will be held around the Istana grounds, developed in collaboration with students from Singapore Polytechnic.

Visitors are also invited to explore the Istana grounds, including its architecture, as well as its flora and fauna.

Self-guided tours of the Istana Villa, one of the buildings on the Istana grounds, will be available throughout the day, offering visitors a chance to view a collection of state gifts presented to Singapore’s leaders.

Those who have pre-registered for the guided Istana heritage tour can tour the grounds during their selected timeslots between 9am and 4pm."

Nearly 1 in 5 workers in Singapore 'overqualified' for their jobs; rate below average of high-income nations: MOM (14 April 2026)

"SINGAPORE: Nearly one in five Singapore workers was overqualified in 2025, though this rate remains lower than in other high-income economies, according to a study by the Manpower Ministry (MOM) that was released on Tuesday (Apr 14).

A "vast majority" of these cases on overqualification were voluntary "due to workers choosing roles that better align with their aspirations, work preferences or life circumstances", said MOM and the National Trades Union Congress (NTUC) in a joint statement.

Involuntarily overqualified workers make up just 1.7 per cent of the resident workforce here, the statement said. This means they were unable to find jobs that matched their qualifications.

MOM's study is part of a report on overqualification, which refers to a worker holding an academic qualification that is higher than what is required for the job. NTUC also released a second study on overqualification, which had similar findings to MOM's report.

According to the joint release, 19.4 per cent of Singapore’s resident workforce were overqualified in 2025 - below the average of 21.6 per cent across high-income countries such as the United States, Finland, the United Kingdom and Switzerland.

This is despite Singapore having a more highly educated workforce, with 64 per cent holding tertiary qualifications, compared with an average of 41.2 per cent in other high-income economies."

Singapore singer Derrick Hoh sends daughter’s name on trip to the moon and back aboard Artemis II (15 April 2026)

"Singapore singer Derrick Hoh took the saying “I love you to the Moon and back” quite literally. Hoh sent his daughter’s name on a journey to the Moon and back as part of Artemis II, NASA's first crewed lunar fly-by in more than 50 years, from Apr 1 to 10.

In an Instagram post on Monday (Apr 13), Hoh wrote: “End of last year, knowing how much Nori loves space, I went to NASA’s website and registered her name for a mission after reading about it online. It felt like a small, quiet thing at the time.”

NASA said that more than 5.6 million names were submitted and stored on a memory card that flew aboard the Orion spacecraft during the Artemis II mission.

The card was placed in a stuffed animal named Rise, the mission’s mascot and official zero-gravity indicator which serves as a visual cue for weightlessness when the vessel enters microgravity.

In the post, Hoh shared a video of the crew placing the SD card into the stuffed animal before the flight. Astronaut and mission commander Reid Wiseman is heard saying, “Just that act of seeing that little memory card with everyone's names, everyone's hopes that are going on this journey with us. We always say we're going for all and by all, and zipping that little pocket on the bottom of Rise was kind of the moment that put it all together for me. We are going for all and by all. It’s time to fly. Cheers.”

School bullies to face stricter punishments, including suspension and caning (15 April 2026)

"SINGAPORE: Students who engage in bullying could face suspension, caning and lowered conduct grades under a stricter framework for student misconduct announced by the Ministry of Education (MOE) on Wednesday (Apr 15).

Under the guidelines – similar to those introduced for vaping offences – first-time offenders of serious misconduct face one to three days of detention and/or suspension.

Their conduct grade will be adjusted, and older boys may receive one stroke of the cane if there are aggravating factors.

For very serious offences, first-time offenders could face three to five days of detention or suspension, with their conduct grade capped at “Fair”. Boys in upper primary levels and above may also receive up to two strokes of the cane.

Repeat offenders of very serious offences face five to 14 days of detention or suspension, a “Poor” conduct grade, and up to three strokes of the cane for older boys.

These measures will be balanced with a rehabilitative approach, including counselling, said MOE. Conduct grades are issued each semester and are typically taken into account when students apply for certain programmes or other schools in future.

In assessing whether an offence is serious or very serious, schools will consider factors such as the impact of the behaviour, the perpetrator’s intent, whether the acts were repeated and whether the student is recalcitrant.

Serious offences include fighting, physical assault and repeated social bullying with clear intent to harm. Very serious offences involve persistent or recalcitrant behaviour despite intervention, or cases that warrant police investigation."

More funding for manpower, easier reporting channels to tackle school bullying (15 April 2026)

"SINGAPORE: Schools will get more funding to hire additional manpower and reporting channels will be made more accessible as part of enhanced measures to tackle bullying, the Ministry of Education (MOE) announced on Wednesday (Apr 15).

The measures follow a comprehensive review involving more than 2,000 stakeholders, including educators, students and parents, following a spate of bullying cases in 2025.

Under the new approach, schools will receive additional needs-based funding to hire personnel such as youth workers, pastoral care officers and parent liaison officers. These roles are intended to support student management and ease teachers’ workload.

MOE said staffing decisions will vary by school. Some may prefer teachers to lead investigations, while others may bring in dedicated personnel.

Educators will also receive enhanced training in managing students and engaging parents, including skills for investigation and conflict resolution.

Reporting channels will be expanded, with a new online platform to launch in 2027. This will give students more avenues to seek help while enabling schools to respond more quickly.

Speaking to journalists at Teck Ghee Primary School, Education Minister Desmond Lee said the goal is to manage cases more effectively and detect issues earlier. MOE will monitor implementation closely and review data to assess progress.

"Discipline is needed, but ultimately, it's an educative and restorative process that we want to incorporate firmly into the whole cycle of dealing with hurtful behaviour and bullying," he said."

Serial voyeur who took up part-time student care teacher job not employed at MSF-subsidised centre (15 April 2026)

"SINGAPORE: A serial voyeur who took up a job as a part-time student care teacher and took multiple videos of boys defecating in toilets was not employed at a Ministry of Social and Family Development (MSF) subsidised centre.

Ezekiel Isaiah Tee Xu Jie, who had been convicted thrice before of voyeurism-related offences, pleaded guilty on Apr 1 to three counts of voyeurism, with another two charges to be considered in sentencing.

The 26-year-old Singaporean man specifically targeted boys aged between nine and 15 at a church or student care centres he had applied to work at, or near to, and checked their age before selecting his victims, said the prosecution.

MSF said on Wednesday (Apr 15) in response to CNA's queries that it provides student care fee assistance (SCFA) to eligible children enrolled in student care centres. Centres that wish to offer the subsidies and meet the criteria must be registered as an administrator, it said.

All personnel in SCFA Administrator student care centres, including part-time teachers, who have prolonged contact with students, will undergo a background check, MSF said.

"Individuals with records of offences that could affect the safety and well-being of children and vulnerable individuals may not be employed by the student care centres," the ministry added.

However, Tee was not employed at an SCFA Administrator student care centre, said MSF."

Parents, teachers back tougher stance on school bullying, but doubts remain over impact (16 April 2026)

"SINGAPORE: Parents, teachers and experts broadly welcomed the measures announced on Wednesday (Apr 15) to tackle school bullying, but many were not convinced the recommendations would move the needle.

The Ministry of Education (MOE) announced nine recommendations following a comprehensive review of bullying that began in 2025, along with clearer disciplinary guidelines for misconduct cases – including bullying – similar to those introduced for vaping offences.

All the parents CNA spoke to affirmed MOE's decision to come down harder on hurtful behaviour in schools.

Ms Lyna Hanis, who has two sons aged seven and four, said the move to make reporting such behaviour easier stood out to her.

Noting that several bullying cases have made the news in recent years, the 37-year-old added that she had always worried that children would not know what to do if they were bullied.

Before her son entered Primary 1 this year, she spoke to him about what bullying might look like – getting shouted at, being asked for money – and how he should not react in kind.

“That’s why I thought the whole reporting thing made sense. I don’t know whether kids would just keep quiet or react the same way, so they need to know that there are avenues for them to tell the teacher what happened.”

Jail, caning for 'father figure' who molested girl, 10, in cinema (16 April 2026)

"SINGAPORE: A man with a history of sexual offences involving minors befriended a young girl and positioned himself as a "father figure" after learning that she felt neglected by her actual father.

Paul Edison Tan, 42, then encouraged her to be physically close to him and took the opportunity at a cinema hall to molest the then-10-year-old girl.

Tan, who changed his name from Zander Xavier Chan in December last year, was jailed for 21 months on Thursday (Apr 16) and sentenced to three strokes of the cane.

The victim, who is now 12, cannot be named due to a gag order protecting her identity. The gag order extends to the specific circumstances under which she met Tan."

MOE advises schools to 'reasonably consider' bus fare hikes for off-site activities amid fuel cost pressures (17 April 2026)

"SINGAPORE: Schools should "reasonably consider" requests from contracted transport operators to raise bus fares for off-site activities amid fuel price spikes due to the Middle East conflict, the Ministry of Education (MOE) said on Friday (Apr 17).

In response to CNA's queries, MOE said that this will help keep on-demand bus services running so that school activities and students’ learning are not "adversely affected".

These operators provide bus services for off-site activities such as learning journeys and competitions, which are paid for by schools, and fare adjustments can help to offset higher fuel costs.

"As the sudden spikes in fuel prices were unforeseen, transport operators may not have reasonably accounted for such increases when bidding for these contracts, which were called on or before the Middle East conflict started on Feb 28," MOE said.

The ministry added that it will continue to monitor the situation and issue advisories to schools as needed, depending on market conditions.

MOE previously announced it would provide temporary support to operators of regular school bus services - equivalent to 13 per cent of fare revenue - from April to June to help them cope with rising fuel costs.

Acting Minister for Transport Jeffrey Siow also said in parliament earlier this month that the government will temporarily co-fund cost increases for certain essential bus services to cushion the impact of the Middle East conflict on Singaporeans.

However, the government noted that fares may still have to rise if fuel prices remain elevated beyond the support period."

Actress Evelyn Tan recalls telling daughter Kristen Lin to ‘get out of the house’ during rebellious phase (17 April 2026)

"The latest episode of 8days chat show DNA features former Mediacorp actress and host Evelyn Tan, 51, alongside her daughter Kristen Lin, 21, as they join host Rebecca Lim to talk about homeschooling, Lin's showbiz aspirations and their close mother-daughter bond.

Lin is the eldest of Tan and Mediacorp actor Darren Lim’s four children. She has three younger brothers, Jairus, Way, and Elliot, who turn 18, 16, and 12, respectively, this year.

While Lin was well-behaved growing up, she admitted that she went through a rebellious phase.

“There was definitely a phase where I wasn’t the most pleasant child to deal with,” said Lin, before chuckling and passing the baton to her mother to share more about that period of their lives.

“I think for a first-time parent of a child who’s growing up, it was very tough for us. She was an ideal model child. We would give them iPad time once a week for just half an hour, and at half an hour, when the timer was up, she would [voluntarily] hand the iPad back. She would not argue, there would be no complaints from her,” recalled Tan.

So, when Lin entered her more defiant years – or as Tan put it, “wanted to go autonomous” – both she and Darren Lim were completely caught off guard.

“It was a real 180-degree flip. There were times when she was really testy – she would go under the radar, above the radar, you know, everywhere else but in front of us,” added Tan.

When prompted by the host to share a specific example, Lin didn’t hesitate: “Definitely curfew.”

SNOC chief Mark Chay's 'dead-end sports' remarks ignite debate over school competition programme (17 April 2026)

"SINGAPORE: Comments by Singapore National Olympic Council (SNOC) secretary-general Mark Chay describing certain school sports as "dead-end" have drawn flak from some sections of the local sporting community.

In an interview with The Straits Times on the National School Games (NSG) published on Wednesday (Apr 15), Chay said the programme's goals could be more focused on sports contested at major games.

"There are a few things that (the Ministry of Education) can improve. It's a good programme and sports in schools is where kids learn to play and compete, where we hope to inculcate certain skills and values through structured sport," added the SNOC secretary-general.

"What I struggle with is that some of the other sports which don't have a pathway to major games are included, but to do what? As an administrator, these are what I would call dead-end sports and we are putting these resources for what?

"And if a student is going to choose tchoukball...I just don't know how it'd fit into the larger scheme of things."

Tchoukball is played in over 80 countries, and Singapore's national teams are among the world's best. In 2024, it was announced that the scope of donations for the One Team Singapore Fund (OTSF) would be extended to emerging sports like tchoukball to provide better support for athletes."

My dream of a career in aviation keeps me going as I navigate life with severe haemophilia (17 April 2026)

"Growing up, my biggest wish was just to be "normal" like everyone else. I wanted to play tag, run around freely and perhaps join a sport or two.

Instead, I felt like I was wrapped in bubble wrap and forced to be cautious of my every movement to prevent any little injury.

When I was two years old, I was diagnosed with severe haemophilia A.

This lifelong diagnosis means that my blood lacks the clotting factor, known as Factor VIII, needed to control bleeding.

I am one of about 280 people in Singapore living with haemophilia A or B. Even small cuts can cause prolonged bleeding, as well as bruising and bleeds into joints and muscles.

My ankles are my "target joints", which means that blood often pools there after bleeds. This used to happen once every few weeks. Sometimes, it would be so severe that I couldn't walk.

Managing a condition where even a small cut can be deadly was stressful for my family and me."

Jail for man, 64, who used mobile games as pretext to molest 2 granddaughters (17 April 2026)

"SINGAPORE: A 64-year-old man who molested his two young granddaughters under the pretext of playing mobile phone games with them was jailed for five years, two months and four weeks on Friday (Apr 17).

At the time of the offences in 2025, his elder granddaughter was aged between nine and 10, while the younger was between eight and nine.

None of the parties can be named to protect the victims' identities.

The accused, a cleaner, pleaded guilty to two charges of aggravated molest in the State Courts. He resided with the two victims and other family members.

The court heard how the accused had a close relationship with his two granddaughters, who would regularly play board and mobile phone games with him while sitting on a sofa.

Last year, he began to feel aroused by the two girls and "felt tempted to perform sexual acts on them" court documents stated.

"The accused began to use the pretext of playing handphone games with the two victims to get them to sit next to him on the sofa," the prosecution said. He targeted them separately."

How a stay-at-home mum spent 3 hours each morning writing her first novel – and won a prize for it (19 April 2026)

"From February to June 2025, for three hours every weekday, Ratna Damayanti Taha would open her laptop and work.

At 9am, once her apartment was quiet, the 44-year-old would sit at her kitchen island with a cappuccino – no sugar, lots of milk – and return to her manuscript.

She was working on her novel Mind The Gap, which follows Nora, an introspective Malay girl whose coming-of-age plays out against the expansion of Singapore’s MRT system from the 90s to the present. As more train lines are added, she grapples with questions about meritocracy, race and how to chart her own path.

That manuscript won the 2026 Epigram Books Fiction Prize in January. The win, which came with S$25,000 and a publishing contract, still feels surreal, she said.

What felt more real was the moment she submitted her draft.

In July 2025, Ratna carried five copies of her manuscript in a tote bag to the Epigram Books office in Toa Payoh North. After handing them over, she walked out to the open-air car park beside the industrial building.

Without planning to, she sat down and began to cry. “It was around 10am, and the heat was quite unforgiving – one of those very bright, Singapore days,” she recalled. “It felt very still, like the world had paused for a bit.”

She felt relief mostly, that she had made it to the end. And joy, as she had finally ticked off something that had been sitting with her since she was a child.

“I was flooded with emotions,” said the stay-at-home mother of four, who works part-time as an academic and market researcher, and freelance translator.

After she calmed down, she called her husband at work. “I didn’t really say much. I think I just wanted to hear his voice. That was enough.”

Man admits abusing toddler by choking, dunking, smothering for months until passerby confronted him (20 April 2026)

"SINGAPORE: Over about three months, a man abused a toddler under the age of one in horrific ways, including pushing his head into a pail of water, pressing a pillow onto his face and choking him repeatedly until the child foamed at the mouth.

The abuse came to an end only after a woman observed the man choking the child at a void deck. She confronted him before calling the police.

Investigations uncovered multiple videos of the man abusing the child, aged nine to 11 months, during the assault. The offender admitted abusing the boy due to a grudge he had against his brother-in-law, the father of the victim.

The prosecution is seeking 12 to 15 years' jail for the 32-year-old Singaporean man, while the defence is asking for eight to 10 years' jail instead.

All parties in this case cannot be named due to gag orders protecting the victim."

Nearly 9 in 10 missing person appeals in Singapore involve youths or seniors – what’s behind the trend? (20 April 2026)

"SINGAPORE: Missing person reports in Singapore have risen in recent years, putting the spotlight on two vulnerable groups – youths and seniors.

Police data shows about 1,450 missing person reports were made last year, the highest since 2021.

CNA’s review of police appeals for information over the past eight months found that nearly nine in 10 cases involved these two groups. Youths alone made up about four in 10 of these appeals.

While each case is unique, social service agencies say youths often leave home due to family conflict or distress, while seniors may go missing due to dementia or disorientation.

Youths Who Leave Home

At 13, running away felt like the easiest way out of her problems.

Now 18, Isabelle (not her real name) said each time she left home, she had no clear plan.

“I'm not too sure about where I had to stay, where's my source of food going to come from. I just went from house to house,” she told CNA.

“My parents did try to contact me, but I went missing in action, so I pretty much just ignored whatever messages or calls that went through,” she said.

Over the years, Isabelle went missing more than 10 times – sometimes for as long as two months.

She was usually found by the police and brought home. But the cycle continued. Outside, not everyone she turned to could be trusted.

“Especially like your friends, you never know their true colours until you're in need of help,” she recounted.

She warned that some help can come with conditions, and youths should walk away if they feel unsafe.

Today, Isabelle says she is getting support from counsellors and teachers, and things at home have improved.

“To other youths who have the thought of running away from home, my advice to them is...look for a trusted adult who you can talk to, rather than running away,” she said.

“It is more dangerous than it sounds, being away from home. You may be free and all, but really the danger out there is worse than you think it is.”

Jail, caning for man who molested daughter after wife 'unwilling' to engage in sex with him (21 April 2026)

"SINGAPORE: After his wife became reluctant to engage in sex with him, a man turned to his young biological daughter for his sexual urges, the court heard.

The 32-year-old man molested his daughter, then between 10 and 11 years old, over the course of eight months, at times under the pretext of waking her up for school.

The man was sentenced to four years and nine months' jail and eight strokes of the cane on Friday (Apr 17) after pleading guilty to four charges of aggravated molest.

He cannot be named due to a gag order protecting his daughter's identity.

Another 13 similar charges were taken into consideration for his sentencing.

The offences came to light after the victim attended a classroom discussion on personal safety and inappropriate touching on Aug 7, 2025. She then reported her father to the school counsellor.

The man was arrested on Aug 8, 2025.

When interviewed, he admitted to the acts, claiming that he did so because his wife had "been unwilling to engage in sexual intercourse with him, and he had therefore turned to his daughter as an outlet for his sexual urges," court documents read."

Woman gets jail for abusing sons, throwing boyfriend's phone down five storeys (22 April 2026)

"SINGAPORE: A woman who abused her sons and threw her boyfriend's phone down from the fifth floor of a housing block, along with a standing fan, was sentenced to a prison term on Wednesday (Apr 22).

The 36-year-old Vietnamese woman, who is a Singapore permanent resident, pleaded guilty to one count each of ill-treating her son and committing a rash act. Several other charges were taken into consideration.

The Case

The court heard that the woman, who cannot be named to protect her sons' identities, had two boys with her ex-boyfriend, a 53-year-old Singaporean man.

The woman had custody of her sons, then aged eight and nine.

In early September 2024, the older son went to the market in the morning to buy noodles. He soiled his pants as he suddenly felt the urge to defecate.

When he got home, his mother told him to go straight to the toilet, where she washed him.

During the shower, the woman was angry with the boy for soiling himself. She used the showerhead to hit his head before pushing his head onto the wall multiple times.

The boy suffered cuts on his head and bled profusely.

His mother bandaged him, but the boy did not seek medical treatment.

The boy and his brother later told their father that they had been slapped by their mother at her house. A video later showed the woman hitting her two sons with cardboard.

The father informed the authorities about the abuse and the police were brought in."

National Gallery Singapore to hold its first-ever R18 exhibition exploring desire in Southeast Asian art (23 April 2026)

"National Gallery Singapore will hold its first-ever R18 exhibition, beginning this month. Titled Passion is Volcanic: Desire in Southeast Asian Art, the exhibition will run from Apr 24 to Aug 30 and explores the concepts of desire, body and sexuality through Southeast Asian art.

The exhibition features over 70 works from various periods, divided into three sections: Asian Mythos and Ritual, Conventions of the Erotic, and Public Arenas/Private Interiors.

Each section will showcase how desire has interacted with different cultural and historical contexts over the years.

