5 tips on what to do when your child swears (15 January 2023)
"SINGAPORE – When Ms Esther Foong-Tan’s daughter was three years old, she told her elder brother to “f*** off”.
Ms Foong-Tan, 38, was shocked as swearing is not allowed in their family, but it turned out to be a teachable moment."
Minor Issues: Swearing can be a good thing in the age of artificial intelligence (15 January 2023)
"SINGAPORE – “Swearing, a curse word/Spilled from lips in moments of rage/A sign of frustration.”
This poem on swearing was not written by me, but by the artificial intelligence engine, ChatGPT."
Fun With Kids: Matching family outfits for Chinese New Year, Disney turns 100 (15 January 2023)
"SINGAPORE – Make family time all the more special with these ideas and activities.
Bond: Maison Q’s Chinese New Year outfits
Local label Maison Q has dreamt up eight original prints for its 2023 festive collection, with motifs that tell a story."
askST: Is the IB easier than the A levels? (15 January 2023)
"SINGAPORE - Once again, students from the handful of local schools who sat the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme (IBDP) exams in November 2022 have done well.
Not only were their average scores much higher than the global average, nearly half of the perfect scorers worldwide – 55 out of 120 – came from Singapore. The impressive showing has again left parents and students wondering if the IB exams are easier than the A levels."
From filtering out harmful content to restricting followers: The parents' guide to keeping youths safe on TikTok (16 January 2023)
"Perhaps no other video-sharing platform has seen such explosive growth as TikTok, which saw its one billionth member roll onto the platform in September 2021.
It’s easy to see why. Its easily digestible short-form video content and ease of use make it simple for community members to upload and share content – and this in turn allows them to find other like-minded individuals."
Cost of textbooks for primary, secondary students rise by up to 7% as price freeze ends (16 January 2023)
"SINGAPORE — Parents of primary and secondary school students have had to pay up to 7 per cent more for textbooks this year with the end of a two-year price freeze on a list of government-approved books.
The prices of textbooks not on this list are also seeing a surge, with some rising up to 21 per cent."
Global scientific community must work together in spite of geopolitical tensions: DPM Heng (17 January 2023)
"SINGAPORE – The scientific community can collaborate on the advancement of knowledge, regardless of the ups and downs of international relations, said Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat on Tuesday.
Speaking at the 2023 Global Young Scientists Summit, Mr Heng, who is chairman of the National Research Foundation (NRF), said collaboration has slowed or stalled in some areas as a result of intensified competition between major powers and fractured political rhetoric."
Income cap for priority admission to MOE kindergartens raised from $3,500 to $4,500 (18 January 2023)
"SINGAPORE - The income cap for priority entry to Ministry of Education (MOE) kindergartens has been raised from a gross household income of $3,500 a month to $4,500, in a move to keep them accessible.
The change will take effect on Feb 17, when the 2023 registration exercise starts. It is meant to ensure that these kindergartens remain accessible to lower-income households amid rising incomes, said MOE on Wednesday."
Scholarship enables teen with financial struggles to read computing abroad (25 January 2023)
"As a teen, Mr Srijan Srivastava had always had a goal to attend a reputable research university. But he had to abandon his dream when his father had a paralysis attack in 2017.
Recalls the 23-year-old: “My high school years were literally the hardest I had ever studied, as I was determined to ace the challenging Joint Entrance Examination (in India, where I’m from) and enter an engineering college. But life had other plans for me.”
Sign-on bonuses, pay hikes, referral incentives: Pre-schools go all out to recruit teachers (25 January 2023)
"SINGAPORE - Several pre-school operators are actively trying to recruit teachers amid an ongoing review to improve teachers’ well-being and working conditions in the early childhood sector.
In November 2022, PAP Community Foundation (PCF) Sparkletots – the largest operator here with more than 40,000 children in about 360 pre-schools islandwide – introduced a sign-on bonus of up to $5,000 for new teachers joining them from Dec 1, 2022, to May 31, 2023."