Some of the featured artworks and pieces include a gilt-copper sculpture of Vajradhara, the highest state of enlightenment, embracing Prajnaparamita, the mother of all Buddhas, as well as a coldcast marble sculpture depicting the Bicolano warrior goddess of the moon in a childbirth position.

Passion is Volcanic: Desire in Southeast Asian Art will be held at the Level 4 Gallery of National Gallery Singapore and is strictly for visitors aged 18 and above; valid identification will be required at entry.

Tickets for the exhibition cost S$5 for Singapore citizens and permanent residents, and S$8 for other nationalities. More information can be found at the exhibition's website."

Malay Heritage Centre reopens with new galleries and festival celebrating diversity of Malay identity (23 April 2026)

"After more than three years of renovation, the Malay Heritage Centre (MHC) will reopen on Saturday (Apr 25) with refreshed galleries and a nine-day festival.

Located at the former Istana Kampong Gelam, the national monument once home to Malay royalty, MHC is Singapore’s main institution dedicated to presenting the history, culture and contributions of the Malay community in the country and region.

The reopening marks an expansion of MHC’s role as a cultural anchor in the Kampong Glam precinct, with a stronger focus on community engagement and broader representation of Malay identities.

New Permanent Galleries

The revamp introduces six renovated permanent galleries, built around the theme Dari Rantau Ke Rumah (“From the Region to Home”). The exhibition traces how Malay communities in Singapore are shaped by narratives, folk tales, migration, trade and cultural exchange and more across the Malay Archipelago.

Visitors can expect 279 historical and traditional artefacts, including items loaned by the community; interactive displays, such as name-printing in traditional scripts like Jawi; stories of the rich diversity of Malay sub-ethnic groups, including Javanese, Bugis, Minangkabau and Orang Pulau communities; as well as artworks by both renowned and emerging local artists such as Tumadi Patri and Mysara Aljaru.

The galleries also explore themes such as migration, kinship, women’s success and contributions, living traditions and the future of Malay identity in Singapore.

The assistant curator of MHC Syafiqah Jaaffar said that through the galleries, visitors can observe how Malays carry "deeper connections with each other and the shared Singapore, Southeast Asian and larger Asian heritage".

Admission to the permanent galleries will be free for all visitors from Apr 25 to Jun 28, in conjunction with the reopening. After that, entry remains free for Singaporeans and permanent residents, while tourists and foreign residents will pay S$10."

Teenager charged with mischief, public nuisance for licking iJooz straw and returning it to vending machine (24 April 2026)

"SINGAPORE: A teenager was charged in court on Friday (Apr 24) over a video he uploaded of himself licking a straw and placing it back into an iJooz vending machine.

Didier Gaspard Owen Maximilien, an 18-year-old French national, was given one count each of committing mischief and public nuisance.

The incident allegedly took place at about 2pm on Mar 12 this year, at Goldhill Centre in Thomson Road.

iJooz, an orange juice vending company, had to replace all 500 straws in the dispenser, valued at S$5 (US$3.90) in total.

Maximilien is also accused of public nuisance by filming himself in the act, editing it on Snapchat and uploading the edited video onto his Instagram Story.

Maximilien, who was represented by Mr Kalidass Murugaiyan and Mr Kanthan Raghavendra, did not provide any indication of how he would plead.

His lawyers said he was studying in Singapore alone and his parent would be flying over this evening.

Meanwhile, a representative from his school will be his bailor.

iJooz previously told CNA that it had lodged a police report and initiated additional checks, inspections, straw replacements and machine sanitation protocols.

Maximilien's school, ESSEC Business School, earlier said it was aware of the incident and internal investigations were underway."

‘Every parent will want the best’: The rising costs of raising children in Singapore (24 April 2026)

"SINGAPORE: Ms Vanessa Lim had initially set aside about S$600,000 (US$470,000) for her son’s future – a figure she thought would be sufficient for her dual middle-income household.

But after his birth, new considerations like infant care, future enrichment classes and tertiary education came into the picture.

Today, about two-and-a-half years later, that budget has climbed to nearly S$1 million.

“Every parent will want the best for their child regardless of their income. They will do whatever they can within their means to provide them with the best education, the best enrichment, the best environment, the best network,” said Ms Lim, who also has a domestic helper to help take care of her son.

“It's so competitive now. And I think even in my time when I was a student, we (went) for a lot of enrichment, a lot of classes,” the 29-year-old, who works in finance, told CNA.

Ms Lim’s experience reflects a growing reality for many parents in Singapore, where the cost of raising children has risen sharply in recent years.

Rising Costs Shaping Attitudes

While daily necessities like food and subsidised school-care remain relatively stable, additional costs like enrichment and tuition classes take up the bulk of projected spending – some of which have grown by at least 50 per cent compared to three years ago.

This discretionary spending comes as parents like Ms Lim seek to give their children a competitive edge.

Financial consultants said they are seeing projected child-rearing costs reach between S$250,000 and S$500,000 – and in some cases, significantly higher.

“The middle income will feel most of the brunt, because they don't qualify for the maximum subsidy (or get) sufficient resources from their career to compete effectively for top-quality schools, tuition enrichment classes, etc.,” said financial consultant James Yang."

A hand up, not just a handout: How a social support scheme has made a difference in Singapore and what remains to be done (24 April 2026)

"Mr Kuah Chee Hian, 63, used to be the sole breadwinner for his family of five, working 12-hour shifts to support his wife and three daughters, now aged six to nine years.

Amid those gruelling days, support came in 2022 when an officer from the Ministry of Social and Family Development (MSF) knocked on their door as part of an outreach effort, spoke to them and helped them sign up for ComLink, as it was known then.

Since the programme's transition to ComLink+ at the end of 2023, his family has been matched with a ComLink+ family coach, who worked with the household to place them on a combination of "progress packages" from 2024, entitling them to various financial top-ups.

These included quarterly contributions to their younger two daughters' Child Development Account (CDA) if they achieved at least 75 per cent preschool attendance in a given quarter.

Their coach also introduced them to an external savings-matching programme and helped place the family on ComCare support earlier this year, after Mr Kuah was medically certified unfit for work due to chronic knee pain from years spent on his feet in supermarket retail and security enforcement roles.

ComCare, also under MSF, supports lower-income households with financial assistance to meet basic needs such as food, transport and household bills.

All of this aid has gone a long way in supporting the family, whose main monthly expenses are utilities for their two-room rental flat and for their children, said Mr Kuah.

"If we're able, once we're stable already and do not require financial (support), we will give up our ComCare (assistance)," he said, adding that the family does not intend to reapply once their situation improves, as they work towards supporting themselves and buying a home.

CNA TODAY spoke to six families receiving support from ComLink+, who said the features of the scheme have made all the difference in their journey to uplift themselves.

Announced in October 2023, ComLink+ was built on the ComLink initiative and subsequently extended to more families, including those not living in public rental housing."

I couldn’t have children – but being an aunt has been its own kind of joy (25 April 2026)

"As I was wrapping up lunch with a friend last year, she asked what my plans were for the rest of the day. I told her I was taking my niece and nephew to the National Museum of Singapore.

She asked how old they were and when I said they were 18 and 22, she exclaimed: “Wah! So good ah! So old already they still want to hang out with aunty!”

“That’s because I’m a cool aunty,” I replied.

Turns out, I’m not just a cool aunt, I’m a PANK – Professional Aunt, No Kids. I recently came across this acronym, which was coined in 2008 by Canadian-American author and marketing professional Melanie Notkin.

It’s a nod to herself and her friends: well-educated, high-earning professional women who are devoted to the children of their siblings or friends and spend a lot of money and time on them.

Notkin has since written books on PANKs and launched the lifestyle brand Savvy Auntie.

I’m not a "high-earning professional" but I do have disposable income to shower on my niece and nephew – my husband and I never had kids, despite a few years of fertility treatments.

I’m not the only PANK in my social circle. I have a close friend who’s married and childless by choice and loves having her niece over for weekend sleepovers. Another friend is the most maternal woman I know but is single and cherishes her role as godmother to her friend’s son.

During their childhood years, taking my niece and nephew out meant giving their parents a break. Their parents – my brother and his wife – encouraged this relationship and often chauffeured them back and forth to spend time with me.

Now, as adults, I make plans with them directly and it has been a joy watching them grow into the people they have become."

The girl who grew tall and turned pro in 3x3 basketball – without the usual pressure to succeed (25 April 2026)

"You could say Ms Tan Kang Yi didn't choose basketball – basketball chose her.

The 25-year-old's journey in professional sports all started with a growth spurt in Primary 5. By Secondary 1, she had reached 1.72m – tall enough to catch the attention of the basketball coaches at Jurong Secondary School, where she was studying.

She was invited to a trial and made the cut. Being one of the tallest members of the school team, she was typically a top choice to play centre, a position that requires a height advantage.

Basketball almost slipped out of her grasp after she completed her O-Levels – her results did not qualify her for any of junior colleges that were known for the sport, and she had not thought to apply to any of them via the Direct School Admission (DSA) scheme.

And then came an eleventh-hour offer from Raffles Junior College. By then, her height had inched up to its current peak of 1.77m.

It seemed like an opportunity too good to be true – and she came surprisingly close to turning it down.

"It didn't even make sense," she said frankly. "Me in Raffles, with my academic results? I thought I would not be able to cope.

"But my dad said, 'Why not? If they have accepted you, it shows that they think that you can do it.' To him, it was a matter of 'clear your heart and just go'.

"I thought, okay, I will just try."

Upon graduating from junior college, she was keenly interested in Nanyang Technological University’s sport science programme. Her first application in 2020 failed, but after taking a gap year, her second try the next year was successful.

All the while, basketball continued to chart its own course for her.

While working part-time at a cafe during her gap year, she had a chance encounter with her former primary school basketball coach, Ms Esther Quek, the chief executive officer of basketball academy Jumpshot Singapore.

At the time, Ms Quek, a former Singapore national women's basketball player, was in the process of restructuring her academy's women's team from the traditional 5v5 format to a 3x3 squad.

They arranged to meet for a proper catch-up – and this was where Ms Quek introduced Ms Tan to the new game format and planted the idea in her mind of going professional."

Montfort Junior School to take in girls from 2028 (25 April 2026)

"SINGAPORE: Montfort Junior School will become a coed school from 2028, it announced on Saturday (Apr 25).

The school will admit its first batch of female students from the 2027 Primary 1 registration exercise. Younger female siblings of existing students will also be eligible for Phase 1 of the exercise.

Daughters of school alumni will similarly be eligible for Phase 2A priority under the exercise, the Montfort School’s management committee said in a press release on Saturday to celebrate the school’s 110th anniversary.

The school has no plans to accept girls for its Primary 2 to Primary 6 cohorts in 2028. Parents and alumni from both Montfort Junior and Secondary were informed of the move in March.

The decision took the changing demographics in Singapore into account, as well as the realities of society today, said Mr Lim Boon Heng, chairman of St Gabriel’s Foundation.

"The reality in society is that we have males and females mixing together. To segregate boys and girls was intentional in a generation past, that met the social values of the time," he told CNA.

For example, in the 1950s, men and women sat separately while attending Catholic mass in Singapore. When Montfort School was opened in 1916, single-sex schools reflected the social norms of that time, said Mr Lim.

"In our discussion about how to stay relevant and pertinent to the times, the school should reflect society," he added, noting that the move would allow the school to serve a wider community.

"Segregating boys and girls is actually an artificial means of conducting education. So we felt that we should be more inclusive, and therefore the school should reflect what the community really is."

'A double-edged sword': Why some parents have concerns about introducing AI at Primary 4 (25 April 2026)

"At just five years old, Mr Haojun See's son is already intimately familiar with using artificial intelligence (AI).

The kindergartener uses generative-AI tools to whip up the outlines of various objects and creatures, including his favourite one at the moment – dinosaurs. He sends them to the printer before he sits down to colour them.

The 40-year-old entrepreneur said: "If I control their AI usage, and one day I'm not there, something has the potential to go wrong. So I started teaching them (to use AI tools independently) as soon as the technology was introduced."

He added that he has had many open conversations with his two sons about the possibilities, limitations and potential harms of AI and other technologies.

In contrast, Ms Ariel Ng's nine-year-old daughter has only used an AI tool at home once, before she was warned never to do it again.

"She talked to it as though she thought it was a real person...That concerned me," Ms Ng said of the time her child chatted with the Meta AI function on her phone's WhatsApp application.

"From the way she used it, it made me feel like she doesn't know what she's doing."

The 37-year-old ergonomist added that her husband also tried expressing thoughts of self-harm to a generative-AI tool as an experiment, and found that the chatbot responded in a manner encouraging such worrying behaviour.

This made her wary of the possible dangers her daughter might face while interacting with AI.

Singapore parents' views towards their children's use of AI can be broadly split into two camps: those who are keen to get their kids acquainted with its benefits, and those who are less eager due to its potential downsides.

But for those in the second camp, it appears inevitable that at least some form of AI is being introduced to them, whether they like it or not.

In February, Member of Parliament Cai Yinzhou of Bishan-Toa Payoh Group Representation Constituency filed a parliamentary question seeking clarity on students' AI usage, its correlation with cognitive skill decline, and what interventions are planned to prevent an over-reliance.

Education Minister Desmond Lee said in a written response that the Ministry of Education (MOE) does not have Singapore data on that correlation, and that it is now conducting studies on AI's impact on students’ learning.

He also said that AI is progressively being introduced in schools from Primary 4. At an education forum this month, he added that the move is done "under close supervision and low exposure"."

I was taught to share my things as a child. Why is that changing now? (25 April 2026)

"When I saw my three-year-old daughter snatch a toy from my friend's son at the playground, a wave of righteous indignation came over me.

I wasn't just angry – I was slightly embarrassed. Growing up, every adult in my life had taught me that it was beyond rude to not share my things.

"Hey, Ziggy!" I immediately said to my daughter. "That's not being very nice. Could you share your toys, please?"

Ziggy refused, unrepentant as only toddlers can be.

My chest puffed up, and I turned to my friend's son. "That's okay then, let's not play with Ziggy. She's being selfish right now."

My friend, who was visiting from Australia, looked slightly stunned when I did this.

"I don't make my son share," she said. "He'll share when he's ready."

I was dumbfounded by this. She went on to add: "If you bought a bag of chips at work, are you expected to share it with everyone?"

She had a point. No one would expect you to share unless the chips were placed in a common snack area meant for sharing.

But still, shouldn't it be almost instinctual to offer? Like a casual, "Eh, want some?" At least to me, it is.

It got me thinking: When did something as basic as sharing become negotiable?

Learning To Compromise

Growing up, my sister and I had one Game Boy.

To be precise, the handheld game console was a Christmas present she had received. She was asked – or rather made – to share it with me.

She enforced a rule so we could both enjoy Super Mario: "When I 'die' in the game, you can play. When you 'die', it's my turn again."

This seemed reasonable to my six-year-old brain at the time. However, at 10 years old, my sister was, of course, much better at Super Mario than I was.

While she happily powered through level after level, I often wiped out halfway through a single game. On average, I was holding the Game Boy for barely two minutes before having to hand it back to her. It was an excruciating and frustrating experience.

In our household, complaining was not an option. Any gripes we had about toys were always met with the same response from our parents: "If y'all can't share, I'll just throw it away."

With the TV, we were allowed to watch what we wanted for as long as we wanted – but once the bickering started, the TV would be turned off.

This taught us the invaluable skill of compromising."

Reopened Malay Heritage Centre captures community's evolution from diverse roots to 'shared sense of home': PM Wong (26 April 2026)

"SINGAPORE: Singapore’s Malay community traces its roots to diverse origins, Prime Minister Lawrence Wong said at the reopening of the Malay Heritage Centre (MHC), highlighting how these varied beginnings have shaped a distinct Singaporean Malay identity.

The revamped centre reflects that very journey of how these diverse beginnings evolved into a "shared sense of home", said Mr Wong on Saturday (Apr 25).

"From our earliest days, Singapore was connected to the wider Malay world, or nusantara. People, ideas, and traditions flowed through this region and through Singapore. Over time, they took root here, and became part of who we are," he said.

"This Malay heritage is not monolithic. It’s rich and diverse - made up of many groups with roots across the region, of course people from the Malay Peninsula itself, but also Javanese, Bugis, Minangkabau and others."

"Each with its own traditions and customs, and yet over time, these distinct strands have come together here in Singapore."

Mr Wong said that the refreshed centre continues to honour the Singapore Malay community's rich heritage, which is integral to the national story.

And through this heritage, a distinct identity was forged.

"What we have today is not just a Malay culture but it is a Singaporean Malay culture," said Mr Wong.

He added that the centre does not just tell this story in new and meaningful ways, but it also connects more deeply with a new generation of Singaporeans.

And it is not just about new artefacts and exhibits, even though there are plenty of these, as it goes beyond static displays to offer a wider range of experiences.

Through the centre, visitors can better understand how Singapore's past shaped who it is today, and how it can guide the country forward.

The Malay Heritage Centre is also part of the wider Kampong Glam precinct, one of Singapore’s most historic districts, Mr Wong pointed out, as he encouraged it to continue to work closely with the partners there to keep the area alive and vibrant."

Shared responsibility, workplace support key to improving parenthood journey: Experts (27 April 2026)

"SINGAPORE: More than a decade ago, Ms Olivia Pua left her marriage, taking her five-month-old baby with her.

Her then-husband was not ready to settle down or embrace parenthood, leading to constant arguments and an increasingly unhealthy home environment.

“I wanted to let everyone have a better life by moving forward,” she said. “Even when I was married...I already felt like a single mum. He didn't put in any responsibilities.”

Since then, Ms Pua has raised her son largely on her own, without alimony, relying on family support while juggling multiple jobs to make ends meet.

The experience reshaped her views on marriage.

“If you cannot get a partner who can share (responsibilities) and add value to your life, then marriage is just a piece of paper,” the 38-year-old told CNA."

Man gets jail for molesting friend's sister when she was aged 7 to 9 years (27 April 2026)

"SINGAPORE: A 33-year-old man was on Monday (Apr 27) sentenced to jail for molesting his friend's sister over a decade ago, when she was seven to nine years old and he was 19 to 21.

Melvinder Singh Gurmit Singh, 33, had contested two counts of molestation, claiming among other things that the girl had kissed him consensually and that she was taking revenge on him.

The court convicted Singh and sentenced him to 19 months' jail.

The girl had not disclosed the offences earlier as she felt nobody would believe her, but said the molestation impacted her ability to give and receive physical affection.

She finally lodged a police report in March 2023 after revealing the molestation to her mother and boyfriend when they separately questioned her.

The Case

The victim testified that after she turned eight, which she remembered because she had received a much-desired backpack from her mother as a gift, Singh began kissing her on her lips in her oldest brother's room.

She said she saw Singh as one of her older brothers. He had free access to the family home even when his friend, the victim's brother, and the victim's parents were not home.

The prosecution's case was that Singh kissed the victim multiple times before taking her to a clubhouse in 2012 or 2013 where he molested her and placed her hand on his private parts.

In the clubhouse incident, the victim testified that she was swimming with her brothers and Singh next to the clubhouse when she was about nine years old.

When her brothers were not paying attention, Singh took her to the clubhouse and molested her. The victim said she was in a "state of shock" because she saw Singh as an older brother and she had never encountered "similar touching" with her own brothers.

She testified that she did not think her family would believe her, given their close relationship with Singh.

The victim became afraid of male family members and her aversion to physical closeness later extended to her boyfriend."

11 men arrested in Singapore, as regional police crackdown nabs 326 in online child abuse probe (28 April 2026)

"SINGAPORE: The police have arrested 11 men in Singapore who are among more than 300 people nabbed in a cross-border operation targeting online child sexual exploitation.

The four-week operation involved the police in Singapore, Brunei, Hong Kong, Japan, Malaysia, South Korea and Thailand.

Between Mar 23 and Apr 17, officers raided 382 locations in the seven regions, arresting 326 people, the Singapore Police Force (SPF) said in a news release on Tuesday (Apr 28).

Another 119 people, including 16 in Singapore, are assisting with investigations.

"The 445 arrested and investigated persons comprise 430 men and 15 women, aged between 12 and 72," SPF said.

The authorities also seized electronic devices, including 116 computers, 340 mobile phones, 25 electronic tablets, 140 storage devices and 16 routers, along with child sexual abuse materials and obscene content.

"Such offences are often facilitated through digital platforms and cross-border financial channels. Hence, a close partnership with industry partners is critical," SPF added.

The Singapore police said that they worked closely with technology companies, financial institutions and non-governmental organisations during this operation."

Former teacher convicted of sexual grooming and indecent acts with student (28 April 2026)

"SINGAPORE: A 41-year-old former teacher was convicted on Tuesday (Apr 28) of sexually grooming a teenage student and committing indecent acts against her.

The man called the student "dear", "precious" and "daughter" in texts produced as evidence, complimenting her on her appearance and telling her that he loved her.

In convicting the ex-teacher, the court found that the victim was a credible witness whose account was supported by evidence such as texts.

The accused's evidence, on the other hand, was unreliable, unworthy of credit and "riddled with afterthoughts" and contradictions, the judge said.

She also described some of his explanations as "incredible", such as his claim that his references to kisses and hugs in texts he sent the victim were to "virtual" or "verbal" hugs and "air kisses".

The court imposed gag orders covering the identities of the victim, the accused and the name of their school.

The man was convicted of three counts of committing an indecent act with a minor and one count of sexual grooming of a minor.

The Case

The victim was the offender's student in 2022 when she was between 13 and 14 and in Secondary 2.

The then-teacher met the victim frequently in 2022 to help her with schoolwork, patting her head and touching her hand during these meetings.

They also met frequently from September 2022 to January 2023 and texted often, sometimes into the night.

It was undisputed that school personnel had warned the offender sometime in November 2022 about the victim calling him "daddy" and told him to keep a distance from her.

It was also accepted that the then-teacher suggested moving their chats to vanishing mode on Instagram, which does not leave a text trail.

The defence did not dispute that the offender had driven the victim to the upper level of a multi-storey car park in late November 2022, where they remained in the car for more than one-and-a-half hours.

The girl testified that she had sat on the teacher's lap in the back seat while he hugged and kissed her and stroked her thigh.

The prosecution argued that the offender had embarked on a series of calculated grooming acts, establishing a pseudo father-daughter relationship with the victim as a foundation for his later commission of indecent acts against her."

I became a mother at 26 – here’s why I don’t want my daughters to do the same (29 April 2026)

"Singapore’s total fertility rate (TFR) has long felt like a slowly sinking vessel, one that policymakers have been trying hard to patch.

Early this year, another new TFR low and measures aimed at stemming the decline were announced. We have now hit a historic low of 0.87. Deputy Prime Minister Gan Kim Yong described it as an “existential challenge”, warning of the irreversibility of the trend.

As a mother of two children aged 13 and 19, I have been following the developments with a mix of interest, hopefulness and cynicism: Will these measures truly change mindsets and raise Singapore’s flagging TFR by the time my daughters decide to start their families?

Bearing The Weight of Caring For Others

Growing up, I was often told that women can have it all: children, a thriving career, personal and professional growth, and a healthy marriage. But no one talks about how there are only 24 hours in a day and within those hours, the number of caregiving roles we are expected to juggle.

Although more men seem to be stepping up, women continue to make up the majority of informal caregivers. About 60 per cent of those who left the workforce due to caregiving needs in 2025 were women, according to Ministry of Manpower data.

This does not include women who cannot afford to stop working, even as they juggle informal caregiving. And did I mention that the White Paper on women’s development found that married women in dual-income households are five times more likely than men to be managing both household and caregiving responsibilities?

These invisible demands come at a cost. Studies have shown that female caregivers face higher risks of emotional distress, burnout, financial strain, and less personal savings for retirement.

Something had to give. For me, it was my full-time career, along with ambitions and plans for further studies when I became a first-time parent at 26."

Majority of primary schools to start cutting P1 intake as student cohorts shrink: MOE (29 April 2026)

"SINGAPORE: The Primary 1 intake for the majority of primary schools will be cut over the next few years, starting with the upcoming P1 registration exercise, which begins on Jun 30, the Ministry of Education (MOE) said on Wednesday (Apr 29).

MOE also said that the upcoming exercise will not be affected by the ongoing review of the Primary 1 registration framework.

"In response to changing demographics and new housing developments, MOE regularly adjusts the intakes of selected schools,” the ministry said in a media release.

"In view of the significant falling student cohort sizes in 2027 and the coming years, MOE will gradually reduce the P1 intake for the majority of primary schools over the next few years, starting from the 2026 P1 registration exercise.

"This will minimise the need for school mergers or relocations, and maintain a good geographical spread of primary schools for students across Singapore."

The current form class size for P1 students across schools will stay at about 30 students per class, said MOE in response to CNA queries.

Singapore's declining birth rate over the years will lead to a corresponding drop in demand for spots in schools, the ministry said.

This means MOE will need to adjust the P1 intakes of schools to align with the changes in the areas where they are located, it said, adding that each school will continue to have sufficient scale to provide students with a range of opportunities, such as a variety of choices for co-curricular activities.

While demand for places in certain schools may exceed the available vacancies based on choices made by parents, MOE said it will ensure that there are enough P1 places in the system and in each geographical area to accommodate all Singaporean and permanent resident children."

The ministry said it will continue to review the demand for Primary 1 places based on birth cohort sizes as well as planned future housing developments."

Which schools will cut their Primary 1 intake in the 2026 registration exercise? (29 April 2026)

"SINGAPORE: About a third of all primary schools in Singapore will reduce their Primary 1 intake in 2027, figures from the Ministry of Education (MOE) showed on Wednesday (Apr 29).

The ministry announced on Wednesday morning that the majority of primary schools will be gradually reducing their Primary 1 intake, starting with the upcoming registration exercise.

Vacancies in each school were updated on Wednesday. The 2026 registration exercise starts on Jun 30 for the 2027 intake.

Of the 179 primary schools in Singapore, 61 will cut their intake, but 12 schools will increase the number of spaces.

Maris Stella High School (Primary) will see the biggest increase of 60 spots, with the school taking in girls from 2027.

Gongshang Primary School, which was among the most oversubscribed schools in recent years’ registration exercises, will accept 40 more students.

By accepting 30 more students, Pioneer Primary will now have the most vacancies, with 380.

It takes over the top spot from Nanyang Primary, which took in 390 students in the 2025 Primary 1 registration exercise.

The school, which was oversubscribed in Phases 2A, 2B and 2C last year, will cut its intake by 30.

Red Swastika School and Tao Nan School, which were also oversubscribed in all three phases in 2025, will decrease their intakes by 30 each.

Clementi Primary School will see the biggest drop, with 80 fewer spaces in this year’s registration exercise."

French teen in straw licking case allowed to leave Singapore (29 April 2026)

"SINGAPORE: A French teen facing criminal charges in Singapore for a straw licking stunt was granted permission on Wednesday (Apr 29) to leave the country for three weeks on pledges to return.

The 18-year-old is accused of posting to social media a video of himself putting the straw he licked back into the dispenser on an orange juice vending machine.

Didier Gaspard Owen Maximilien's clip went viral and triggered a backlash that led to his arrest in Singapore.

The teen's lawyer sought permission from a judge for him to travel to Manila from May 2 to May 25 for an internship, a key requirement for him to graduate.

The judge granted the request after the prosecution posed no objection, but asked that he must remain contactable while overseas and required a S$5,000 (US$3,900) bond.

His next appearance in the Singapore court was also rescheduled from May 22 to May 29."

New workgroup to tackle Singapore’s falling fertility rate to release full report in early 2027 (29 April 2026)

"SINGAPORE: A new workgroup to tackle Singapore’s falling fertility rate will release its findings by early next year.

The Marriage and Parenthood Reset Workgroup will examine factors affecting marriage and parenthood in Singapore, such as financial costs, work-life support, caregiving, housing, healthcare, preschool and education, the National Population and Talent Division (NPTD) said in a press release on Wednesday (Apr 29).

The workgroup, first announced during the Budget debate in February, will also engage with employers, businesses, community organisations and individual Singaporeans to promote societal norms and workplace practices that better support marriage and parenthood.

It may make early recommendations before the full report is released.

Minister in the Prime Minister's Office Indranee Rajah, who chairs the group, said the issue is a "very personal" one involving people's mindsets, attitudes, values, personal goals and ambitions – things the government cannot intrude too heavily upon.

“There is a tendency to generally ask: ‘So what's the government going to do?’. And the expectation is that that will just result in a policy change. You can do that for some things, but not when it involves intangibles like this,” she said at an interview with reporters at The Treasury building.

Society as a whole – employers, religious organisations, relatives and influencers – must play a role, said Ms Indranee, who is also Second Minister for Finance and for National Development."

Unsupervised toddler drowning: Coroner says paramedics' insistence on birth cert 'unnecessary' but unlikely to change outcome (30 April 2026)

"SINGAPORE: A toddler died after accidentally drowning in his home pool, with his parents alleging a delay in taking him to hospital as paramedics wanted to see the child's birth certificate.

The State Coroner on Wednesday (Apr 29) ruled the death of the child, aged one year and eight months, as a tragic accidental drowning.

He found that the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) paramedics' "insistence" on obtaining the toddler's birth certificate before the ambulance left for the hospital was "unnecessary".

He said there should either have been better and calmer communication about why the certificate was necessary, or a compromise when the parents were unable to obtain the document quickly.

Even so, the "delay" was unlikely to have changed the outcome, the coroner said.

One of the paramedics denied the claims, but body-worn camera footage proved otherwise.

CNA has contacted SCDF for comment.

The Case

Parties in the case are not named due to a gag order imposed by the court.

According to written findings released on Thursday (Apr 30), the boy lived with his parents, his grandfather and two siblings in a three-storey semi-detached house at a redacted location. The house had a car porch and a swimming pool measuring 25m by 1.5m.

The toddler's mother said she was in the living room at about 12pm on Jun 9, 2024. At the time, the boy was running around on the first floor. Other accounts stated that the helper was in the kitchen, while relatives were in other parts of the house.

Footage from the car porch showed the boy leaving the house through an unlocked, ajar main door at about 12.51pm and heading towards the pool.

He was later seen entering the water at about 12.55pm. Moments after, he appeared to struggle before becoming unresponsive.

The mother testified that she noticed the house had gone quiet and could not hear her son playing. She searched the first and third floors but could not find him.

She eventually found him face down in the pool. At her screams, the boy's father, who had been in the living room, ran over and pulled his son from the water.

He saw that the boy's stomach appeared bloated and began cardiopulmonary resuscitation. The boy vomited and his father continued CPR while his mother called for an ambulance."

New tripartite council on jobs to help workers, businesses make AI skills 'as pervasive as possible' (30 April 2026)

"SINGAPORE: A new council initiated by the National Trades Union Congress (NTUC) will bring together tripartite partners to better support workers and businesses navigating the impact of artificial intelligence.

The formation of the Tripartite Jobs Council was jointly announced by the Ministry of Manpower (MOM), NTUC and the Singapore National Employers Federation (SNEF) on Thursday (Apr 30), ahead of the labour movement's May Day rally.

"The Tripartite Jobs Council will scale outreach, accelerate policy implementation, and better direct resources to where they are needed most, to strengthen AI readiness for workers across the jobs ecosystem," NTUC chief Ng Chee Meng and NTUC president K Thanaletchimi said in their May Day message.

On Wednesday, Mr Ng said during a media briefing that the new council will support the national AI missions and the National AI Council, which were announced in this year's Budget.

He said the formation of the council demonstrates tripartite commitment to strengthen job security in the age of AI, support business transformation for better jobs, and uplift workers through training and job-matching.

"AI is changing the way we work, and it is critical that our workers are not left behind," said Mr Ng.

"The Tripartite Jobs Council can bring together and scale tripartite capabilities under one roof as we take collective action to stand with workers of all collars, especially PMEs and youths," he said, referring to professionals, managers and executives.

Manpower Minister Tan See Leng highlighted three areas the council will focus on: supporting businesses to adopt AI in a way that benefits growth, jobs and workers; providing broad-based and sectoral AI training for workers; and providing targeted transition support for at-risk workers.

"We will lead a transformation that is inclusive, forward-thinking, nimble, pragmatic and also practical in action," he said.

He pointed to the roughly 1,600 AI courses that have been curated under SkillsFuture, and the government's six months of free access to premium AI tools for Singaporeans on selected courses.

Dr Tan said the idea was to make AI literacy "as pervasive as possible" in the workforce and help workers to evaluate their level of readiness, before they hone their skills to become fluent in the use of AI."

82 agencies designated to manage child abuse cases from May 1 (30 April 2026)

"SINGAPORE: More than 80 agencies will be designated to manage child protection cases from Friday (May 1) to ensure that such cases are handled by those with specialised expertise and dedicated resources, said the Ministry of Social and Family Development (MSF).

These selected agencies, known as Child Protection Case Management (CPCM) agencies, will take the lead on child protection matters and handle all related case management tasks, MSF said on Thursday.

A Triage Assessment Panel (TAP) will also be established on May 1 as an appeals mechanism for cases where agencies have differing views on risk assessments and on the agency to undertake case management.

These moves come after the findings and recommendations of a review panel that looked into the fatal abuse case of four-year-old Megan Khung.

The panel’s report, released in October 2025, identified multiple lapses among agencies that handled the case.

These included officers who did not follow protocols, the mischaracterisation of Megan’s injuries by social workers, as well as the failure of police officers and child protection specialists to follow up on Megan’s case after the information was made known to them.

“Case management is a collaborative process that involves key functions to meet an individual's or family's needs comprehensively,” said MSF.

“In child protection, this typically includes information gathering to verify concerns, performing safety and risk assessments, and developing safety plans to keep a child safe.”

The ministry will stipulate the competency and training requirements of CPCM agencies. It will release the list of CPCM agencies on its website on Friday."

President's Challenge 2026 to support 62 new programmes including early intervention, support for persons with disabilities (30 April 2026)

"SINGAPORE: This year's President Challenge will support 62 new programmes across 60 organisations, as part of a broader push to drive sustained social upliftment in Singapore.

Together with the programmes the annual fundraising event started supporting last year, it brings the total number of programmes supported to 121.

The programmes span a wide range of areas, including early intervention, second chances and support for persons with disabilities.

The President’s Challenge was refreshed last year to focus on longer-term funding models, enabling supported programmes to achieve deeper and more lasting impact.

Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of a visit to REACH Community Services on Thursday (Apr 30), President Tharman Shanmugaratnam said that while the initiative has gained “good momentum” following its refresh in 2025, it remains in its early stages.

“Will we succeed? It is too early to say. Our experience, both in Singapore as well as abroad everywhere, shows that success is not assured. It doesn't come easy. Social upliftment doesn't come easy,” he said.

“We might gain something today, but getting it to last into the future is always a challenge,” he said, stressing that meaningful progress takes time, sustained commitment and strong relationships on the ground.

“The fact that success is not assured means we have to put full effort into it. Try different approaches, and when we find that a particular approach or initiative is working well, we build on it and we try and scale it out.”

WP proposes wage subsidies for fresh graduates in apprenticeship roles amid AI disruption (1 May 2026)

"SINGAPORE: The Workers’ Party (WP) has proposed wage subsidies to encourage firms to hire fresh graduates in apprenticeship roles, warning that entry-level roles are at risk of being squeezed out by the growing use of artificial intelligence.

In its Labour Day message posted on social media on Thursday (Apr 30), the opposition party said the rapid proliferation of AI is reshaping the labour market, with some employers expecting technology to perform entry-level functions at a lower cost.

WP chief Pritam Singh said such an approach is "self-defeating", and cautioned that if young graduates are unable to gain the necessary experience, Singapore will not be able to develop the pool of professionals that the economy needs.

He called for more pathways to help young workers attain real experience and confidence.

"The Workers’ Party proposes targeted, temporary wage subsidies to reduce the risks for firms to hire new graduates in apprenticeship roles," said Mr Singh.

"This support will better ensure that our youth are not left behind as industries adapt to technological disruption."

The proposal was part of a broader May Day message focused on strengthening support for workers in the era of AI.

The party also reiterated its call for a redundancy insurance scheme to protect workers facing job displacement in a volatile global economy.

Such a scheme has to extend to all income levels to provide a "meaningful cushion against financial pressure", said Mr Singh, who is Member of Parliament for Aljunied GRC.

"True security comes from a clear pathway: from redundancy to reskilling and finally to employment. We believe that retraining must be coupled with an assurance that such efforts will translate directly into new, stable jobs," he said.

"With restructuring exercises and retrenchments increasingly likely, the redundancy insurance scheme provides an automatic stabiliser for the economy, ensuring that workers can sustain their families while they look for new work."

Moreover, without a strong safety net to meet basic needs, workers are less likely to take risks or innovate - the exact qualities needed in a transformative era, he added."

This job pays well, is ‘almost recession-proof’ – and has nothing to do with AI (1 May 2026)

"For piano teacher Clarisa Tan, there is no such thing as a day off.

With anywhere from 35 to 40 students to see each week – ranging from seven-year-olds to adults – she adheres to a tightly packed class schedule.

Her weekdays typically start at 1pm and end between 6pm and 9pm, while Saturdays are filled with lessons from 9.45am to 7pm. She "takes it easy" on Sundays, with two lessons.

Her only rest days are when she falls ill.

"I try not to teach on my birthday – like a little gift to myself – but I don't always keep to it," the 33-year-old said.

She left a career in law eight years ago to pursue piano teaching full-time.

Despite her heavy workload, Ms Tan said that she remains highly satisfied with her job and sees herself sticking with it for another 20 to 30 years.

By comparison, the average job tenure in Singapore was 8.2 years in 2025, data from the Ministry of Manpower showed.

In February, job-search website Indeed released its 2026 Best Jobs Index. It ranked roles by overall job quality across five factors: median wage, postings volume, wage and postings growth (both measured as percentage changes from 2022 to 2025), and remote work availability.

In Singapore, three more filters were applied:

• At least 20 per cent of the job postings had to include salary information

• Only roles with monthly or annual salary data were considered

• Each role needed at least 100 postings in 2025

The top 10 list of best job roles featured the usual suspects in finance and IT, as well as managers of one sort or another.

However, not many readers may have expected to see "piano teacher" on the list – much less ranked at second place, just under financial adviser.

In a job market rocked by threats of economic volatility and tech advancements such as artificial intelligence (AI), the role of piano instructor remains largely insulated from these.

It also offers a high degree of flexibility and job satisfaction – but income levels, while decent, remain vulnerable to external shocks such as the COVID-19 pandemic.

All the same, piano teachers told CNA TODAY that despite the demands of self-employment, they have no intention of backtracking.

"I am happy with what I'm doing," Ms Tan said. "I can't see myself doing anything else and I don't want to do anything else."

A tough childhood dashed her dreams, but this 31-year-old is not letting others give up on theirs (2 May 2026)

"Ms Sheila Manokaran used to dream big, with hopes of becoming a doctor or a pilot, and possibly building a life overseas.

Despite her best efforts, however, she never realised her dreams and now she's all but given up on having lofty goals.

"Is it resentment? I don't think it is. I think it's fate," said the 31-year-old stoically.

One would expect that someone in her shoes, who endured a tough childhood and multiple setbacks, would be bitter with everyone and everything that held her back.

But instead of blaming the hand dealt to her, the co-founder of River Valley Irregulars has been constantly shrugging off every disappointment, instead choosing to channel her energy into helping others move forward.

River Valley Irregulars is an outfit that helps connect young people to organisations through an online platform and workshops to help them achieve their career goals.

The avid volunteer is a member of the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) Volunteer Corps as a bridge watchkeeper in the Navy and supports the ITE alumni association, among other organisations.

And now at River Valley Irregulars, she helps youths build up their portfolios, gain the right mentorship and guidance to bag quality internship opportunities that some might not have easy access to.

Her efforts have not gone unnoticed, having been featured in news articles for her volunteerism and the accolades she has been given over the last decade.

She was also mentioned in a speech by Prime Minister Lawrence Wong celebrating the 10th anniversary of Youth Corps Singapore in 2024.

In it, PM Wong said: "I do not know how you find the time Sheila, to do everything."

And I, too, could not comprehend how."

Students are 'stacking' internships – but do employers really want that? (2 May 2026)

"A resume came to my attention recently.

At first glance, it was impressive. As a fresh graduate, this person appeared to have extensive experience, holding down six internships across three years.

The candidate had worked across agencies, startups and even a multinational corporation.

But as I read his resume more closely, I noticed that each stint lasted between two and four weeks.

That gave me pause. Two weeks? What exactly does someone learn in 10 working days?

Long enough to understand the etiquette of not dozing off during meetings, I suppose, and certainly short enough to leave before anything gets difficult.

That's not to say internships lack value. They are when they're done right.

It is a time when students get to step out of their classrooms and apply their skills in real-world situations.

They get the opportunity to make mistakes, learn from them and, hopefully, see their work come to fruition in their internship organisation by the end of their stint.

But a growing number of students are "stacking" internships – cycling through multiple short stints across different companies, sometimes as brief as two weeks.

It’s understandable, since young people are under pressure to gain job experience quickly in an increasingly competitive job market.

As an employer, though, I’m much less impressed by the number of internships than by what sits beneath them.

Internships As "Infinity Stones"

The stacking of internships is starting to feel like a bizarro version of an arms race.