Exciting days ahead: Easing into primary school (16 December 2022)
"Your child is heading to Primary 1. How will they fare with this change? Here’s what Mr Melvin Cher, Principal, Northoaks Primary School, would like all parents to know about transitions, why it’s important and how to prepare your child to ease into school life.
Over the last two years, on the first school day of January, I have been welcoming the little ones heading to our Primary 1 classes. It is a milestone – their first step into a decade-long education journey – not just for them, but for their parents, too.
As I see the anxious, emotional faces of the parents waving their precious ones goodbye, I want them to know something that I have seen first-hand as Principal of a Primary School with an MOE Kindergarten, and previously as the Deputy-Director of the Pre-school Education Branch in MOE: Children are more capable of dealing with transition and change than we give them credit for. In most cases, they make new friends very easily, and settle into the routines of primary school with support from school and the family. So, do trust in your child’s abilities.
As a parent of two children now in Secondary 1 and 2, I have been down this path myself."
From inmates to schoolmates (16 December 2022)
"*Alan and Rizwan Habib’s experiences show that second chances, and inspiration, can come in the most unexpected of ways.
Here, their stories – low points, unexpected achievements and hope at last – and glimpses of a school behind bars as shared by them and teachers at Prison School.
With his boyish crew-cut and thick glasses, Alan* looks like just another undergraduate, but his route to university has been more unusual than others - via Prison School.
“I am lucky I look young,” says the student of Singapore Management University (SMU), laughing. “But when I tell my schoolmates that I am 30, it does lead to a lot more questions. I have had some awkward moments, but in general what I tell them is, ‘Prison was a blessing in disguise for me.’”
That fateful day… and life after
In 2015, Alan’s world came crashing down when he was sentenced to eight years in prison. He was then 23 years old and had a two-month-old daughter. “In those days, I just wanted to be young, wild and free,” Alan recalls. “The moment that I passed through the towering prison gates, everything that I had thought and believed about my life shifted. Over the next few weeks, I had plenty of time to think about my parents, my wife and daughter and how my missteps were making them suffer.”
Alan was determined to turn his life around. “I didn’t want to sit in prison and do nothing for the next eight years. “I had already taken my ‘O’ Levels, so I wanted to make the best use of my time and upgrade myself.”
He applied for the A-Level programme, missed out that round due to strong demand for places, applied again, and was accepted in his second year."
Helping my child discover the world we live in – and how Social Studies paves the way (21 December 2022)
"How do we get children to be interested in the events around them? How do we develop their critical thinking skills, and prepare them for a world that is increasingly interconnected and diverse? MOE Curriculum Resource Development Officer Huang Churu, who has taught Social Studies for 13 years, discusses how these areas are taught in primary school through the subject. The mother of two also shares how she nurtures these skills in her son.
“What do you think life was like in the past?” I asked my nine-year-old, as a bout of spring-cleaning unearthed some old photos my husband and his uncle took at a kampung years ago. The grainy, sepia-toned photographs from a lifetime ago were objects of fascination to my son whose idea of a photograph exists in the cold hard shell of a mobile phone.
The teacher in me saw the opportunity to use the photographs to engage him in a conversation about life in the past and Singapore’s resettlement chapter. We quizzed my husband about why his family moved out of his kampung and stayed in a flat. We also searched for more images of kampungs and compared them to our present living conditions. As we chatted, I was pleasantly rewarded with snippets of childlike wisdom:
Me: Why do you think we live in flats now instead of in kampungs?
My son: Houses in a kampung would catch fire easily and spread quickly. That's very dangerous. Living in HDB flats is much safer.
Me: Do you want to live in a kampung?
My son: Yes! I can play with my friends outside my house and there would be many different games we can play. There wouldn’t be a need for security cameras as everyone is a friend.
My husband’s recounting of afternoons spent sliding down hillsides on cardboard and scattering feed to the village chickens while perched on the shoulders of his uncle sounded fascinating to my son. He could imagine himself doing the same, had he been born in that era. These stories are windows into our nation’s history through which my son could glean some insights on how people in Singapore lived in the past.
It was heartening that the central theme in our conversation was about the simplicity of life in the past. Life was simpler, and at times harder. People did not have much – we hear about how families might have had to share a television between them, or pile into the back of a lorry to get around – but their days were rich with the simple joys of everyday life."
To learn Economics, let’s play a game (28 December 2022)
"Firms, market structure, price differentiation… in the hands of Mr David Chong and Ms Zeng Wenjie, such topics are never dry or boring. They could even be turned into games, escape rooms and comics. The two teachers are recipients of the 2022 Outstanding Economics Teacher Award (OETA). Let’s hear how they make students look forward to their lessons.
“Mad professor! Run! Escape!”
It sounds like chaos has broken out and someone needs to look in on Mr David Chong and his classroom at Hwa Chong Institution.
But it’s not what you think. The Economics lecturer merely came up with an escape-room game to make problem-solving fun.
Over at Ms Zeng Wenjie’s classroom at Temasek Junior College, there’s high energy too: Her students are punching away at their devices to Reply, Like and Comment on answers to the quiz questions that Ms Zeng is posing online.
When students are excited, they learn better, says the senior teacher, who likes to gamify some of her lessons to make them more interactive. And the students are responding well to these efforts by her team of Economics educators, going by how TJC gets requests from students to take Economics at a higher level of H3 as enrichment to H2, where it doesn’t count towards their final grade. These elective modules, which include topics such as ‘Behavioral Economics’ and ‘Firms and Strategies’ offer students the option of delving deeper into their topics of interest without the full weight of the H3 curriculum.
While optional, these modules are a hit among students – sign-ups are often filled within a few days."
Making new friends during Covid-19 (28 December 2022)
"Changkat Primary School didn’t let the pandemic get in the way of precious learning experiences for their students. They organised a virtual meet-up that had students interacting and playing team games with peers in Malaysia – virtually.
Since 2016, a staple on the calendar of Changkat Primary School used to be a cultural exchange programme to Sekolah Kebangsaan Putrajaya Presint 11(1), a primary school located in Putrajaya, Kuala Lumpur.
Organised by the Malay Language Unit, the students would meet their counterparts across the border to engage in cultural learning activities and make new friends.
Then came COVID-19, putting a halt to what was a rite of passage for students at the school.
The teachers were determined not to let the pandemic disrupt this learning experience and organised a virtual meet-up."
Turning students into happy readers (5 January 2023)
"How do you get your kids to read? Take a leaf out of the books of teachers at Peiying Primary and Qihua Primary. From mystery dates to haikus and more, here are some ideas you can try at home.
PEIYING PRIMARY
Don’t judge a book by its cover
P6 students go on a “blind date with a book” during the school’s annual English Language Fiesta. They select a mystery book, which is wrapped in nondescript kraft paper to conceal its title, based just on a brief description of the story and its genre, for instance adventure or fairy tale."
Keeping kids safe online – a community effort (16 January 2023)
"To raise students’ awareness of cyber safety, schools like Woodlands Primary and Tampines North Primary are complementing their cyber wellness curriculum through partnerships with agencies like Cyber Security Agency of Singapore. Students are engaged in learning to be safe online through skits, dance challenges, and other interactive activities.
By Neo Wen Tong
Hands up if you’ve taught your child how to be safe in a public space, such as crossing the road, or responding to strangers. Hands up again if you’ve taught your child how to be safe online.
Most parents would have done the former, but the latter might not be so intuitive – yet! The next time your child goes online, take the chance to talk to them about cyber safety.
Our schools are already doing this from as early as Primary 1. Woodlands Primary School and Tampines North Primary School collaborated with Cyber Security Agency (CSA) to help their students develop deeper knowledge of topics like digital footprints, using strong passwords, and identifying phishing emails. This was part of CSA’s SG Cyber Safe Students Programme."