When one internship becomes the baseline, students feel the pressure to accumulate more just to remain competitive.

Peers compare themselves as social media platforms such as LinkedIn amplify the pressure to have a stacked portfolio. Before long, the internship stops being a formative experience and becomes a collectible.

However, the value of an internship varies wildly depending on the duration, depth and responsibility. A three-month stint where a student owns a piece of work is not equivalent to a two-week attachment spent observing meetings and writing summaries.

I do understand the value in variety; each organisation provides a different learning experience based on its structure, the industry it belongs to and company culture, among other things.

When I started in my career, I wanted to collect as many big agency names and companies on my resume as well, like how Marvel Comics villain Thanos collects Infinity Stones.

But again – what could I possibly learn in just two weeks?"

Some training providers see enrolments in AI courses double (2 May 2026)

"Training providers are reporting a sharp rise in demand for artificial intelligence courses, with some seeing enrolments double in recent months.

The surge is driven by growing interest in generative and emerging agentic AI across industries and among individual learners.

Providers are rolling out new modules to keep pace with rapid developments, but experts say stronger employer support is needed to translate these skills into workplace capabilities."

More than 2,500 people caught vaping in first three months of 2026 (4 May 2026)

"SINGAPORE: A total of 2,589 people were caught and penalised for possessing and using vapes in the first three months of 2026, including 377 who were etomidate vaporiser offenders.

Among them, 256 individuals were placed on rehabilitation programmes, the Ministry of Health (MOH) and Health Sciences Authority (HSA) said in a press release on Monday (May 4).

This brings the total number of people onboarded onto rehabilitation to 520 since the start of stepped-up enforcement actions on Sep 1.

MOH and HSA said 123 offenders have successfully completed their programmes while 28 defaulters are undergoing court proceedings, with ongoing investigations for another 42.

Under the enhanced framework, first-time etomidate vaporiser offenders and second-time vape offenders are required to undergo mandatory rehabilitation. Those who fail to attend or complete their rehabilitation will be charged in court.

Among the individuals who successfully quit vaping after completing their rehabilitation programme was a 12-year-old girl.

She was caught vaping for the second time in October last year and completed her rehabilitation in January, said MOH and HSA, adding that her parents reported significant behavioural improvements, better school attendance and improved academic performance."

Caning used only as last resort in schools, when other disciplinary measures are inadequate: Desmond Lee (5 May 2026)

"SINGAPORE: Schools use caning as a disciplinary measure only when all other options are inadequate, given the gravity of the misconduct, said Minister for Education Desmond Lee on Tuesday (May 5).

Responding to more than 20 parliamentary questions on the Ministry of Education's (MOE) updated efforts to tackle bullying, Mr Lee acknowledged that studies link poorly administered and frequent corporal punishment – particularly in unregulated settings such as the home – with negative outcomes.

“We recognise this, and I want to emphasise that the context in our schools is quite different," said Mr Lee.

Schools follow strict protocols when caning is considered: for example, it must be approved by the principal and administered only by authorised teachers. Schools also take into account the student's maturity and whether the measure would help him learn from his mistake.

“If it is used, it is never administered in isolation but always as part of a suite of restorative and disciplinary measures,” said Mr Lee.

After caning, schools monitor the student's well-being, provide counselling and support rehabilitation.

MOE announced a stricter framework for student misconduct in April. Students who bully others can face suspension, caning and lowered conduct grades – similar to the guidelines introduced for vaping offences.

First-time offenders of serious misconduct face one to three days of detention and/or suspension, an adjusted conduct grade, and older boys may receive one stroke of the cane if there are aggravating factors.

The approach is grounded in research showing that children and youth make better choices when there are "clear boundaries enforced by firm and meaningful consequences", Mr Lee said.

“This has a positive impact on reducing bullying and enables the school community to feel safe to learn in an orderly environment.”

Mr Lee stressed that caning applies only to boys, and only for egregious violations, in line with the Criminal Procedure Code, which prohibits the caning of women.

This does not mean that girls who bully are less culpable, he said. Schools adopt a tiered approach ensuring all students face consequences proportionate to their actions. Girls may receive detention, suspension, conduct grade adjustments and other school-based consequences."

Singapore goes green: Over 1,000 activities planned nationwide for sustainability campaign (5 May 2026)

"SINGAPORE: Climate adaptation will take centre stage in this year’s national sustainability campaign, with members of the public able to take part in a wave of activities across the island from next Monday (May 11).

More than 500 organisations will roll out over 1,000 initiatives under Go Green SG, which returns for its fourth edition and will run until Jun 28.

These activities range from behind-the-scenes tours of textile waste sorting, to showcases of how Sentosa is keeping cool amid rising temperatures.

One highlight is a look into what happens to donated textiles after they are placed in neighbourhood recycling bins.

Circular fashion social enterprise Cloop processes about 1,000kg of textile waste each week from its white bins alone. With the help of about 20 special-needs trainees, every item is carefully sorted based on quality, brand and condition.

None of the textiles handled by Cloop end up in landfills. Instead, they are resold, recycled or repurposed.

Cloop co-founder Jasmine Tuan said awareness of textile recycling grew after it introduced its first yellow bins, where people can drop off preloved textiles and clothes, at City Sprouts Henderson in 2022.

It now has three white bins – which are for local sorting and redistribution – and 450 yellow bins islandwide.

This year, for the first time, Cloop is opening its sorting facility at APSN Centre for Adults to the public, to increase awareness of the work that goes into textile waste sorting.

Organisers hope the tours will foster more mindful consumption, prompting people to buy fewer clothes and take better care of what they own.

They are also encouraged to think about adapting their wardrobes for hotter weather."

SMRT bus catches fire near Woodgrove Primary School in Woodlands; no injuries reported (5 May 2026)

"SINGAPORE: An SMRT bus caught fire near Woodgrove Primary School in Woodlands on Tuesday (May 5), with no injuries reported, authorities said.

The vehicle had stopped at a bus stop along Woodlands Ave 1 at around 1.30pm to allow passengers to alight, when the captain noticed smoke coming from the driver's compartment, said SMRT deputy managing director Vincent Gay.

“As a precaution, he immediately guided all passengers to alight and move to a safe distance,” Mr Gay added.

“Shortly after, a fire broke out at the front of the bus and he promptly alerted the Bus Operations Control Centre, which activated the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF).”

SCDF said it was alerted to the fire at around 1.40pm and extinguished it using a water jet and a hosereel. The bus captain had also attempted to put out the fire from a safe distance, SMRT said.

The cause of the fire is under investigation."

New Skills and Workforce Development Agency to be set up later this year (5 May 2026)

"SINGAPORE: A new statutory body aimed at strengthening Singapore’s workforce and skills ecosystem will be set up in the third quarter of this year, after parliament passed the Skills and Workforce Development Agency Bill on Tuesday (May 5).

The newly formed Skills and Workforce Development Agency will consolidate the functions of SkillsFuture Singapore (SSG) and Workforce Singapore (WSG), while taking on expanded responsibilities in career, employment and training matters.

The move builds on Prime Minister Lawrence Wong's Budget 2026 speech, where he announced that the two agencies would be merged into a single statutory board to create a more integrated “one-stop shop” for workers and employers.

Speaking in parliament on Tuesday, Manpower Minister Tan See Leng said the merger comes as Singapore faces a rapidly changing global environment.

“We live in a different world from 10 years ago,” he said, pointing to accelerating technological change, geopolitical disruptions and an ageing population.

“What worked in the past decade will need significant transformation, to be more predictive, to be more anticipatory as well as be more responsive and targeted moving forward.”

What The Agency Will Do

The agency will serve as a central body overseeing a broad range of functions previously split between SSG and WSG, while introducing enhanced capabilities in career and employment services.

It will be jointly overseen by the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) and the Ministry of Education (MOE), with Ms Dilys Boey - the current WSG chief - to be appointed as the chief executive of SWDA.

It aims to provide more seamless and integrated support for both workers and employers.

For workers, Dr Tan said the SWDA will help Singaporeans stay adaptable in a fast-changing economy by supporting career planning, skills upgrading and job transitions.

For employers, it will also strengthen hiring and workforce transformation by integrating skills and labour market data.

The agency will be governed by a board comprising between seven and 15 members, appointed by the minister. These members will be selected based on their expertise and experience.

Dr Tan said the SWDA is expected to be established in the third quarter of this year."

Commentary: Is caning in schools a good way to teach our children? (6 May 2026)

"SINGAPORE: When I was in Secondary 1, I watched two upper secondary boys being caned in front of the whole school for being caught with prohibited materials. Alongside hundreds of boys who stood watching, I remember the stillness, the silence - then the sound.

What stayed with me was not the pain they must have felt. It was the public nature of it. To be called out in front of everyone you know, with your peers and juniors watching, is a different kind of consequence from the caning itself. It made clear that certain actions carried serious weight.

I think about this now as the Ministry of Education (MOE) announced a stricter framework for student misconduct in schools, including standardising caning as a disciplinary option across all schools for serious offences such as bullying.

While there is broad agreement on the need for a firm response to bullying, reactions to the use of caning have been polarised. Based on my observations, some parents feel the move is a step backwards, while others see it as long overdue.

As a psychiatrist, I have sat on both sides of bullying. I have listened to young people trying to make sense of why they were targeted. I have also sat with families struggling to understand why their child hurt someone else.

I am also a father of three. If my child was bullied, I would want the school to respond quickly and clearly. If my child was the one accused of bullying, that would be a different discomfort - disbelief followed by questions about what happened and what did we miss. Even then, I would want my child held accountable.

Why Consequences Matter

I want to be clear about where I stand - I believe in consequences.

In my clinical work, I have seen what happens when behaviour continues without clear boundaries. Young people who bully and face no meaningful response often escalate. Some go on to further behavioural problems, disengagement from school and in some cases, later involvement with the law.

The absence of consequence is not kindness. It harms both the victim and the person causing harm.

Victims carry the cost. I have seen young adults whose anxiety, self-doubt and social withdrawal trace back to being bullied years earlier. Some avoid situations they should be able to enjoy. Some still hear the voices of those who tormented them.

Being bullied is not something victims can simply grow out of. It becomes part of how they see themselves. So, when parents of victims ask for strong responses, they are not asking for cruelty; they are asking for protection and recognition that real harm has been done. That is reasonable, and the system should meet it.

It also sends a clear signal to other students watching that certain lines will not be ignored.

How Caning Can Affect A Child

But this is where my clinical concern begins.

Caning is a serious measure, with some describing it as barbaric. These are not unreasonable views and deserve to be taken seriously.

Research on corporal punishment, including in schools, shows a similar pattern. It may produce short-term compliance, but is also linked to higher rates of aggression, anxiety and later mental health difficulties.

Education Minister Desmond Lee on Tuesday (May 5) acknowledged such concerns in parliament, although he also noted that the school context, with protocols and safeguards in place, is different from unregulated settings such as homes where frequent unregulated corporal punishment can lead to negative outcomes.

While the distinction matters for how caning is administered, it does not eliminate the underlying clinical concerns."

AI use in Singapore schools kept age-appropriate, with focus on learning, not shortcuts: Desmond Lee (6 May 2026)

"SINGAPORE: The use of artificial intelligence in schools is kept balanced and age-appropriate to support students’ learning and development, Minister for Education Desmond Lee said on Wednesday (May 6).

Responding to parliamentary questions on AI usage among primary school students and the safeguards in place, Mr Lee said theoretical knowledge alone is not sufficient, and students need well-designed and supervised hands-on experiences by using educational AI tools.

“This spiral approach as students progress through different levels in school prepares them to harness AI to benefit their learning, critically evaluate AI output and guard against risks such as cognitive offloading.”

MOE's approach is informed by research on how children learn and develop, and what is helpful at each stage of their growth, Mr Lee said, outlining a tiered framework.

From Primary 1 to 3, physical hands-on learning is prioritised as students build foundational knowledge and develop cognitive and social skills. They learn the basics of AI, but schools will not assign work that requires them to use AI directly.

From Primary 4, students may use educational AI tools under teacher supervision. By that age, Mr Lee said, students would have developed foundational literacy, numeracy and basic knowledge of AI, as well as skills such as planning, task initiation and the ability to evaluate their own thinking.

Students in Primary 4 to 6 will only use tools specifically designed for education, including AI-enabled features within the Singapore Student Learning Space (SLS).

No Shortcuts

Schools will also teach students that AI must not be used to take shortcuts in place of actual learning, Mr Lee said.

“We want to provide our students with a school environment where they can develop good learning habits and understand the importance of upholding academic integrity.”

Some secondary schools may design assignments that allow AI use, with students required to disclose and properly cite any AI-assisted work. Mr Lee said this prepares them for post-secondary education and future workplaces where AI use will be more prevalent.

Students who pass off AI-generated content as their own will face consequences for academic dishonesty, he added.

National examinations are invigilated and the use of AI is prohibited. Where AI is permitted, such as in coursework, teacher supervisors will monitor use to ensure it meets assessment objectives."

Singapore’s approach to social media safeguards for children ‘more demanding, more rigorous’ than blanket ban: Rahayu Mahzam (6 May 2026)

"SINGAPORE: Singapore’s approach to social media restrictions for young children is “more demanding, more rigorous” than a blanket ban, said Minister of State for Digital Development and Information Rahayu Mahzam on Wednesday (May 6).

“We take a different approach, in that we also want something that is more effective, a more durable approach that will withstand the test of time and the test of evolution of the technology."

Mdm Rahayu was responding to a supplementary question raised in parliament by MP Vikram Nair (PAP-Sembawang), who said that the Ministry of Digital Development and Information (MDDI) should take a “harder stance” and “draw a firm boundary” in social media restrictions on youths, like some countries have.

Mdm Rahayu agreed that there are some specific features and dimensions of social media platforms that affect youths, but the ministry’s approach is to target these specifics.

“Our approach has always been one that is outcomes-driven, and we have been building progressively on this.”

Singapore has introduced several age-related restrictions to social media use, she said. This includes a Code of Practice for Online Safety for social media services, age assurance requirements for apps, and the annual reporting obligations that social media platforms must submit to the ministry.

“Moving forward, we are actually going to be extending the assurance measures to the designated social media services, and looking beyond the content to the design features.”

She added that Singapore’s approach is to target these design features that cause specific harms to younger users.

In contrast, a blanket ban, said Mdm Rahayu, “may not even solve the problem”."

83% of Child LifeSG credits disbursed in 2025 utilised, no extension to validity period (7 May 2026)

"SINGAPORE: About 83 per cent of the Child LifeSG credits disbursed in 2025 have been utilised as of April, with the government saying it will not extend the 12-month validity period before the credits expire in July.

Minister of State for Social and Family Development Goh Pei Ming said in a parliamentary reply on Thursday (May 7) that "ample notice" had been given.

The Ministry of Social and Family Development has also been reminding recipients to spend their credits via social media, the LifeSG app and SMS, he added. A final reminder will be sent in June to those with unused balances.

The credits, worth S$500 (US$394) per child aged 12 and below, were disbursed to eligible families in July 2025.

The credits are accessible via the LifeSG app and can be spent at physical or online merchants that accept PayNow UEN QR or NETS QR payments. They were introduced to help families defray child-rearing costs, particularly for younger children.

Mr Goh described the current utilisation rate as "healthy" but said the ministry hopes to see further usage in the remaining months.

Responding to supplementary questions from MP David Hoe (PAP-Jurong East-Bukit Batok), Mr Goh cited several reasons for unused credits: families pacing their spending across the year, last-minute usage habits, being out of the country, and in some cases, a lack of awareness."

Girl, 17, gets reformative training after possessing Kpods for trafficking and other drug offences (7 May 2026)

"SINGAPORE: A 17-year-old girl who was nabbed in a Health Sciences Authority (HSA) operation targeting etomidate suppliers was ordered on Thursday (May 7) to undergo reformative training for a minimum of 12 months.

The charges she faced include those involving Kpods - vape pods containing etomidate, which are punishable by up to 10 years' jail.

Specifically, her charge for possessing Kpods is punishable by a minimum of two years' jail if she had been sentenced as an adult offender. It comes with caning for male offenders.

From September 2025, etomidate was listed as a Class C drug under the Misuse of Drugs Act and abusers who commit offences involving the anaesthetic agent faced higher penalties.

The teenager in Thursday's case cannot be named per the Children and Young Persons Act as she is under 18.

She pleaded guilty to four charges, mostly under the Misuse of Drugs Act, including for possessing Kpods for the purpose of trafficking.

Another six charges were considered in sentencing. These include charges for possessing vapes and consuming etomidate.

The Case

The teenager was arrested on Oct 2, 2025 by police officers and HSA officers.

According to past reports, HSA had been investigating an unnamed male etomidate user and tracked down two female suppliers along with the teenager, who had vapes and related components in her home.

The teenager was taken back to the office of the Central Narcotics Bureau (CNB) at Police Cantonment Complex for further investigations.

Four vape pods seized from her were found to contain etomidate.

The teen knew that the pods contained the banned substance and intended to sell them for S$72 (US$57) each.

She had received S$72 from a user on Telegram via PayNow for one of the pods, but the buyer did not manage to collect it as the teen was arrested.

Methamphetamine was also found in the teen's home, which she admitted was for her own consumption.

Her urine samples tested positive for etomidate and meth."

Teacher who harassed people under loan shark's instructions gets jail (8 May 2026)

"SINGAPORE: A teacher was harassed by a loan shark she owed money to and agreed to act on his behalf to reduce her debt.

In less than a month, she harassed at least five victims - at times with the help of another person - sending them raw pork hooves, hell notes and publicising photos of their NRIC numbers.

On Friday (May 8), Geraldine Quek, 42, was sentenced to one year and six months' jail after pleading guilty to seven charges of acting on behalf of an unlicensed moneylender. Another 12 charges were taken into consideration.

What Happened

Sometime in 2023, Quek began investing in cryptocurrency and later borrowed money from unlicensed moneylenders to do so.

When the cryptocurrency market crashed, she could not repay her loans and had debts with about four different unlicensed moneylenders.

In December 2024, Quek was introduced to another unlicensed moneylender, known only as “Travis Heng”, from whom she borrowed S$600 (US$473).

Unable to repay the full amount, she made weekly payments of S$100 to S$200. But he told her the amount had grown due to interest. She tried to negotiate with him about her repayment schedule but he began harassing her instead.

Before Oct 8, 2025, he forced the accused to take a nude photo of herself and send it to him, threatening to harass her further by going to her home if she did not do so.

She complied, but the harassment continued. He later told her to film a nude video and threatened to leak the nude photo she had previously sent if she did not comply.

In late October 2025, he offered Quek a chance to reduce her outstanding debt. He told her to take photos and videos of the flats of his borrowers.

For every unit, she would get a S$10 offset from her outstanding loan amount. He also asked her to place debtor notes at the entrance of some flats.

Quek, who wanted the harassment to stop, agreed."

Education platform Canvas hit by cyberattack; CSA offering assistance to affected organisations (9 May 2026)

"SINGAPORE: The Cyber Security Agency of Singapore (CSA) said on Friday (May 8) that it had contacted affected organisations to provide support and guidance on mitigation steps, after education platform Canvas was hit by a cyberattack.

Canvas, used by schools, colleges and universities for grades and course materials, and owned by US edtech company Instructure, went down on Thursday, blocking student access.

"We have reached out to affected organisations to offer assistance and provide advice on mitigation measures," said CSA, adding that it was "monitoring the situation".

The Singapore Institute of Management (SIM), in response to CNA’s queries, confirmed it was affected by the Canvas breach, causing “inconvenience and concern” to its students and faculty.

"We are aware of the ongoing disruption affecting access to the Canvas learning platform, which is impacting academic institutions globally," SIM said.

"The incident occurred within the environment of Instructure, and we understand the inconvenience and concern this has caused our students and faculty."

In the meantime, SIM said it will put in place temporary arrangements. These include sending of Zoom lesson links directly to students, while deadlines for quizzes and assignments due during this period may be extended.

SIM added that keeping classes running and protecting its community’s information remained its top priorities.

CNA has contacted the Singapore University of Social Sciences (SUSS), NTUC Learning Hub, the National University of Singapore (NUS) and Kaplan to ask if they have been similarly affected by Canvas breach.

In a statement on its website, Instructure confirmed on Friday that the system was "fully back online and available for use"."

Singapore universities assessing impact after global cyberattack on educational tool Canvas (9 May 2026)

"SINGAPORE: Educational institutions in Singapore are assessing the impact of a recent cyberattack that knocked down learning tool Canvas, even as the platform has since been restored.

The hacking group ShinyHunters claimed responsibility for the breach, saying in a May 3 post on its website that it had stolen data related to nearly 9,000 schools worldwide that included student names, email addresses and private messages between students, teachers and other staff.