Notes from the heart (16 January 2023)
"The art of letter-writing may be old-world, but it definitely helped forge brand new friendships among students from Special Education school Grace Orchard School, and primary schools Pei Chun Public School and Fairfield Methodist School (Primary).
Why did these schools go old-school in their interactions, and what did these students learn once pen hit paper? We asked.
By Lim Jun Kang
When the pen-pal project was first announced last year, students in all three schools were part-excited and part-concerned, as they were unsure about how it would be to interact with others, whom they had never seen.
What would they say? Would the others be interested to know them?
Putri Nur Shaqilah, who goes to Grace Orchard School, for students diagnosed with Mild Intellectual Disability and Mild Autism Spectrum Disorders, says, “I was nervous at first because I don’t know my pen pal. I want to be nice and say hi, but I don’t know how she will respond.”
Some students from Pei Chun and Fairfield Methodist School (Primary) were also unsure about how best to connect with their pen pals from Grace Orchard.
But all uncertainty vanished once the letters poured in - colourful cards, personal details, nuggets of information, like favourite colours and animals."
After O-Levels: Why the next step is not that hard for us (19 January 2023)
"Here’s a story that an AI chatbot cannot write: Your child’s. After collecting their O-Level results, students from Bukit Merah Secondary School and Greendale Secondary School let us in on their plans and considerations for the next chapter.
By Jacquelyn Ng and Neo Wen Tong
Aaliya Binte Hisham, Greendale Secondary School
“I took Principles of Accounts in Sec 3 and became interested in the subject. I visited Temasek Polytechnic’s (TP) open house with my parents that year too. The school is very vibrant, and I enjoyed interacting with the poly students. From there, I decided that I would aim for TP’s Diploma in Business.
I secured a spot for the course through the Early Admissions Exercise. My school helped a lot. We had consultation sessions, and I could ask my teachers many questions. In lower secondary, I wasn’t always interested in my studies, but after I found the course that I liked, I worked harder because it was something I wanted to do for myself.
For now, what success means to me is having plans and putting in the effort to follow them, and being proud of my achievements!"
‘I was obsessed with being the perfect student – and missed out on school life’ (19 January 2023)
"Rachael Chong used to top her class and ace her exams but ask her about her student days and she frowns. The high-achiever studied to score, but looks back at the opportunities she missed to get more out of school life. Now a writer and newlywed, she emerges from her shell to reflect on how she would advise students differently today.
I remember the day I came home heavy-hearted after my Secondary 2 Mathematics mid-year examinations. One of the many subjects that I was sure to excel in would now be a major let-down – in my haste and smugness, I had missed a whole page of questions in the exam paper!
My poor mother bore the brunt of my carelessness, as I wailed and ranted to her for the rest of that day. All because I would no longer get that A1 I so wanted. On another occasion, I remember the voice of my History teacher booming at me to stop writing, as I tried desperately to squeeze just a few more words into that class test as if my life depended on it (no it didn’t help my score and I wailed some more).
Further back in primary school, I used to revel in my teacher’s praise for scoring full marks at my Chinese tests. Since I'd always been reserved by nature, I saw how grades was a way to be “noticed” , and wound up pegging my esteem entirely on maintaining that gold standard.
In the end, school life for me was a self-imposed pressure cooker. My parents were innocent – they merely affirmed my efforts and conveyed my teachers’ congratulations for my squeaky-clean record. It was I who drove myself hard, striving to clinch every possible victory. All for the sake of securing good grades, thinking that that was the sole purpose of schooling. Little did I know how much I was missing."
Possibilities, not disabilities (19 January 2023)
"This is the guiding philosophy for three schools that received the “Outstanding School Award” at the 30th AWWA Community Integration Service Awards (CIS) last year. This award, presented to schools that partner AWWA to support students with Special Educational Needs (SEN), such as physical or visual impairment, recognises their whole-school approach to promoting inclusivity. Here, some snapshots of their efforts.
By Lim Jun Kang
Learning Together: Princess Elizabeth Primary School
The school’s mission: “Together, we nurture and inspire an inclusive spirit.”
A great example of this philosophy is their Values-in-Action (VIA) programme, called Learning Our Values with Empathy (LOVE) Experience. Empathy is the school’s core value, which they seek to nurture in all their students. As part of the LOVE Experience, students at different levels of the school are allocated “focus areas” where they learn about the needs of different groups of people in the community. The students apply their skills from the school’s Applied Learning Programme in Inclusive Design, to brainstorm and come up with creative solutions and prototypes to benefit the users.
The collaboration with AWWA for this VIA programme resulted in the effective implementation of interventions and strategies to support students with SEN. For instance, Primary 2 students learned to create Light-Up Toys for their peers with hearing loss at Canossian School. Primary 5 students created e-books to guide other students with Autism on specific life skills, such as how to cross the road safely.
The school hopes that other students will be aware of the’ needs of others, and more importantly develop a sense of empathy."
From opponents to teammates (20 January 2023)
"They ran on to the court in their red jerseys, lobbing and passing the ball with ease, to emerge second runner-up in the South Zone of the National School Games. You wouldn’t realise that the girls didn’t know each other just two weeks earlier. Here, their journey from strangers to teammates, and the lessons learnt along the way.
By Jacquelyn Ng
Just two weeks before the 2022 National School Games (NSG), the Primary 6 Netball girls from New Town Primary School (NTPS) had a setback: due to injuries, there were insufficient members to field a team.
This would be their first and last opportunity to play at the NSG at the primary level as the Games had been suspended for the last two years due to Covid-19. Would all their prep come to nought?
Just as things seemed hopeless, their Team Manager got to know, at a pre-competition briefing, that the River Valley Primary School (RVPS) was in a same situation. Both Team Managers looked at each other and thought: “How about forming a combined netball team?”
Minister Chan Chun Sing to Visit Jakarta, Indonesia (18 to 19 October 2022) (17 October 2022)
"Minister for Education, Mr Chan Chun Sing, will visit Jakarta, Indonesia from 18 to 19 October 2022, in his capacity as the President of the Southeast Asian Ministers of Education Organisation (SEAMEO) Council."
School Terms and Holidays for 2023 (19 October 2022)
"The school year for 2023 for all MOE primary schools (including MOE Kindergartens) and secondary schools will start on Tuesday, 3 January 2023 and end on Friday, 17 November 2023."
Five Teachers Lauded for Contributions Towards Teaching and Learning of Malay Language (11 November 2022)
"Five Malay Language teachers received the Arif Budiman Malay Language Teacher Award this year in recognition of their outstanding contributions in the teaching and learning of the Malay Language. The finalists and winners received their awards from Minister for Education Mr Chan Chun Sing, who was Guest-of-Honour at the event."
Release of 2022 PSLE Results and Secondary 1 Posting Exercise (16 November 2022)
"The results of the 2022 Primary School Leaving Examination (PSLE) will be released on Wednesday, 23 November 2022. Arrangements have been made for school candidates to receive their results from their respective primary schools from 11.00am on Wednesday, 23 November 2022."
Forward Singapore: New Partnerships, New Perspectives (19 November 2022)
"Since August 2022, the Ministry of Education (MOE) has engaged more than 2,000 Singaporeans to discuss the desired collective outcomes for education and lifelong learning under the Forward Singapore Equip pillar."
Release of 2022 PSLE Results (23 November 2022)
"Candidates who sat for the 2022 Primary School Leaving Examination (PSLE) received their results today. Arrangements were made for candidates to receive their results in their respective primary schools or view their results online via Singapore Examinations and Assessment Board's (SEAB) Candidates Portal at www.seab.gov.sg."