Canvas, developed by US-based education technology firm Instructure, is widely used by universities and schools to manage coursework, assignments and communication.

The National University of Singapore (NUS), Singapore University of Social Sciences (SUSS) and the Singapore Institute of Management (SIM) were among those affected by the outage.

In a statement, NUS said it is working with Instructure to assess the impact of the data breach.

"Operational impact is assessed to be minimal as the current semester has concluded and all examinations have ended," an NUS spokesperson told CNA on Saturday (May 9).

"We have in place backup and business continuity processes to ensure downstream activities such as marking and grading proceed unaffected."

NUS said it has also reminded students to stay vigilant to any suspicious messages, and not to disclose any personal information or login details if contacted by suspicious people on various channels.

SUSS similarly said it is working closely with Instructure to assess the impact. Access to Canvas has been restored, and there has been no significant disruption to SUSS’ overall operations, the university said on Saturday.

As a precaution, SUSS has advised users to remain vigilant against phishing attempts and to strengthen account security, including changing passwords and enabling multi-factor authentication where available.

“We are also reviewing relevant access controls and security configurations in line with recommended security measures,” it added."

Teen arrested over alleged assault on Amos Yee at Suntec City (9 May 2026)

"SINGAPORE: A teenager has been arrested after allegedly assaulting Amos Yee at Suntec City Convention Centre on Saturday (May 9).

In response to CNA's queries, police said they received a call for assistance at about 2.15pm.

"Upon arrival, officers established that a 27-year-old male subject was assaulted by a 18-year-old male subject," they added.

"The 27-year-old male subject sustained minor injuries and the 18-year-old male subject was subsequently arrested for causing public nuisance."

Police investigations are ongoing.

Videos of the incident, which took place outside the Doujin Market anime convention, showed a cosplayer raining punches, kicks and elbows on Yee as he crouched on the floor.

The pair then back away from each other, before the teen rushed at Yee, tackling him to the ground from behind.

The altercation ended after a bystander intervened."

From baby carriers to Tamil books: How 4 Singapore mums built businesses for children (10 May 2026)

"Inspiration for businesses comes from many sources. For these four mums in Singapore, it was their children and motherhood journeys that sparked ideas for their foray into entrepreneurship.

Meet the women who are making a difference in children’s lives – and are doing it all for their own kids.

Soulslings Singapore: Babywearing

Nurjanna Ng’s oldest child was a year old when she was retrenched from her marketing job in 2015. To support her family, she started an online store selling baby carriers from international brands.

Soulslings, a babywearing brand from India, was one of those brands.

Ng was impressed by its thoughtful designs and how it suited Asian body types. “Many carriers designed for Western markets do not always translate seamlessly to the region, often falling short in terms of suitability for humid climates and Asian body types,” the 42-year-old told CNA Women.

In 2017, she founded Soulslings Singapore to sell its products exclusively.

The baby carriers and slings are made using 100 per cent natural fabrics; the handpicked materials are lightweight and breathable, yet supportive and durable.

The brand is proudly size-inclusive, catering to a wide spectrum of body types. Carriers and slings are available in a range of colours and designs for newborns to five-year-olds, costing from S$79 to S$379.

The products are available online and through Shopee and TikTok. The brand also offers in-person visits at its warehouse in Yishun, by appointment.

Ng is now a mother of five children aged 13, 11, four, two, and one month, and her journey has taught her the power of delegation, trust and empowering like-minded mothers to grow alongside her and support the business operations.

Her Soulslings team is made up of Singaporean mums – two full-time staff and several part-timers – and the work culture is “designed to be flexible and empathetic”. Each team member decides on a rhythm that works best for her, while also respecting other team members’ boundaries and responsibilities."

Teenager charged after allegedly assaulting Amos Yee at Suntec City anime convention (11 May 2026)

"SINGAPORE: A teenager was charged on Monday (May 11) after allegedly assaulting Amos Yee over the weekend at an anime convention.

Bosco Chun Ho Wang, an 18-year-old Chinese national and Singapore permanent resident, was given one charge each of public nuisance and voluntarily causing hurt.

The incident occurred at about 2.10pm on Saturday (May 9) at level 4 of Suntec City Convention Centre.

Chun is accused of punching and kicking Yee. These acts, along with shouting, allegedly caused annoyance to the public.

If convicted of voluntarily causing hurt, Chun could be jailed for up to three years, fined up to S$5,000, or both.

If found guilty of committing public nuisance, he could be fined up to S$2,000.

After the incident, Yee posted a photo online showing a bloodied lip.

The 27-year-old Singaporean faces charges of his own relating to National Service obligations.

He is set for a pre-trial conference in relation to these charges on May 22."

Commentary: What is still missing from Singapore's debate on falling birth rates (12 May 2026)

"SINGAPORE: In conversations about marriage, parenthood and ways to raise fertility rates described as an “existential challenge” in Singapore, one aspect is often missing – pregnancy loss.

In Singapore, about 20 to 25 per cent of pregnancies end up in miscarriages. Pregnancy loss also encompasses stillbirth, infant loss, in-vitro fertilisation-related (IVF) loss, as well as terminations for medical reasons. In every single one of them, there are two people whose worlds have been upended.

Yet, these are often swept aside as “dark secrets”, taboo subjects and uncomfortable conversations to be had.

Not just A Single Moment

Pregnancy loss is not a single moment. It is a process, as I learned from losing three pregnancies.

Physically, miscarriage can be prolonged and brutal, involving intense cramping, heavy bleeding and hormonal shifts that last for weeks. For women undergoing IVF, the contrast can be even sharper after weeks of injections. The body does not simply reset after a loss.

Emotionally, the impact is similarly complex. Many can experience depression, grief and anxiety but not everyone seeks support or has access to it.

When grief goes unprocessed, the body stays in a physiological state of unsafety. For couples hoping to conceive again, this can become another barrier. Research has shown that bereaved mothers who receive specialised support experience a significant reduction in depression, anxiety and stress. Those who don't may carry the weight of it into their next pregnancy.

Layered onto this is often feelings of guilt - was it something I ate or did I exercise too much? This self-blame is almost always unfounded, yet without someone clearly and repeatedly saying “This is not your fault," many women can carry that guilt for years."

‘They feel disconnected from who they used to be’: Why becoming a mother can affect a woman’s sense of self (12 May 2026)

"When a woman becomes a mother, she becomes a completely different person in many ways – physically, emotionally and socially. This phase of becoming a mother is known as matrescence.

The term was coined in the 1970s by American medical anthropologist Dana Louise Raphael, who described it as “the time of mother-becoming”.

To put it simply, when a baby is born, a mother is born too. And while support is usually at hand in terms of looking after a child, women tend to be left to their own devices to deal with this big life change.

“Matrescence is often described as the motherhood equivalent of adolescence,” said Elle Cheng, a psychotherapist and matrescence coach in Singapore.

“It is the developmental phase where a woman undergoes a profound psychological, emotional and identity transformation as she moves from thinking about conception, through pregnancy and into motherhood.”

To help with this life transition, some women are getting guidance from a matrescence coach.

Sara Pantry is a matrescence practitioner in Singapore who founded Return Ready, a peer-to-peer mentorship programme designed to help women navigate the complexities of returning to work after parental leave.

Pantry describes matrescence coaching as a much softer, deeper process than traditional coaching, where it’s not about goals, performance or ‘what’s next’. Instead, it’s about slowing down, recentring and reconnecting with yourself so you can redefine who you are now in the present moment.

“It’s also very different from parenting coaching. That focuses on the baby,” Pantry, who works full-time as Senior Workplace Leader, APAC, at LinkedIn, explained. “This focuses on the mother because becoming a mother isn’t just a life event, it’s a full identity transformation. And women need space to process that, not just push through it.”

Increasing Awareness Around Mums' Mental Health

Matrescence as a concept has been revived by various experts over the years in Western countries. In this part of the world, women are becoming more aware of the need to better understand the changes they’re going through when they become mothers.

Cheng, who shares her work through Relating Authentic Women, a platform that supports women through fertility, motherhood and identity transitions, said she’s not necessarily seeing a rise in the term itself, but a clear rise in the struggles it describes.

“I often work with women who return to work after maternity leave and find that while they are functioning on the outside, internally they feel disconnected from who they used to be – as a professional, partner and individual,” she told CNA Women.

“There is increasing awareness around mental health and motherhood but many women still lack a framework or language to understand the identity shift they are going through,” Cheng added. “When they are introduced to matrescence, there is often immediate resonance.”

Man appeals against attempted rape sentence, says he was in 'state of confusion' when pleading guilty (12 May 2026)

"SINGAPORE: A man who attempted to rape his former housemate in 2023 appealed against his sentence on Tuesday (May 12) and suggested that he wanted a re-trial, claiming that he was in a "state of confusion" when he pleaded guilty previously.

Gao Xiong, a 32-year-old Chinese national who was a PhD student at the time of his offence, was sentenced to six years, six months and six weeks' jail in December 2025. He was also ordered to receive three strokes of the cane. He had pleaded guilty to four charges which included attempted rape and criminal trespass.

The appeal on Tuesday was heard at the Court of Appeal, by Chief Justice Sundaresh Menon and Justices Tay Yong Kwang and Hri Kumar Nair.

In a hearing that lasted for almost two hours, Gao, who spoke through a Mandarin interpreter, claimed that the facts of the case read out to him in court were not a reflection of what actually happened and that he accepted them then due to "personal reasons".

Gao also interrupted the court proceedings at least three times when it was not his turn to speak yet, prompting Chief Justice Menon to ask that he not speak without permission.

Gao, who had a defence lawyer during his sentencing in December last year, was unrepresented during the appeal.

Background

Gao was completing his PhD studies in Singapore at the time of the offences, while the victim who was 21 then was also finishing up her tertiary education. Her identity is protected by a gag order.

The two of them were housemates until Gao left in end-August 2023. In early October 2023, Gao began pursuing her romantically but she repeatedly rejected him and told him to stop bothering her.

Gao would go to the unit to look for her, leading to the victim staying with her friend for a few days as a result of the harassment.

In October 2023, Gao looked for her at the unit again and went to her room. The victim spoke to him briefly and refused to engage, saying she would call the police. Both the victim and the tenancy agent had already told Gao not to go to the unit, and reported the trespass.

Gao left when the police arrived but continued harassing the victim. He returned another day and was led into the unit by one of the tenants.

He knocked on the victim's door while she was speaking to her parents, saying that he had left his bank card and wanted to apologise for the angry messages he had sent.

The victim rejected his apology, reiterating that he was trespassing and that she would call the police. Gao then stopped the victim as she tried to close the door, forcibly entered the room before molesting her and attempting to rape her."

Only boys are caned in schools – but what does that teach our daughters? (13 May 2026)

"The Ministry of Education’s recent disciplinary guidelines, including caning for serious and repeat offences like vaping and bullying, have struck a nerve with me.

Full disclosure: I’m Gen X. I grew up with the cane – at home and in school. It was feared and sometimes, deserved. The cane’s effect was swift and painful. You did not forget it, and you also didn’t repeat the mistake – at least not in the same way.

It took me years to discern the difference and now, as a parent, it’s clear to me: Stopping behaviour is not the same as changing it.

To me, the cane taught compliance. It stopped the “bad” behaviour immediately. It taught me that authority had the final word. On the flipside, it also taught me how not to get caught.

My friend, Elena Ng, 46, shared how boys in her school who were disciplined by the cane got more creative instead – like smoking in secret spots or picking fights off campus.

“Sure, the caning stopped them that week,” she said. “But they just got sneakier.”

And that is the problem. Caning gets you immediate obedience, but it doesn’t produce accountability for the action.

It also skips this deeper understanding that we want from discipline: awareness of harm, ownership of actions, repairing skills and empathy.

And that gap matters more now than before. Because today, bullying has changed. It is not limited to fights or name-calling. It can be social exclusion, harassment, online doxxing and like the 2024 case at Singapore Sports School, the sharing of humiliating fake pictures.

Male students had generated and circulated deepfake nude images of their female schoolmates – harm that was digital, humiliating and potentially permanent.

The boys involved had their mobile phones confiscated and turned over to the police. They faced suspension, removal from boarding, bans from sports trips that affected their performance, and even caning.

It drives a hard question: Is physical punishment enough to create change?

My Real Question Is: Why Only Cane The Boys?

This part keeps bothering me. In Singapore, caning applies only to boys in schools. In our criminal courts, it’s a punitive measure only for men. Women are exempt – a legacy of our inherited colonial-era laws, shaped by traditional views of gender and physical punishment.

But if the offence is serious enough to warrant caning, why does gender determine who receives it?

My 17-year-old daughter put it plainly: “Girls can vape too. Girls can also be bullies, so shouldn’t they also be caned? But caning a bully doesn’t do anything.”

She’s right to question it. And as a mother, I have questions too."

MOE raises school bus operator support to 20% of fare revenue amid continued high fuel prices (15 May 2026)

"SINGAPORE: The Ministry of Education (MOE) said on Friday (May 15) it will increase temporary support for operators of regular school bus services for May and June, citing continued high fuel prices.

The support will rise from the equivalent of 13 per cent to 20 per cent of transport fare revenue.

"This will help transport operators continue operating without disruption," MOE said.

The ministry previously announced in April it would provide temporary support to such operators to help them cope with rising fuel costs.

Acting Minister for Transport Jeffrey Siow also said in parliament last month that the government will temporarily co-fund cost increases for certain essential bus services to cushion the impact of the Middle East conflict on Singaporeans.

Should fuel prices remain elevated, MOE said transport operators will, from July, be allowed to offset higher operating costs through a "time-bound" fuel surcharge.

"MOE will set a maximum fuel surcharge that operators may charge, and operators may increase the school bus fares up to this surcharge," it added.

The ministry will update transport operators on the surcharge cap in June, and parents will then be informed of the revised school bus fares from July - if any - so they can plan their transport arrangements after the June school holidays."

Waitress caught with Kpods twice at club she worked at, gets reformative training (15 May 2026)

"SINGAPORE: A 21-year-old woman was ordered on Friday (May 15) to undergo reformative training for a minimum of 12 months after she was caught twice with etomidate-laced vapes, known as Kpods, at a nightclub where she worked as a waitress.

According to charge sheets, Tan Xin Yi, a Singaporean, was caught at Club Poseidon in Excelsior Shopping Centre on Coleman Street.

Tan pleaded guilty to two counts of knowingly having in her possession a Kpod on two separate occasions in August and September 2025.

Authorities have warned that inhaling etomidate directly into the lungs can cause side effects such as spasms, breathing issues and seizures.

The Case

Tan had reported to work at 11.30pm on Aug 15, 2025, when an unidentified colleague introduced her to a new vape flavour.

Tan proceeded to use a vape belonging to her colleague's customer which had an etomidate-laced pod attached to it, court documents read.

Officers from the Health Sciences Authority (HSA), who were conducting a joint operation at various entertainment outlets, subsequently entered the room she was in.

Tan's colleague asked her to hide the Kpod under her long sleeves, but officers eventually discovered it.

In her statement to the authorities, Tan said she knew the pod contained etomidate as her colleague did not smoke "normal vape pods".

She was detained at the club shortly before 1am on Aug 16, 2025.

Tan was caught with a Kpod a second time during a raid at the same club on Sep 28, 2025. This time, they found the device in her bag."

'Museum-style memoir' unveiled on Goh Keng Swee's interactions with China leaders (15 May 2026)

"SINGAPORE: To many, Dr Goh Keng Swee is regarded as one of Singapore's founding fathers and a key architect of the nation's transformation in its early decades.

What is perhaps less well known is the role the former Deputy Prime Minister played after he left politics – he became an economic adviser to China between 1985 and 1990, during its early drive for reform.

On Friday (May 15), a "museum-style memoir" – a 244-page book curated from a private archive – was launched to preserve for posterity Dr Goh's interactions with China's leaders during this period.

Titled Dr Goh Keng Swee and China's Economic Renaissance, the book was put together by Dr Goh's wife, Dr Phua Swee Liang, based on photographs, gifts, travel itineraries and personal records from Dr Goh's stint. Two hundred copies of the book were given out to guests including former Cabinet ministers Khaw Boon Wan and George Yeo, and former top civil servant Philip Yeo at the launch at Four Seasons Hotel.

Dr Phua noted in the book's preface that the true turning points in history "often happen quietly". "It is these moments that I feel compelled to preserve, for without them the larger narrative remains incomplete," she wrote.

Following Dr Goh's retirement from politics in 1984, then China President Deng Xiaoping sent to Singapore a high-level delegation to invite Dr Goh to become an adviser to China's newly created special economic zones.

Dr Goh, who died in 2010 at the age of 91, had close ties with Mr Deng and several other senior Chinese leaders of his time, including Zhao Ziyang and Gu Mu – and these are vividly captured in the book. Among the photographs in the book is one of Dr Goh with current China President Xi Jinping, who was then serving in a provincial leadership role in Fuzhou."

I knew beating cancer would be tough. What I didn't expect was the crippling loss of identity as I returned to work (15 May 2026)

"In November 2024, after more than a year of fighting leukaemia, my oncologist gave me the all clear to return to work.

I knew the first thing I should have felt was relief, but instead, another unsettling feeling crept up and took me by surprise: fear.

I had spent months in hospitals and treatment wards, fighting to survive. Now I was stepping back into a world that had, in my absence, come to feel unfamiliar.

Many questions weighed heavily on me: Could I still do the work I once did confidently? Would colleagues see me the same way?

After everything my body had been through, did I still belong there?

The Diagnosis That Changed My Life

In October 2023, when I was 47, I was diagnosed with high-risk myelodysplastic syndrome that was transforming into acute myeloid leukaemia.

Doctors told me I might have nine months or less to live without a bone marrow transplant.

The news was surreal. One moment I was living an ordinary life – exercising regularly, keeping fit, going about my daily routine – and the next I was confronting the possibility that my life might soon end.

My mind went straight to my family. My wife and I had been planning for early retirement at 55. Could that still proceed as planned?

My sons were 16 and 18 then, both at the point of making major academic decisions. Would I still be around to guide them? Had I shaped enough of their moral compass?

That same evening, I broke the news to my family over dinner. Everyone was incredulous.

I had been fit and strong right up to that point. I went running with my boys twice a week, taking them to the gym for strength training afterwards. None of us had seen it coming.

What followed were months of hospital stays, treatment and preparation for a bone marrow transplant at Singapore General Hospital (SGH), where its haematology wards became a strange kind of "home" to me over time.

Against the odds, a fully matched, unrelated donor was found locally through the bone marrow donor programme, and the transplant saved my life.

A Crippling Sense of Identity Loss

By October 2024, exactly one year after my diagnosis, I was in remission. However, physically and psychologically, recovery took much longer.

The intensive chemotherapy that I had before the transplant, followed by two years of maintenance chemo, left me with neuropathy and made rebuilding my strength and stamina a slow, grinding process.

Neuropathy is a condition caused by nerve damage that leads to pain, weakness, numbness or tingling in one or more parts of your body. In my case, I felt it acutely in my limbs.

Even as my body slowly healed, my confidence did not immediately return.

The next month, I was given the green light to return to work. However, I found that the idea of stepping back into professional life filled me with uncertainty – the kind that has more to do with my identity than with my capabilities.

Before cancer, I had been a physics teacher and head of department at Anglo-Chinese School (Independent), or ACS(I). But after months away from work, I found myself wondering whether the person who once carried those responsibilities still existed.

Psychologically, I was dealing with a sense of identity loss that was unexpectedly crippling, one that came from no longer being sure about who I was, or whether my work in education had defined me more than I knew.

Could I still operate at the same level I used to? Did I even want to do it? How would my colleagues see me?"

When one of my 5 kids calls me out, I choose to own my mistake, not defend myself (16 May 2026)

"It was a work-from-home day, and I was alone with my two toddlers – Truett was three years old, and Kirsten, two years. While I took a long phone call in the living room, they played in the kitchen nearby, where my laptop was. I kept gesturing for them to keep it down.

But at their tender ages, they couldn't take the hint. Then suddenly, I heard a crash.

I walked into the kitchen to find my laptop on the floor, its screen cracked clean across.

Money was tight then, and I immediately knew that forking out a few hundred dollars just to repair my laptop was something we couldn't afford. I felt panic, then anger, and then both at once.

And so I yelled. Really yelled. I don't think I ever had before.

I still remember the looks on their faces. It was the mixture of devastation and terror that only very young children can show – the kind that tells you they don't fully understand what they did wrong, only that the person they love most in the world is furious with them.

I picked them up, held them close and apologised properly, with tears and no qualification.

It was not to teach them forgiveness, but to be accountable for what I had just done. Losing my temper like that is not who I want to be, or what I want to model. I haven't done it since.