Progressive Resumption of Height-Based Activities for School Programmes from February 2023 (28 November 2022)
"The Ministry of Education (MOE) will progressively resume height-based outdoor adventure learning (OAL) activities from 1 February 2023, with enhanced safety measures in place. These activities, which have been suspended since February 2021, offer important educational benefits by allowing students to step outside their comfort zone, develop positive attributes such as self-confidence, teamwork, and resilience, and strengthen trust and relationships with peers and teachers."
Release of the 2022 Singapore-Cambridge GCE N(A)- & N(T)-Level Examination Results on 19 December 2022 (12 December 2022)
"The results of the 2022 Singapore-Cambridge General Certificate of Education Normal (Academic)-[N(A)] and Normal (Technical)-[N(T)] Level Examinations will be released on Monday, 19 December 2022, 2.00pm."
2022 Secondary 1 Posting Results (14 December 2022)
"The Secondary 1 (S1) posting results will be released on Wednesday, 21 December 2022 at 9.00am."
Release of 2022 Singapore-Cambridge GCE N(A)- & N(T)-Level Examination Results (19 December 2022)
"Candidates who sat for the 2022 Singapore-Cambridge General Certificate of Education (GCE) Normal (Academic) [N(A)] and Normal (Technical) [N(T)] Level Examinations received their results today."
Release of 2022 Singapore-Cambridge GCE O-Level Examination Results and 2023 Joint Admissions Exercise (5 January 2023)
"The results of the 2022 Singapore-Cambridge General Certificate of Education Ordinary Level (GCE O-Level) examination will be released on Thursday, 12 January 2023, 2pm."
Strengthening the SkillsFuture Movement Through Expanded Coverage of Offences and Enhanced Enforcement Powers (10 January 2023)
"The SkillsFuture Singapore (SSG) Agency (Amendment) Bill and the Skills Development Levy (SDL) (Amendment) Bill were passed in Parliament today."
Release of 2022 Singapore-Cambridge GCE O-Level Examination Results (12 January 2023)
"Candidates who sat for the 2022 Singapore-Cambridge General Certificate of Education Ordinary Level (GCE O-Level) Examination collected their results from their secondary schools today."
DBS Partners Singapore's Ministry of Education to Offer eGIRO (13 January 2023)
"SINGAPORE, 13 January 2023 – DBS announced today that it has partnered the Ministry of Education (MOE) to offer eGIRO, allowing parents/guardians to apply for GIRO online."
2023 MOE Kindergarten Open House and Registration Exercise (18 January 2023)
"55 MOE Kindergartens (MKs) will be participating in the 2023 MK Registration Exercise for Kindergarten 1 (K1) admission in 2024. For the first time since 2020, parents can look forward to attending MKs' open houses in person, to learn more about the individual MKs before the Registration Exercise in 2023."
Posting Results for the 2023 Joint Admissions Exercise (26 January 2023)
"The posting results for the 2023 Joint Admissions Exercise (JAE) will be released on Thursday, 2 February 2023, 9.00am."
Open for Nominations: Most Inspiring Tamil Teachers' Award 2023 (26 January 2023)
"From 30 January to 10 April 2023, students, educators, parents, and members of the public are invited to nominate Tamil Language (TL) teachers for the Most Inspiring Tamil Teachers' (MITT) Award 2023."
Mediacorp and NTU sign agreement to prepare more students for news media industry (13 December 2022)
"SINGAPORE — In a bid to nurture future media professionals and prepare them for the industry upon graduation, Mediacorp and Nanyang Technological University (NTU) signed a three-year Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on Tuesday (Dec 13).
It was signed by Ms Tham Loke Kheng, chief executive officer of Mediacorp, and Professor May O Lwin, chairperson of NTU’s Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information.
Mediacorp said that the MOU would offer more internships and training opportunities for students across a wide range of roles."