But I've never forgotten it. I don't think I'm supposed to.

Children Will Notice Everything

Our five children are now aged 10 to 18. Between my husband and I, we have accumulated many years of parenting experience, and with it, a running catalogue of mistakes we've made – in parenting and in life.

Like any other parents, we often talk to our kids about right and wrong. But after nearly two decades of raising kids, I've come to believe that what they observe us doing is a much more influential teacher.

It's easy to say the right words, but children are always watching our actions to see whether they match what we say.

And they notice everything from the good to the bad.

The "urgent" phone call we take after telling them to put their phones away. The harsh words or tone we use with them, after telling them to be kind.

When there's a gap between what we expect of them and what we hold ourselves to, they track all of it quietly, and they draw their own conclusions about whether we do what they say.

So when they call us out – and they do quite often – we can choose to either defend ourselves or own it.

For us, it has to be the latter. We admit our mistakes and say we're sorry because we want them to understand that admitting to a failure is the beginning of growth, not the end of it.

And more importantly, we learn from those mistakes. We genuinely try to do better each time, and show them that it is possible to become better versions of ourselves as we grow."

Man raped his sister during seven years of sexual abuse, gets jail and caning (18 May 2026)

"SINGAPORE: A boy began sexually abusing his younger sister from when she was five and he was 12, continuing the assault for seven years and raping her repeatedly.

At times when she resisted, the boy punched her, slapped her and pinched her.

The offender, now 26, was sentenced on Monday (May 18) to 18 years' jail and 24 strokes of the cane.

He pleaded guilty to two counts of aggravated sexual assault and one count of statutory rape, with another eight charges taken into consideration.

The Case

The offender cannot be named due to gag orders protecting the identity of his biological sister, who is now 19.

The siblings were close and lived with their parents and two older siblings in a one-room flat.

Sometime in 2012, the offender began molesting his sister when she was between five and six.

This escalated into penetrative acts when the girl was six or seven. On one occasion, the girl hesitated and her brother slapped her.

He later warned her not to tell anyone what happened. He would target her when nobody else was in the flat, or when the rest of the family was asleep.

Sometime in 2018, the victim and the offender were playing with their phones in the living room while the rest of the family slept.

The offender, who was 17 or 18, asked his sister to go to the toilet with him.

Inside, he instructed her to perform a sex act on him until they both heard noises from the living room.

They hurriedly dressed up and headed out, with the victim going to the bedroom to sleep.

Court documents detailed an occasion in 2019, when the victim was 12, when the offender raped her. This was the last such occasion, as the 19-year-old boy told his sister that he was "too old to continue doing such things to her".

He had started raping her when she was seven to eight.

In March 2022, the victim told her school counsellor that she had been sexually abused by her brother, and the counsellor reported this to the police immediately.

The brother was arrested two days later."

Court grants personal protection order against mother who repeatedly cursed at daughter during writing exercise (18 May 2026)

"SINGAPORE: A woman who repeatedly cursed at her daughter while correcting her writing, calling her "stupid" and threatening to stab her in the eye, is now subject to a personal protection order (PPO).

The father of the girl, whose age was not revealed in a judgment made available on Friday (May 15), had applied for the PPO and provided an audio recording.

The magistrate said it was clear that the girl was tormented and distressed by her mother's "verbal lashings" and that the mother's actions had crossed the line and amounted to emotional and psychological abuse.

Newly expanded laws include emotional or psychological abuse under the definition of domestic violence. Before January 2025, such violence was limited mostly to physical harm, with no express reference to emotional or psychological abuse.

At the same time, the magistrate declined to grant the mother PPOs she sought for herself and her two children against her husband. He said there were no risk factors that made such an order necessary for the children and that the mother was not "the battered wife that she sought to portray herself to be".

The Case

Magistrate Soh Kian Peng said the audio recordings bore out the "excruciating nature of the verbal abuse" endured by the daughter, who could be heard sobbing in some clips.

In one recording made in February 2025, the mother asked her daughter, who was around seven years old, to write a capital S in a sentence.

As the child wrote, there was a sound of something dropping and the mother spoke in a louder voice: "Do not f***ing drop your pencil. Pick it up! Every time you drop it, you break the lead."

She later said: "God, I'm f***ing going to stab you in the eye with this. Alright. I'm so f***ing (sic) with your s***. Just get it right. Everything is f***ing wrong."

The mother then asked her daughter how she spelt "Singapore", and when the girl replied wrongly, the woman said: "Wrong! Say it again."

The audio captured her making a "frustrated sound", and the woman said: "Who write like that. For God's sake...why, you f***ing c***-eyed, is it?...What the f***!"

She continued to call the girl "f***ing stupid", saying this was "un-f***ing believable" and "you are wasting my time".

The woman then asked the girl to write: "Her birthday is in June."

She berated her daughter, asking her how many "f***ing birthdays" she had gone for and that she was not going to let her go for them anymore unless she could finish "birthday".

"You went to how many f***ing happy birthday parties. You still don't know how to spell birthday," says the mother.

The woman is heard shouting louder and louder: "BIRTHDAY. Now write it. You so f***ing gundu (a term used to call someone an idiot). How many f***ing birthdays have you been to? You still can't f***ing get it right."

The woman screamed louder in the audio while cursing, and the audio ends with the woman shrieking vulgarities in succession and a sound of slapping while the child began to cry.

The magistrate said the audio recordings spoke volumes as to the intensity and duration of the mother's tirades against the daughter.

"It must also be remembered that (she) is a young girl - at her tender age, the views and opinions of her parents must weigh greatly in her mind," said Mr Soh.

"One can therefore only imagine the torment and distress that she must have felt at being labelled 'useless', and at the vulgarities hurled at her, in her mother's relentless scoldings."

He found that the mother had committed family violence against her daughter and that it was necessary to order a PPO for the daughter's personal safety or protection."

CNA's Steven Chia quit the evening news shift to spend more time with his children (19 May 2026)

"Most parents talk about wanting more “quality time” with their kids. But for CNA’s Steven Chia, quantity matters too.

In the latest episode of DNA, hosted by Rebecca Lim, Steven Chia, accompanied by his 16-year-old son Joshua Chia, reflects on family, work, and the reality of raising kids while juggling a demanding media career.

The Talking Point presenter and his wife, Tania, also have a 20-year-old daughter, Lucy.

When Lim brings up Steven Chia’s long-held belief in “quantity time”, he doesn’t hesitate to explain it.

“People think quality time, but I’m like, 'What do you mean by quality time?' Any time you spend with your child is quality time,” he said. “My view is that the more time you can spend with your children, the better.”

Science Centre Singapore to debut immersive ocean exhibition One Ocean: Every Action Ripples (19 May 2026)

"Science Centre Singapore will debut a new immersive ocean exhibition, One Ocean: Every Action Ripples, on May 30.

Billed as a world-first experience, the exhibition marks the global premiere of a multi-sensory showcase that transforms two decades of research by the Tara Ocean Foundation into an interactive public experience.

Presented in partnership with the foundation and produced by Ride FX, the exhibition will run until Jan 3, 2027 at Science Centre Singapore.

Spanning 10 zones, the exhibition combines 360-degree projections, free-roaming virtual reality, spatial soundscapes and interactive installations to explore the ocean as a system that connects us all and highlights how human actions can create ripple effects across marine ecosystems.

Among its key displays is a replica of the Tara Polar Station, a drifting observatory designed to study the Arctic environment across ten expeditions, offering visitors a glimpse into how scientists study one of the world’s most extreme environments.

Another highlight is 7 Wonders of the Ocean, a 360-degree projection experience that takes visitors through marine environments including the abyss, whale migration routes, the Great Barrier Reef, ice floes and bioluminescent waters.

The exhibition will also feature Symphonies of the Ocean, an audio experience built from authentic underwater and above-water recordings, as well as Legends of the Ocean, which explores cultural myths and stories inspired by the sea."

Asian philanthropy urged to play bigger role in education, development funding (19 May 2026)

"SINGAPORE: Philanthropic organisations in Asia can play a bigger role in financing education and development projects, amid funding pressures and a decline in traditional sources of aid, said speakers at the Philanthropy Asia Summit on Monday (May 18).

The philanthropic sector could also help attract private investment into long-term initiatives, they told CNA on the sidelines of the event.

Currently in its sixth edition, the summit brings together leaders from philanthropy, business, government and civil society to discuss issues including climate change, healthcare and inclusive development.

Teachers “The Beating Heart of Education”

Pia Rebello Britto, global director of education and adolescent development at UNICEF – the United Nations children’s agency – said philanthropic organisations are uniquely positioned to take more risks in educational innovation.

“Globally, we are seeing a lot of shift in traditional official development assistance. So, there is a moment now for philanthropy to make a big catalytic change,” she said.

Catalytic financing refers to early-stage funding that absorbs the risks of unproven projects, helping attract larger investors later on.

Such financing can “enable the sort of innovation aspect in really testing out models, taking some risks, that then the public sector and domestic resources can scale up”, Britto added.

But major funding gaps remain. Globally, there is a US$97 billion funding shortfall for education, she noted.

Britto said the focus should be on strengthening education systems.

“Teachers are there ready to work, but are we providing them the right training, the right support, the right empowerment, so that they can have the effect that's needed? They’re the beating heart of education,” she said.

“When you support one teacher, you support many children.”

She added that while governments typically fund teacher salaries, philanthropy could help uplift the teaching profession through training, upskilling and support systems."

SG Culture Pass expands access to Sing Lit with over 1,100 new titles and six additional bookstores (19 May 2026)

"Singaporeans looking to spend their SG Culture Pass credits on local books now have more options with over 1,100 additional titles and six new bookstores added to the scheme.

Announced by Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth (MCCY), the expansion now includes six newly onboarded stores: Basheer Graphic Books and Book Point Pte Ltd at Bras Basah Complex, along with Littered With Books, Nurul Anwar Bookstore, TCZ Studio and The Zall Bookstore.

Eligible titles can be identified by an official SG Culture Pass sticker on the cover.

Local literary works were first included under the SG Culture Pass in March 2026. Eligible titles span across fiction – including comics and graphic novels – poetry, plays and literary short essays in English, Chinese, Malay and Tamil languages, written by a Singapore Citizen or Permanent Resident at the time of publishing."

Commentary: Optimising education shouldn’t be the goal of introducing AI to primary school students (20 May 2026)

"SINGAPORE: The announcement that artificial intelligence will be introduced to primary school students has stirred debate among parents and educators.

Earlier this year, Minister for Education Mr Desmond Lee said that from Primary 4, students may use AI tools under close supervision. The goal is for AI to function like a teacher and ask students questions, rather than spoon-feed them answers.

In theory, a child having an AI tutor may not seem like a bad idea, especially if this can help with understanding difficult concepts.

But as a parent of two, I wonder if accelerating children’s learning should really be the goal of education at such an early age. At an age where kids are still developing their critical thinking, resilience and character, isn’t productive struggle more important than productivity itself?

Game-Changing Speed And Simplicity

An AI leader I interviewed shared a parenting and teaching hack: She lets her child speak to an AI chatbot with child-safe settings in place. It can answer complex questions and random trivia that would baffle many adults.

Intrigued, I tried it with my own kids. When they asked about war, scoliosis, strange bugs – I allowed AI to field a few questions in a child-friendly way. Its speed and simplicity were game-changing.

After a couple of brief sessions, I realised my kids seemed to enjoy asking AI more than the people around me.

When we were unsure about a Chinese question, my daughter asked if we should check with AI. Even when we ordered a printer online and could not instantly understand the manual, my kids’ first instinct was to ask AI.

The problem is, learning in the real world rarely works like this."

Man gets 14 years' jail for brutally abusing infant nephew in 'grave affront to human dignity' case (20 May 2026)

"SINGAPORE: A man who repeatedly abused a toddler under a year old in horrific ways, because of his grudge against the child's father, was sentenced to 14 years' jail on Wednesday (May 20).

Over the span of three months, the 32-year-old man pushed his nephew-in-law's head into a pail of water, pressed a pillow onto his face and choked him repeatedly until he foamed at the mouth.

The abuse ended only after a woman observed him choking the child at the void deck of a public housing block. She confronted him before calling the police.

Investigations uncovered multiple videos of the man abusing the child, aged nine to 11 months, during the assault. The offender admitted to abusing the boy because he held a grudge against his brother-in-law, who is the child's father.

All parties in this case cannot be named due to gag orders protecting the victim.

When the case was last heard in April, the prosecution had sought 12 to 15 years' jail for the Singaporean man, while the defence had asked for eight to 10 years' jail instead.

In meting out the sentence, District Judge Koo Zhi Xuan described the man's behaviour as heinous acts that were a "grave affront to human dignity".

It was deeply distressing to read about the abuse, and the heavy sentence reflects the retribution and general deterrence needed in this case, he said.

The man inflicted severe and lasting harm on the victim, trampling on a moral obligation not to commit harm against an infant who could not speak or defend himself, the judge added.

Noting that the acts were committed while the boy was under his care, the judge said that the man also betrayed the trust placed in him by his wife's family.

The way the man planned all his abusive acts – engineering occasions to be alone with the child and taking advantage of those instances – was an aggravating factor."

Snow City is closing. Here are 5 other attractions gone forever (20 May 2026)

"SINGAPORE: Snow City, the country's first indoor snow centre offering activities and entertainment for visitors, will be closing after 26 years.

The attraction's owner, Science Centre Singapore, announced on Tuesday (May 19) that the facility will end operations on Sep 30.

Its closure, which has sparked an outpouring of sadness online, marks another loss in Singapore's tourism landscape.

From water theme parks with towering slides to the country's first public aquarium, CNA looks at five iconic attractions that have come and gone.

Big Splash

Best known for its multicoloured five-lane slide, Big Splash was a sprawling water theme park that opened in East Coast Park in 1976.

The park claimed that its slides, which were up to seven storeys high, were the highest and longest in the world when the theme park opened.

It was Singapore's first seawater aquatic complex and featured pools with sand bottoms to simulate a visit to the beach for visitors.

Besides its water facilities, Big Splash also had an open-air theatre, food kiosks and an arcade.

Although it remained popular for years, Big Splash faced increasing competition from new water theme parks such as Sentosa's Fantasy Island and Wild Wild Wet in Pasir Ris.

The original water park closed in 2006 and reopened in 2008 as a lifestyle and dining hub named Playground@Big Splash.

It shut its doors after 40 years of operations in October 2016, after its lease expired. The site was returned to the government for redevelopment and is now occupied by Coastal PlayGrove, a play area with features that pay tribute to its iconic predecessor."

Man pleads guilty to making 9-year-old stepdaughter perform sex act, outraging her modesty (20 May 2026)

"SINGAPORE: A 55-year-old man was found guilty on Wednesday (May 20) of outraging the modesty of his stepdaughter, then eight or nine years old, and making her perform a sex act.

The case came to light after the girl confided in her babysitter about the acts in 2021, years after they had taken place. The babysitter told the girl's mother, who took her to file a police report.

The parties involved cannot be named due to a court order protecting the victim.

At the time of the offences, the man was married to the victim's mother, who also had another son – the victim's half-brother. The family lived in a one-room flat when the man moved in with them.

Eventually, the couple had six children together, and the family moved to a larger flat on the same floor in 2016 or 2017, the court heard. The man and the girl's mother divorced in 2022.

One night in 2016 or 2017, when the family was in the midst of moving to the new flat, the man asked the victim, then in Primary 3, to follow him so that they could perform prayers for the new house.

Armed with a book and a carrot, he took her to the new public housing unit and locked the gate. No one else was with them.

The man told his stepdaughter to sit on a stool in the corner of the room and asked if she wanted to see a ghost.

The victim replied that she did not want to see a ghost, so he blindfolded her and tied her hands together with two pieces of cloth, the court heard.

Using the carrot, he tricked her into performing a sex act.

After a while, she started to suspect that he had tricked her. She told him that she needed to go to the toilet, and the man untied her hands and removed the blindfold.

The girl ran back home and told her mother what had happened. After asking for more details, her mother immediately confronted the accused about the incident.

The girl did not disclose the man's sexual abuse because she felt uncomfortable doing so and did not want to trouble others. Her stepfather was verbally abusive and she was scared of him.

She felt safe to disclose the incidents only in 2021 when the man no longer lived with them, the court heard."

All university, polytechnic and ITE students to learn AI skills from 2027 (21 May 2026)

"SINGAPORE: From 2027, all students in institutes of higher learning (IHLs) will learn artificial intelligence skills that are tailored to their fields of study, said Education Minister Desmond Lee on Thursday (May 21).

The AI skills taught will be guided by "baseline AI competency frameworks" developed by IHLs.

Speaking at the National University of Singapore's (NUS) 120 Distinguished Speaker Series, Mr Lee said the frameworks - one for the autonomous universities and the other for polytechnics and the Institute of Technical Education (ITE) - aim to "establish a common baseline across our IHLs, so that every student in Singapore, regardless of which institution they attend, receives a consistent and strong foundation in AI competencies".

Students from the 2027 academic year will have compulsory modules incorporating those baseline AI competencies, while those already enrolled will have their existing curriculum "enhanced" to build AI skills.

All IHL students, including adults in Continuing Education and Training (CET), will get to develop AI competencies within their discipline as part of their full qualification programmes, said Mr Lee.

The competency frameworks are designed as a "deliberate step-up" from the AI exposure students receive in secondary schools and junior colleges, so that there will be a "coherent as well as cumulative learning journey" all the way into the workforce.

They will aim to help all IHL students develop skills such as:

• Understanding what AI can and cannot do, as well as should and should not do

• Learning with AI in ways that deepen understanding rather than replace thinking

• Using AI to analyse problems, generate insights and come up with better solutions

• Critically evaluating AI, including its ethical, social and legal implications

Citing how students in the Product Design and Innovation module at NUS’ College of Design and Engineering use AI tools to boost productivity, Mr Lee noted that they are still taught the fundamentals, including deep disciplinary knowledge and design judgment.

AI will be increasingly integrated into courses, but pedagogy must continue to guide how it is used, and the technology "should never replace deep, human learning" in schools and IHLs, said Mr Lee.

He pointed out that the "struggle of learning", such as researching, questioning and grappling, was a fundamental part of education, and that students must continue to experience such struggles - even though "AI can shortcut or short-circuit this process"."

Researchers working on White Paper on fertility as Singapore pushes to reverse birth rate decline (21 May 2026)

"SINGAPORE: Researchers are working on a White Paper with policy recommendations on fertility and child development to be shared with the government as it seeks to reverse Singapore's falling birth rates.

The paper will be jointly developed by the National University of Singapore's (NUS) Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine and the Population Association of Singapore, and submitted to the newly formed Marriage and Parenthood Reset Workgroup when ready, the university announced on Thursday (May 21).

The workgroup, which will examine factors affecting marriage and parenthood in Singapore, is expected to release its findings in early 2027.

Singapore's total fertility rate hit a record low of 0.87 in 2025, down from 0.97 the year before.

Speaking at the association's annual conference, Minister in the Prime Minister's Office Indranee Rajah, who heads the workgroup, said policymakers are focused on three issues: financial support, the perceived stress of raising children and time scarcity.

The workgroup is examining the costs families face at different stages of raising children, she said.

On the growing sentiment that Singapore is not a conducive environment for raising children, Ms Indranee said addressing perceived stress would require a more holistic approach. The government plans to engage students, parents, teachers and academics to explore ways to ease the education "arms race", she added.

Time scarcity, she said, is the hardest issue to tackle because it involves "the tension between two good things".

“On one hand, Singaporeans work hard and strive for excellence, and this has helped us progress as a society and country,” said Ms Indranee. “But the pursuit of achievement can sometimes come at the expense of rest, well-being, and having ample time and space to pursue life goals beyond work including marriage and parenthood.”

The challenge, she said, is not choosing one over the other but managing the tension between them."

Kim Lim says her nine-year-old son is ‘too kind’, worries he may be easily taken advantage of (24 May 2026)

"In the latest episode of DNA, hosted by Rebecca Lim, billionaire heiress and entrepreneur Kim Lim, joined by her nine-year-old son Kyden, talks about balancing motherhood with building a beauty empire, her relationship with him, and how she’s raising him to carry himself well despite being born into privilege.

Kim Lim, the daughter of billionaire Peter Lim, was raised to work hard for what she wants from a young age, with her father placing strong emphasis on character and on being a good person – values she now hopes to pass on to Kyden and her younger child, who turns two later this year.

She shares Kyden with her first husband, businessman Kho Bin Kai. The couple divorced in 2020 after more than three years of marriage but have remained on good terms and co-parent Kyden together.

At nine, Kyden has already made her proud, with Kim Lim saying he is patient, kind, respectful, and very tolerant towards his younger cousins as the eldest grandchild.

However, she admitted there were moments when she worried he may be “too kind”.