Gen Y Speaks: Teaching economics is a perpetual challenge, but seeing my students grow keeps me going (18 December 2022)
"When I was younger, I had a complicated relationship with the learning of economics.
The subject was new to me in junior college, and I initially found the content of the lectures quite overwhelming.
Yet, I remained drawn to it."
Avid coder devotes dozens of hours linking lonely seniors to teens, among other projects, then blitzes his N-levels (19 December 2022)
"SINGAPORE — Unlike his peers who spend their free time playing video games or socialising, Felix Isaac Lim, 17, prefers to spend his downtime scouring volunteer opportunities online that involve coding.
The avid coder, who has been at it since 13, has worked on six projects so far including creating one programme to help teens stop binge-watching Netflix and another to connect lonely seniors with teenagers.
The Hillgrove Secondary student was among the 13,000 students who received their N-level results on Monday (Dec 19)."
Gen Z Speaks: After spending most of my poly life at home, a year-long internship in an actual workplace is a welcome change (25 December 2022)
"I am one of the many young adults who started tertiary education in 2020 during the pandemic — a Covid-19 student, in other words.
As a result, most of my first two years studying information technology at Ngee Ann Polytechnic (NP) was a solitary experience.
Projects and presentations were all done virtually, while we attended lessons from the comfort and safety of home."
Mid-career workers to get better support as Govt reviews lifelong education, but bosses must also help: Chan Chun Sing (5 January 2023)
"SINGAPORE — In a bid to give mid-career professionals a “boost to remain relevant and competitive”, the Ministry of Education (MOE) will review how it funds and supports lifelong education, Education Minister Chan Chun Sing said on Thursday (Jan 5).
Among other things, the review will look into how to counsel mid-career workers whose careers are "at risk", as well as how to help mid-career learners offset the expense of lifelong learning, given the family and financial responsibilities they have.
Mr Chan said this during a keynote address at the start of the Singapore Perspectives 2023 conference organised by the Institute of Policy Studies. The annual event this round will have six online forums until Jan 9, followed by an in-person conference held at the Sands Expo and Convention Centre in Marina Bay that will include a dialogue session with Deputy Prime Minister Lawrence Wong."
MOE teacher, 38, who planned to join militant group in Palestine is first public servant detained under ISA for terror-related offences (11 January 2023)
"SINGAPORE — A 38-year-old teacher who was planning to travel to Gaza in Palestine to join a militant group and fight against the Israel military was arrested last year under the Internal Security Act (ISA).
Mohamed Khairul Riduan Mohamed Sarip, who was a teacher with the Ministry of Education (MOE), was arrested last October by the Internal Security Department (ISD). He was issued a detention order under ISA on Nov 30, ISD said in a press release on Wednesday (Jan 11).
He is the first MOE teacher and public servant to be detained under ISA for terrorism-related offences."
SAP school student who speaks Mandarin and English at home aces O-Level Malay, learns Spanish in free time (12 January 2023)
"SINGAPORE — On a family road trip to Malaysia last month, Darius Song took it upon himself to be his family’s translator.
As they drove from Singapore to Malacca, the 17-year-old student from Chung Cheng High School (Main) helped to translate road signs in Malay, such as those telling cars to reduce their speed or give way.
His language skills are the result of learning Malay as a third language in his school for the past four years."
#trending: Singapore mum-influencer receives backlash for vlogging daughter’s tearful O-Level results reveal (16 January 2023)
"SINGAPORE — A Singapore mum-influencer has set some tongues wagging when she vlogged and posted a video of her daughter’s emotional response to her GCE O-Level results.
Social media users accused her of “exploiting” her daughter for internet fame while others questioned if it was appropriate to post a video of one's child in their vulnerable moments.
Influencer and entrepreneur Sarah Cheng-De Winne, 35, who also goes by the moniker Sarah X. Miracle, posts content about her family life on TikTok, Instagram and YouTube and dubs her family as the “MiracleFamilie” on social media."