Kim Lim said she doesn’t place heavy emphasis on academics when raising Kyden, adding: “I’m not strict at all. But okay lah, at least must pass. I don’t expect [him to get] A1.

“Most important for me is character – the character building and the respect he gives people. I think this will follow him long-term. I can be crazy, I can be loud, but I respect people and we show people respect. I think that’s very important,” she explained."

After 9 years battling a relapsing blood cancer, this educator discovered a sense of gratitude through art (25 May 2026)

"With an ink pen, 58-year-old Wong Ching Yee sketched her childhood home in Tiong Bahru, tracing the rounded corners, curved balconies, and Art Deco-inspired elements.

As a child, Wong had climbed up three storeys of the low-rise block to the warmth of her parents’ study lamp flooding the room and the laughter of her brother and cousins filling the air.

More than five decades on, her parents and aunt, now in their 80s, still live there. But much else has changed.

In 2017, Wong was diagnosed with multiple myeloma, a blood cancer that begins in the plasma cells in the bone marrow. She went through treatment, remission, relapse, a second round of treatment, and is now in her second remission.

During her long cancer battle, her husband was also diagnosed with colon cancer. He succumbed within 10 months.

It was in this season of loss that Wong, an educator, picked up art, first experimenting with card-making in 2019, then moving on to sketching, calligraphy and painting. She was then in her early 50s.

She wanted to capture the fleeting moments and anchor herself in gratitude.

“Mortality is very real. It’s staring at me in the face,” reflected Wong, who has three adult sons aged 30, 28 and 21.

An Illness She Had Never Heard of

It began in 2015 with persistent joint pain in her shoulder, back and knees, as well as chronic fatigue.

Wong was diagnosed with monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance (MGUS), a usually benign condition where the body makes an abnormal protein in the blood. However, MGUS patients have about a 1 per cent yearly risk of developing multiple myeloma.

She was scheduled for regular blood tests to monitor her condition, and put on painkillers.

Two years later, however, she started to have daily nose bleeds, which led to a bone marrow biopsy to check if her MGUS had progressed into multiple myeloma or other plasma-cell disorders.

The call from the hospital came just as she boarded a cruise to Hong Kong. She went to the hospital after the trip.

“I was expecting bad news but I did not expect cancer,” she told CNA Women. “In fact, when they told me I had multiple myeloma, I asked them what it was. Could they spell it out for me?”

“When they told me it was cancer, I broke down,” said Wong, who was 49 then."

Man sentenced to nearly 15 years' jail over death of teen who was starved, beaten and chained in toilet (25 May 2026)

"SINGAPORE: A 66-year-old man who was among three people who fatally abused a 19-year-old woman who was starved, beaten and chained in a toilet in a Clementi flat was sentenced to 14 years and 11 months’ jail on Monday (May 25).

Lim Peng Tiong admitted to his role in months of abuse that led to Huang Baoying’s death in May 2021. She had lost about 43 per cent of her body weight and died from severe malnutrition and blunt force trauma.

The cases of the two co-accused - her 34-year-old brother Huang Bocan and 46-year-old Chee Mei Wan - are pending before the courts.

When Lim pleaded guilty in February to one count of culpable homicide not amounting to murder, the prosecution urged the court to impose 20 years’ jail, while his lawyers argued for 11 years in prison.

Explaining his decision, Justice Pang Khang Chau imposed an initial sentence of 14 years and five months in prison, with an additional six months in lieu of caning, since Lim is above 50 years old and cannot be caned.

The prosecution had submitted that the case fell within the category of the worst type of culpable homicide, but the judge disagreed, noting that Lim’s involvement was the least of the three.

His sentence would depend on his own conduct and culpability, Judge Pang said on Monday.

Adding that the prosecution tried to “shoehorn” Lim’s case into this particular category, the judge said they only considered the totality of all the acts committed, without paying attention to Lim’s individual acts.

For example, they submitted that Lim abused his close relationship with the victim. But the victim was the biological sister of the co-accused, and there was no familial relationship between Lim and the girl, the judge noted.

It would be wrong to punish Lim accordingly because of her totally different relationship with her brother, Judge Pang added.

While he agreed that the facts of the case were very egregious, the judge said he did not think Lim’s conduct met the standard for the sentence the prosecution asked for."

More Singapore residents identifying with English or Singlish, as mother tongue affinity falls: IPS survey (25 May 2026)

"SINGAPORE: Nearly half of Singapore residents now identify most with English or Singlish, a sharp rise over the past decade as identification with mother tongue and heritage languages has declined, according to a survey by the Institute of Policy Studies (IPS).

The 2024 survey of 4,000 residents found that 47.6 per cent identified most with English or Singlish, up from 33.8 per cent in 2013. The share identifying most with a mother tongue or heritage language fell from 65.1 per cent to 50.4 per cent over the same period.

Researchers attributed the shift in part to generational change. When a similar study was conducted in 2013, a larger proportion of respondents had been born before 1965 and were exposed to different language policies.

Research fellow Dr Melvin Tay said this group has since decreased significantly, representative of Singapore's current population spread.

Growing exposure to English through work and the global sphere has also played a role, said principal research fellow Dr Mathew Mathews. As more Singapore residents communicate and work with others in English, he added, their affinity with the language would be expected to increase.

A Singlish Identity

More respondents in 2024 agreed that Singlish gives Singaporeans a sense of identity, compared with a similar survey in 2018, rising from 50 per cent to 57.8 per cent.

The majority also agreed that Singlish is an important part of culture that should not be lost, with that figure rising from 44.4 per cent in 2018 to 50.6 per cent in 2024.

But the sentiment was not uniform across racial groups. Indian respondents were notably less likely to agree that Singlish gives Singaporeans a sense of identity – 49.8 per cent, compared with 58.7 per cent of Chinese respondents and 56.9 per cent of Malay respondents."

Foster parents of children with disabilities struggle to get access to health records, medical appointments (26 May 2026)

"SINGAPORE: For the last four years, Claire has been a foster mother to two children with special needs.

Both children have been diagnosed with global developmental delay and require numerous medical appointments, including speech therapy, paediatrician follow-ups, and dental visits.

However, unlike most parents who can book such appointments via the HealthHub mobile app, Claire is unable to do so.

Claire told CNA that she had access to the children’s HealthHub accounts until about the end of 2024, but no longer does.

Over the past year, she had to visit the hospital in person or call the hotline to make appointments, sometimes waiting close to 30 minutes on the phone before securing a slot.

“We used to be able to access their information online, and then somehow it was cancelled and we lost all the information about all the appointments,” she said.

“Everything started coming through SMS, which was very difficult because if you don’t really check in, you’ll miss the appointments.”

Claire is not the only foster parent who faces this issue.

During a parliamentary sitting in April, Nominated Member of Parliament Neo Kok Beng said foster parents did not have access to book medical appointments online and that some do not have access to other information, such as the child’s education. He asked about foster parents’ rights to do so.

Minister of State for Social and Family Development (MSF) Goh Pei Ming said foster parents are issued a letter from MSF that identifies them as the child’s caregiver under the ministry’s fostering scheme.

“This letter facilitates communications between the foster parents and the healthcare professionals to ensure that the medical needs are addressed.

“It also allows them to communicate through the school system to take care of the schooling and educational needs.”

Mr Goh acknowledged Dr Neo’s feedback and said it was consistent with what the ministry had heard from other foster parents.

He added that the ministry is working to provide foster parents with access to foster children’s education and healthcare information through HealthHub and Parents Gateway."

Dad fails in bid for court order compelling ex-wife to take their 2 kids to church camp (26 May 2026)

"SINGAPORE: A man has failed in a family court bid to compel his ex-wife to ensure their two children to attend a church camp, with the court stressing that it should not pass judgment on which parent's religious preference for their children should prevail.

In a judgment published on Tuesday (May 26), District Judge Kow Keng Siong added that it was not appropriate for a parent to use the coercive powers of the court to compel his children's participation in a religious activity over the other parent's objection.

"In family disputes touching on religion, identity and conscience, judicial restraint is often the wiser choice," said Judge Kow.

He said, however, that nothing in his judgment prevented the father from sharing his faith with his two children during his own access time, subject as always to their welfare, their wishes and emotional well-being.

The Case

The former couple obtained an interim judgment for divorce in January 2025.

They share a son born in 2016 and a daughter born a year later. Both children are baptised and enrolled in Christian schools, and their mother has care and control over them.

The father sought a court order compelling his ex-wife to ensure that their two children attend a four-day camp, transport them to and from the camp daily and bear half the registration fees and camp costs.

The mother opposed this application.

The father argued that his kids would benefit from the camp for reasons including providing support for their religious development and providing "wholesome activities that benefit their creative and physical development".

He claimed that his ex-wife had demonstrated "a consistent pattern of obstructing the formation of the Christian faith" in their children since May 2024 by failing to take them to various Christian activities.

The man said his ex-wife felt "entitled to decide" whether their kids should take part in such activities, and he said he had "reasonable grounds to apprehend" that she would not allow the kids to join the camp unless the court had made a specific order.

The man also said he had already paid S$370 (US$290) in registration fees for the camp.

The mother denied obstructing the formation of Christian faith in the children, saying she did not take them for some activities because of their school schedule.

She also argued that the attendance at the camp involves a scheduling decision that fell within her authority as the parent with care and control.

A court order compelling her to personally transport the children to and from the camp each day would be "oppressive and unreasonable", she argued.

She also said that her agreement was required before the children could be enrolled in the camp, since she had joint custody rights, and the father could not unilaterally decide on the issue and compel her to take them there."

I tell my son he is perfect as he is – so what does he see when he looks at my bleached-blonde hair and makeup? (27 May 2026)

"Every year, at the parents’ briefing at my son’s primary school, I hear the same reminder.

Students must stick to certain hairstyles, and coloured hair isn’t allowed. The idea behind this is good: children should learn to feel comfortable in their own skin and be proud of who they are.

The parents around me nod in agreement. I do too, even though I have had bleached-blonde hair for about 10 years.

It started as an experiment back when I was a magazine beauty editor, but I ended up loving it, especially since my white roots blended in better with blonde hair than with black.

Each year, I find myself feeling self-conscious. I glance around the school hall, looking for other parents with coloured hair to prove I’m not the only one. There are usually a handful. But I am always the only blonde.

In those moments, I wonder what my son thinks about the difference between what he’s taught and what he sees in me.

Sometimes, I think about bringing it up myself: “School says you can’t colour your hair, but Mummy’s blonde. Do you want to know why?”

But I tell myself there’s time to explain it properly later – once I’ve figured out how to explain it to myself first."

Teen to be charged over multiple traffic offences; police say he drove at 174kmh on ECP (27 May 2026)

"SINGAPORE: A 17-year-old boy will be charged in court on Thursday (May 28) over a string of traffic-related offences, including dangerous driving causing hurt, driving while underage and using deregistered vehicles with false licence plates.

Police said on Wednesday that the teenager is linked to three separate incidents between January 2025 and January 2026.

One of the cases involved a police chase at about 10.50pm on Jan 16 from Paya Lebar to Marine Parade, with the footage going viral on social media.

Investigations revealed that during the chase, the teen allegedly drove at speeds of up to 174kmh on the East Coast Parkway (ECP), where the speed limit is 90kmh, and 96kmh along Guillemard Road, where the limit is 40kmh.

He also allegedly ran multiple red lights and drove against the flow of traffic along several roads, including Ubi Avenue 2 and Lorong 28 Geylang.

During the pursuit, the car collided with five stationary vehicles along Paya Lebar Road and Guillemard Road before coming to a stop after crashing into a sixth car at the junction of Marine Parade Road and Still Road South.

The driver of the sixth car and his 15-year-old passenger suffered injuries.

Police said the teen fled on foot after the crash but was later arrested by traffic police officers.

Investigations further revealed that the car involved was a deregistered vehicle bearing a false licence plate. A vape and pod were also found in the car, although the Health Sciences Authority (HSA) took no further action following investigations due to insufficient evidence.

For the Jan 16 incident, the teen faces 10 charges, including dangerous driving causing hurt, driving while underage, using a vehicle without insurance, using a deregistered vehicle, using a vehicle without a vehicle licence, displaying a false licence plate, failing to stop after an accident, failing to render assistance, failing to stop when ordered by a police officer and providing false information."

Teen in high-speed police chase who collided with 6 cars handed 18 charges (28 May 2026)

"SINGAPORE: A teenager who allegedly drove multiple cars, including his grandmother's, while underage and uninsured was handed 18 charges on Thursday (May 28).

The 17-year-old had been arrested after a high-speed police chase in which he collided with six vehicles before fleeing on foot.

The teen cannot be named under the Children and Young Persons Act as he was under the age of 18 at the time of the alleged offences.

According to a police statement, the teen was involved in three separate cases of underage driving.

The first was on Jan 30, 2025, when the then-sixteen-year-old allegedly took his grandmother's car without her knowledge, as the ignition key was in the unlocked vehicle.

He drove for about one hour before returning the vehicle, the police said.

His grandmother called for police assistance after discovering her car missing."

Teo Siong Seng expands leave of absence to roles at NUS, shipping company PIL after US indictment (28 May 2026)

"SINGAPORE: Shipping executive Teo Siong Seng has expanded his leave of absence to his roles in the National University of Singapore (NUS) and shipping firm Pacific International Lines (PIL), following accusations in the US of conspiring to restrict the output and fix prices of dry containers.

In a statement on Thursday (May 28), Mr Teo also said he does not intend to seek re-election as chairman of the Singapore Business Federation (SBF) when his term ends on Jun 24.

It was previously announced that the industry veteran would take a leave of absence from his roles as SBF chairman, member of the Singapore Economic Resilience Taskforce (SERT) and board member at Enterprise Singapore.

These will take effect from Jun 1, along with his leave of absence as Pro-Chancellor of NUS.

Mr Teo's duties will be covered by other members of NUS' chancellery, the university said in response to queries from CNA.

He has also applied for a leave of absence from his role as executive chairman and director of PIL with effect from Jun 8.

"I have proactively decided to take these leaves of absence to afford myself sufficient time to attend to this matter, and for the best interests of the aforementioned organisations," Mr Teo said in the statement.

SBF told CNA on May 22 that Mr Teo’s duties as chairman would be assumed by vice-chairman and treasurer Mark Lee.

Mr Teo, who is the CEO and chairman of Hong Kong company Singamas Container Holdings, is one of seven executives from shipping container manufacturing companies that the US Department of Justice named in the price-fixing conspiracy.

The alleged conspiracy went on for over four years, from November 2019 to at least January 2024.

The US Justice Department said that as a result of the conspiracy, the prices of standard shipping containers doubled between 2019 and 2021, increasing container manufacturers’ profits by about 100-fold during the COVID-19 pandemic and global supply chain crisis."

Nearly 2,000 speeding violations detected at school zones in first 3 months of 2026 since new rules (28 May 2026)

"SINGAPORE: A total of 1,918 speeding violations were detected in school zones in the first three months of 2026, following the implementation of a full-day speed limit at the start of the year.

The figures, covering the period from Jan 1 to Mar 31, come as authorities step up efforts to improve road safety in areas frequented by children.

The 40kmh speed limit at school zones near primary schools was previously in effect only during specific periods, such as during school arrival and dismissal times.

Since January, however, the speed limit has been extended to cover all hours of the day.

The Land Transport Authority (LTA) announced the enhanced rules in 2025, noting that with more varied school schedules, the measure would create a safer environment for students, regardless of the time of day.

The Singapore Police Force (SPF) said in response to CNA's queries that the enforcement beyond traditional school hours is part of broader efforts to shape motorists’ behaviour and reinforce compliance with enhanced safety measures.

"School zones are areas where vulnerable children frequent and it is important to positively shape motorists' behaviour and reinforce the Enhanced School Zones to reduce risk of accidents," the police said."

Singapore should start youth on entrepreneurship earlier, says Dinesh Vasu Dash (28 May 2026)

"SINGAPORE: Singapore is looking to spark the startup instinct earlier, with plans to give secondary school and junior college students more chances to explore entrepreneurship.

This comes as the environment for young founders changes, with lower entry barriers, stronger support structures and artificial intelligence making it easier to begin, says Minister of State for Manpower Dinesh Vasu Dash.

Speaking to CNA in a wide-ranging interview, Mr Dinesh said Singapore should also build a culture where people are willing to take risks, learn from failure and think beyond the local market.

He added that the government’s approach is to support promising ideas across different industries, not just the hottest sectors like AI and biotech, while giving startups more pathways to scale locally and overseas.

Mr Dinesh co-chairs the Entrepreneurship committee, one of five looking at Singapore’s long-term competitiveness under the country’s Economic Strategy Review. Its mandate includes nurturing entrepreneurship and enhancing the competitiveness of Singapore’s startup ecosystem.

Barriers To Entrepreneurship Are “Much Lower”

Singapore has a vibrant startup network. Enterprise Singapore (EnterpriseSG) – the lead government agency championing enterprise development – said its ecosystem includes more than 4,500 tech startups, 400 venture capital firms and 220 incubators and accelerators.

Many startups operate from spaces such as LaunchPad @ one-north, run by JTC Corporation. The development offers 56,000 sq m of modular space for startups in sectors including biomedical sciences, infocomm, media and engineering.

JTC is also expanding LaunchPad into the Punggol Digital District, which focuses on digital industries and innovation.

Such spaces offer startups an ecosystem built for collaboration, said Mr Dinesh, who added that the path into business is easier today than before.

“What it means for a young person...is that the barriers to entry (are) much lower. So today, with the ability to start a company, it's actually very, very easy, with many of the grants that are available with EnterpriseSG and so forth,” he said.

EnterpriseSG currently offers schemes such as the Startup SG Founder programme, which provides mentorship and startup capital for first-time entrepreneurs, along with programmes that support overseas expansion, innovation and capability-building."

Pokemon Center Singapore to reopen on Jul 1 with refreshed interior and special-edition merchandise (29 May 2026)

"Following its temporary closure in April, the popular Pokemon Center Singapore will finally reopen on Jul 1 with a refreshed interior reflecting Singapore's heritage as well as special-edition merchandise.

The Legendary Pokemon Solgaleo has been chosen as the new symbol of the place, appearing on the store's refreshed logo and facade.

Fans visiting the store will also be greeted by a massive Solgaleo statue at the entrance. In addition, the revamped store now features a dedicated event space equipped with a large-format monitor, allowing it to host many events centred on the likes of video games, trading cards and more.

To commemorate the opening, Pokemon Center Singapore will have a slew of special-edition merchandise featuring artwork of Pokemon living in a Singapore-inspired cityscape.

The first wave of merchandise comprises 12 items and will go on sale at the reopening itself. These include a logo pin (S$10), a plush of Pikachu with durian (S$34), a metal plate (S$198) and more.

The second wave of products will be launched in August, which includes a bag charm depicting the beloved Pikachu and a cup of coffee."

Jail, caning for ex-police officer who posed as woman to molest teen boy and film others (29 May 2026)

"SINGAPORE: An ex-police officer who disguised himself as a woman to sexually prey on teenage boys was sentenced on Friday (May 29) to three years' jail and four strokes of the cane.

While dressed in a dress and headscarf, Sharizal Shafi'ee, 40, approached three boys, asking them to help adjust his bra.

The first two declined. The third agreed, believing Sharizal was genuinely a woman in need of assistance, but was later molested by him.

Sharizal was a police officer at the time of the offences but has since lost his job.

He earlier pleaded guilty to five charges, all involving sexual offences against three teen boys, then aged 15 years old. These are for procuring the commission of obscene acts, molest and producing child abuse material by recording two of the teens in sexual acts.

Another ten charges of a similar nature were taken into consideration for sentencing. These include one amalgamated charge of voyeurism, as he had recorded videos of 32 men engaged in sexual acts for around six months.

His victims cannot be named due to a gag order protecting their identities.

Approached Victim As A Woman

On Apr 18, 2024, Sharizal left his flat wearing a long blue dress, a brown headscarf and makeup. He went to the back gate of a secondary school, where he approached a 14-year-old boy.

Claiming that he needed help adjusting his bra, he asked the boy to follow him. When the boy declined, Sharizal approached another youth, then aged 18. This boy also declined to help him.

About 10 minutes later, Sharizal approached a third teen — a 15-year-old boy who agreed to help, believing Sharizal was a woman in need of assistance. The boy followed Sharizal to a nearby staircase landing, where Sharizal gave him instructions on how to help.

As the teen stood behind Sharizal and tried to follow his instructions, the man molested him.

The teen filed a police report later that day, and Sharizal was tracked down and arrested on Apr 28, 2024.

A forensic examination of Sharizal's mobile phone uncovered numerous obscene voyeuristic videos."

Singer Frances Tan swapped law for music, now represents Singapore in Commonwealth Song Contest finals (29 May 2026)

"At 25, Frances Tan Si Min has already lived two very different lives. The Singaporean singer-songwriter graduated with a law degree from the London School of Economics and Political Science, interned at top local firms, then walked away from it all to pursue her dream of making music.

Now, her original song Just Me is one of seven finalists at the ongoing Commonwealth Song Contest 2026, up against entries from Australia, India, Nigeria, United Kingdom, Saint Lucia and South Africa. Public voting closes on Sunday (May 31).

The pivot to music wasn’t random. Tan wrote her first song at 13, too afraid to tell anyone about her secret love for the craft. "Growing up, I always loved music and dreamed of pursuing it one day," Tan told CNA Lifestyle.

Awestruck from her first-ever concert at 11 – Justin Bieber’s My World 2.0 concert at the Singapore Indoor Stadium – Tan told her parents she wanted to pursue music, only to be laughed at as they said, “music should only ever be a hobby”. Embarrassed, she silenced her dream, vowed to "never bring this up to anyone ever again" and went on to law school.

"In my last year of law school, as I reflected on what I wanted to do after graduation, I realised that the little voice inside me, which I had ignored for 10 years, never went away," she said. "For the first time, I wondered: what if it is not a figment of my imagination, but actually a part of me?"

The realisation led her to New York University (NYU) where she completed a master’s in songwriting last year. The beginning of this journey led to the birth of Just Me. "I was so excited at the thought of living alone in [New York City] in my early twenties, finally pursuing music, which I had dreamed about my whole life, that a melody and lyric popped into my head while daydreaming," Tan says. "I ended up writing this song in one sitting."

It went on to win the UK Songwriting Contest's singer-songwriter category in 2024, before landing her a spot in the Commonwealth Song Contest finals.

The contest was open to 2.5 billion people across 56 Commonwealth nations. “To be chosen as one of the seven Grand Finalists this year, representing Singapore against six other countries on the global stage, is truly such an honour,” Tan said."

NTU student who tried to film women in hall toilet to be assessed for mandatory treatment order (29 May 2026)

"SINGAPORE: A Nanyang Technological University (NTU) student struggling to pay for his accommodation decided to obtain voyeuristic recordings for money after coming across an online advertisement offering payment for such material.

How Zhong Ting, 25, who was a third-year undergraduate at the time, then entered the female-only sections of a residential hall in an attempt to film such recordings.

He did not succeed in capturing any videos and was eventually caught after complaints were lodged against him.

How pleaded guilty to one count each of criminal trespass and attempted voyeurism on Friday (May 29), with another count of criminal trespass to be taken into consideration when he is sentenced.

At the close of the hearing, District Judge Terence Tay ordered that How be assessed for a mandatory treatment order (MTO), which directs offenders suffering from certain treatable psychiatric conditions to undergo treatment in place of other forms of punishment.

The court heard that How was a third-year aerospace engineering undergraduate at NTU and was staying at its Hall of Residence 14 at the time of the offences in 2025."

Singapore security employee union says it stands by officers involved in Hong Kong school principal incident (29 May 2026)

"SINGAPORE: The Union of Security Employees (USE) said on Thursday (May 28) that it "stands firmly behind" the security guards involved in a confrontation with a Hong Kong school principal in which he swore at them.

The secondary school principal, Mr Lee Cheuk‑hing, who was on a trip to Singapore with a group of students, was seen arguing with the guards over a parking matter at SAFRA Jurong in a video widely circulated on social media.

Mr Lee has since tendered his resignation from San Wui Commercial Society Secondary School in Tuen Mun and apologised for his failure to "lead by example".

The school had earlier suspended him from his post, with the school's manager saying: "Though he said he wanted to protect the students, his actions did not meet what the public expects of a school principal."

Providing its account of the incident, USE said that a chartered tour bus carrying 34 students from Hong Kong had stopped on the public main road directly outside the gates of SAFRA Jurong, along unbroken double yellow lines, on May 22 at about 5.30pm.

"The parked vehicle completely blocked the traffic entering SAFRA", and as this timing coincided with peak childcare dismissal hours, it caused a severe traffic bottleneck and prevented parents from driving into the compound to pick up their children, the union said in a Facebook post.

Frontline security officers then stepped outside and instructed the bus driver to either move into the premises to a designated rear drop-off area, or move so as not to obstruct incoming traffic.

"Instead of cooperation, their instructions were rejected. They were told to 'shut up', and received an aggressive verbal tirade of profanities and taunts," said USE.

"The tense situation dissipated when parents of the school children who were trying to go in to pick up their children stepped in to request the driver to move."

The union said that the principal "immediately altered his demeanour" and cooperated, telling one of the parents that she was "very polite".

"This incident created intense, unnecessary friction for a whole ecosystem of ground-level workers, including our frontline security officers who faced significant hostility while executing their public safety duties, and the local bus driver caught in an operational bottleneck between passenger demands and traffic regulations," the union said.

It added that one of the security officers had made an official police report over the verbal abuse and obstruction.

In response to a query from CNA on Friday, the police confirmed that a report had been lodged over the incident."

Spare the rod, spoil the child? Adults who were caned as children disagree (29 May 2026)

"When Ms Joline Lim's mother was spring-cleaning her family home a few years ago, she discovered a dusty stash of canes in different lengths and thicknesses, strategically hidden behind a large wardrobe.

As a child, Ms Lim was caned by her mother for being naughty. To avoid being punished, she would hide the canes behind the cupboard or lock herself in a room.

Her mother did not catch on to the graveyard of canes, but she did remove the locks on every room in the house – bathrooms included – so that her daughter could not hide in a locked room.

To Ms Lim's mother, caning as a disciplinary tool was only the "natural" course of action because she herself was caned as a child.

Ms Lim recounted: "I remember thinking we were like Tom and Jerry, as she chased me around the dining table with a cane in hand." She was only spared the rod when she turned nine years old.

Now 40 years old, Ms Lim is the director of social enterprise Chapter Zero, and she can look back and laugh at these memories today.

However, the tears she shed while being caned and the fear she felt were enough for her to decide that she would never use the same tool on her son, aged 10, and daughter, seven.

The debate around corporal punishment for children has returned to the public spotlight, after the Ministry of Education (MOE) last month announced stricter disciplinary measures to tackle bullying and serious student misconduct.

First-time offenders of serious misconduct face one to three days of detention or suspension, or both, as well as an adjusted conduct grade.

Older boys may receive one stroke of the cane if aggravating factors are present.

In parliament earlier this month, Education Minister Desmond Lee said that caning is used alongside a suite of restorative and disciplinary measures.

The move has divided some parents in Singapore, with some viewing caning as an effective deterrent to bad behaviour, and others worrying about its effects on a child's development."

Heng Swee Keat named first chancellor of Singapore Institute of Technology (3 June 2026)

"SINGAPORE: Former Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Education Heng Swee Keat has been appointed the inaugural chancellor of the Singapore Institute of Technology (SIT), the university said on Wednesday (Jun 3).

The appointment took effect on Monday and will last for a five-year term, ending on May 31, 2031.

As chancellor, Mr Heng will serve as SIT’s highest-ranking ceremonial office holder and ambassador.

He will preside over key university ceremonies, including convocations, and represent the university at major institutional and external engagements.

Mr Heng will also support SIT in strengthening partnerships and advancing strategic priorities, such as industry and philanthropic engagement.

"The establishment of the role of chancellor reflects SIT’s continued evolution and commitment to advancing its mission of nurturing industry-ready graduates and driving innovation through applied learning, industry collaboration, and research," said SIT.

Mr Heng said he was honoured to be appointed SIT's inaugural chancellor.

"SIT occupies a distinctive and important role in Singapore’s higher education landscape, preparing graduates with applied skills, industry experience and the confidence to contribute meaningfully to society and the economy.

"I share SIT’s conviction that applied research and deep industry partnership are not complementary to education — they are central to it," he added.

Chairman of SIT’s board of trustees Bill Chang said Mr Heng is "widely respected for his distinguished service, visionary leadership and steadfast commitment to Singapore’s development", particularly in education, innovation and economic transformation.

"In fact, SIT was gazetted as Singapore’s fifth autonomous university while Mr Heng was Education Minister, to provide more opportunities for industry-relevant upskilling and lifelong learning," Mr Chang added."

Hong Kong principal fired for swearing at security guards on Singapore school trip (4 June 2026)

"A Hong Kong school principal has been fired after he swore at security guards during a student trip to Singapore last month, the institution has announced.

The management committee of San Wui Commercial Society Secondary School in Tuen Mun announced on Wednesday (Jun 3) the immediate dismissal of principal Lee Cheuk-hing and its refusal to accept his resignation, submitted about a week after the confrontation.

The committee received Lee’s resignation letter on May 28, with his requested last day to be Aug 31.

“If he were to remain in office as principal before Aug 31, it would gravely disrupt the operation of the school and prevent the school’s teachers and students from moving forward as soon as possible,” the management committee said.

“This constitutes the immediate dismissal of Mr Lee and the removal of all his duties at the school.”

The statement added that the school confirmed Lee’s “vulgar” behaviour during the exchange tour violated the professional code of conduct for teaching staff, especially guidelines stipulated by the Education Bureau.

The committee emphasised that as the head of the institution, Lee was held to a higher standard by parents and the public to set a positive example.

Edmund Wong Chun-sek, a former lawmaker and currently a manager of the school, said the one-off incident would not affect the hiring of Lee’s replacement.

“I believe an isolated incident will not discourage dedicated, capable and aspiring educators from applying for this principalship,” Wong said."

He added that the decision to fire Lee was guided by the best interests and well-being of students."

Commentary: If your child’s myopia keeps getting worse, having new spectacles isn’t enough (5 June 2026)

"SINGAPORE: When I tell parents that their young child’s spectacle prescription has increased again within a year, they are sometimes almost too calm about it. They see it as simply “updating glasses” annually and making the child sit farther from the television or reducing screen time.

This reaction is understandable in Singapore, where myopia is so common that it is seen as an ordinary part of childhood for many, harmless besides the need to wear spectacles. But this normalisation is a concern.”

Nearly 60 per cent of 12-year-olds and 80 per cent of teenagers in Singapore are short-sighted. Although the rate of myopia in Primary 1 children has recently dropped to 26 per cent, there is still a significant number of children between 7 and 17 years with high myopia coming in for professional consultations.

We experience myopia as blurred vision, but there is actually a structural change happening: The eye is elongating abnormally. Earlier onset of myopia gives the eye more time for the eye to continue elongating abnormally.

This increases the risk of a more severe version, called high myopia. In my practice, I have seen young patients with mild myopia develop high myopia within just a year or two. Families may assume this is simply growing up, until they learn how this also increases their risks of serious eye diseases later in life, including retinal detachment and glaucoma, which can lead to vision loss. A stronger prescription may sharpen vision, but it does not address the underlying progression.

Myopia Is A Chronic Condition

Myopia care has evolved in the past decade, from simply correcting vision to actively managing its progression. This may seem small, but it is an important nuance.

It doesn’t stop at making a pair of spectacles. Treatment needs to be tailored to the child’s age, rate of progression, lifestyle, eye condition and needs. This requires monitoring over time, identifying risk factors and measuring axial length (the length of the eye from front to back).

Axial length reflects how the eye itself is growing. Two children may have similar spectacle prescriptions, but very different patterns of eye growth and long-term risk profiles.

That’s why myopia should be managed over time, like any other chronic condition, with regular follow-ups and early intervention to help improve outcomes."

Fresh graduates may need to adjust salary expectations amid economic uncertainty: Analysts (5 June 2026)

"SINGAPORE: Fresh university graduates may need to moderate their salary expectations as wage growth this year is expected to vary across sectors amid global economic uncertainty, said analysts.

This comes after findings from the Ministry of Manpower (MOM)’s School-to-Work Transition Study showed that graduates across most disciplines earn less than they had expected when entering the workforce.

The survey, conducted in 2025, polled about 2,500 Singapore resident graduates aged 22 to 28 who held at least a bachelor's degree.

It examined employment outcomes and early career experiences, including salary expectations, to better understand how graduates transition from education to employment.

According to the study, the most common reason university graduates turned down a job offer was low pay, with 30.6 per cent of respondents saying so.

Meanwhile, about a quarter – or 26.7 per cent – said they were waiting for a better offer.

Other reasons included a lack of interest in the role, an unsuitable work environment, and limited opportunities for career advancement."

Mother jailed for giving 15-year-old son methamphetamine, leaving drug utensils in living room (5 June 2026)

"SINGAPORE: A woman was sentenced to four years’ jail on Friday (Jun 5) for giving her then 15-year-old son methamphetamine and the utensils he needed to smoke it.

The 52-year-old woman and her husband, the boy’s stepfather, provided drugs to him from January 2025 to June 2025.

They also left various drug utensils in the living room where he could access them, and admitted to giving him another utensil on another occasion.

All parties cannot be named to protect the identity of the victim.

In January 2025, the boy chanced upon some drug utensils in the sink at home. He was curious and asked his mother what they were for, the court heard.

His mother, who pleaded guilty to two charges under the Misuse of Drugs Act on Friday, told him that they were utensils for smoking methamphetamine, which caused the boy to consider doing so.

Over the next few months, her 15-year-old son went on to smoke methamphetamine once every two to three days, using the various drug utensils left in the open.

The couple were both arrested at their home in June 2025, and officers found improvised drug utensils after searching the unit. The man’s case is still before the courts."

An all-nighter, six articles and an NTU campus newspaper born again (5 June 2026)

"In the wee hours of the morning on Apr 8, the lights remained on in a small room at Nanyang Technological University (NTU).

As most of their peers lay sound asleep in bed, a group of about 13 students, with the help of a few alumni and faculty advisers from the Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information (WKWSCI) were still up working for a common purpose: they had a campus newspaper to bring back to life.

It had been around six years since the last time an article was published in The Nanyang Chronicle, a student-run publication dating back to July 1994.

The paper had put up a notice on its website that it was undergoing a "transformation" to adapt to a new media landscape and how audiences consume news, with a new online version promised by August 2020.

That, however, never materialised – until now.

That early morning on Apr 8 this year, the Media co-Lab at NTU buzzed with activity as students hopped from desk to desk and screen to screen, poring over stories with the closest scrutiny, their makeshift newsroom thrumming with energy.

At the break of dawn, once every word and photo had been quadruple-checked, they hit "publish" on their brand new website. Just like that, The Nanyang Chronicle was alive again.

"The articles weren't perfect, but publishing everything that night gave us a lot of satisfaction," said Ms Eunice Chin, a second-year student at NTU and chief editor at the Chronicle.

"It's a blur in my memory now, but it was also really fun."

That evening was the culmination of an effort led by NTU WKWSCI students Ms Sharon Tay, 20, and Ms Nooraishah Karim, 23, who had initially approached the school to start a new student-run newspaper to practise the journalistic skills they were learning in class.

The administration counter-offered: Instead of birthing a new beast, why not resurrect the sleeping giant?

A slate of six articles were put out that morning to kick off the Chronicle's new era.

Among the stories was a piece examining students' backlash behind NTU's renaming of The Hive (its world-famous "dim-sum" building), an article digging into concerns over the school's halal food variety, and a human-interest feature on students saving fallen bats on campus.

The stories received considerable interest among former NTU students – especially those once affiliated with the Chronicle. An article on campus-specific indie matchmaking platforms also made the rounds on social media sites such as Reddit, garnering about 1,000 views in a single weekend.

It was a victory for the group who did not have any expectations of how the articles would perform.

Yet the paper's six-year hiatus that preceded that hectic all-nighter is indicative of the odds stacked against student publications today.

In a media landscape inundated with content and shaped by shrinking attention spans and news fatigue, what is a student newspaper actually for?"

I was raised to say 'I love you' to my parents. Now I understand why others don't (5 June 2026)

"Growing up, my brother and I were trained to greet our father the same way every day.

"Daddy, good morning. I love you."

My mother always made sure we said it once in the mornings, and again in the evenings when he came home from work.

"Daddy, good night. I love you."

We kids said it without thinking. My parents said it back in the same way. No big deal; just part of the everyday routine.

Part of it came from church where, at Sunday school, we were taught to honour our parents in our daily life, which can come in the form of greetings, the way we spoke to them, and how we expressed care and appreciation for them.

Saying "I love you" felt natural in that setting.

For a long time, I assumed this was the norm.

Then as I grew older, going from primary school to secondary school, I started to notice that not everyone seemed to share the same norms.

Must Affection Be Spoken Aloud?

You do not need statistics and surveys to see how affection works in Singapore. You just have to pay attention.

At a coffee shop, a parent tells her adult child not to order too much food, but digs into the extra dish with gusto anyway, savouring the thought that the child wants her to be well-fed.

On the bus, someone receives a text message: "Going to rain. Bring umbrella." No greeting, no emoji, nothing else.

At the void deck of a public housing block, a father waits longer than necessary, then when his child arrives, says he was just there to pass time.

Nothing here sounds like "I love you". But it's there, beneath the curt words and brusque delivery.

This way of expressing care is often described as practical. It can take the form of reminders, corrections, or what feels like unnecessary scolding.

A child does well on a test but, instead of receiving praise, is asked where the missing marks went. A teenager gets home late and is censured for breaking curfew before being given the opportunity to explain.

Viewed on their own, these moments of "tough love" can feel tiring.

For many parents of my own dad and mum's generation, love was not about making their children feel good – it was about providing them with stability and making sure they were taken care of in concrete ways such as food, shelter and education.

In that context, saying the words "I love you" was not always necessary.

It was more important to do all the things that testified "I love you"."

How a boy and his eagle in Mongolia helped a grieving Singaporean son to let go – and create the book he needed (6 June 2026)

The first time Siyuan Aw met Bekku, the 17-year-old was standing on top of his family’s hut somewhere in Mongolia’s Altai Mountains, phone raised skywards trying to catch a signal and frustrated by the choppy connection.

And then he called out to his golden eagle, which emerged from the clouds and landed on his outstretched arm. It was a bond unlike anything Aw had witnessed.

That encounter would eventually become the seed of a seven-year book journey, which resulted in Our Wings As One, a debut picture book that was recently shortlisted for the Hedwig Anuar Children’s Book Award 2026.

When The World Got Too Loud

Back in 2018, Aw had arrived in Mongolia dealing with burnout and grief. The 43-year-old Singaporean had been working as the chief strategy officer of a leading advertising agency in Shanghai, where he was consumed by the relentless pace of agency life.

“Everyone seemed to have something to say about everything,” Aw recalled. “My world was getting louder, noisier,” he said. “My phone was a prison. I lived inside it – small, pixelated, trapped.”

The noise surrounding Aw felt impossible to escape – and the grief he had already been dealing with finally dismantled it all. The quick death of his mother from cancer a few years ago had marked a profound rupture inside him.

“Despite my profession as a brand strategist, I never successfully strategised myself out of my grief,” he recalled.

Gradually, something inside him shifted and not long after, Aw decided to leave the high-octane city of Shanghai and head towards the high-altitude wilderness of West Mongolia.

“It was not about escape,” he said. “I went there to listen again. To remember the language of silence.”

The Boy And The Eagle

In Ulaanbaatar, a chance encounter with local English teachers led Aw deep into the Altai Mountains, where he stayed with a local family – the first foreigner to have done so, he was told. They were a tribe of eagle hunters, whose lives remained closely tied to the rhythms of the mountains.

Bekku was one of them.

Aw’s early interactions with his new young friend were awkward, bridged eventually by his Canon 5D camera. The two slowly bonded over photography, with Bekku taking Aw on adventures through the mountains.

Despite his age, Bekku sometimes surprised Aw with moments of unexpected insight, what he called “wild wisdoms.”

"Why do you close your eyes when you're connecting with your eagle in the sky?" Aw had asked him once. "Because the language of our heart needs silence," Bekku replied. "When we close our eyes, we amplify the inaudible whispers of our soul."

In another instance, Bekku told him: "My eagle guides me everywhere I go. When I call my eagle, I connect with her spirit. When we fly in the sky, we fly as one."

Aw was mesmerised by their bond. "We became chasers of twilight, dreamers on rooftops. We would lie beneath the clouds and let our imagination run free. We would chase sunsets not to catch them, but to remember they existed,” he wrote in his journal."

Latest On The Site
ITE's online examination system went kaput today
Open Letter to Minister for Education Desmond Lee: Some PSLE-style questions on Article 16, alumni priority and discrimination by descent
Better Believe It......Because They Actually Happen(ed) Collection 77
[Video] NUS student's racist remarks strike raw nerves, netizens up in arms
PHV driver alleges elitism by school teacher, writes complaint to principal
Person who picked up student concession card spent $128.25 at McDonald's, police report lodged

#greedisGOOD

Keep Calm & Pig Out.

VISIT THE FOOD DOSSIER