Leadership : Difficult but necessary dialogue, TFR & inconsistent state policies

In the 1960s, notwithstanding a declining total fertility rate (TFR) Singapore persisted with its "stop at 2 children" policies. Our TFR dropped below replacement level of 2.1 in 1975. The most current data show our TFR at 1.17. This TFR is the 3rd worst in the world.

There are simple solutions that can be studied for immediate implementation.

Our youth have reached a stage where most wish to have at least a basic graduate degree before they marry and have children.

Our national education system is the best in the world. Our 15 year olds have been topping the PISA ranking repeatedly for many years occasionally only losing the top spot to China but re-gaining it soon after.

By starting primary one education 1 year earlier we ensure that our youths will graduate from University when they are 21 years old for ladies and 23 years old for men, assuming most complete 4 years of undergraduate studies leading to a basic degree with Honours.

Award Honours Degrees after 3 years of studies

The next solution is to consider awarding Honours degrees after 3 years of under graduate studies. We should not deny Singapore youths who are the brightest undergraduates in the world a Honours degree when their counterparts in the United Kingdom are able to obtain one within 3 years. UK students are not much more capable than our students in Singapore. We disadvantage our own students unnecessarily by delaying their graduation by a year.

I recognize that our Universities would lose almost 25% of their annual revenue and excellent talent to assist researchers. But such loss in revenue can be remedied by encouraging the pursuit of Master’s and Doctorate studies and research.

By starting primary school at 6 years old and accelerating University graduation by a year, our youths are able to graduate at 20 years old and 22 years old for ladies and men respectively.

It is a welcome relief to many parents that Prime Minister Lawrence Wong recently announced measures to tweak the Singapore education system to make it less stressful. To be effective we have to ensure that financial means does not disadvantage any child in getting the best education possible.

We have tutors and tuition centers that are really excellent. The demand for their time and instruction are indeed very high. As such these tutors and centers are able to command very high fees. To provide for equal opportunity for the less financially able Ministry of Education should consider contracting these same excellent tutors to provide tuition to a larger group of students by the use of video recorded lessons or live video streaming as a means of after school instructions.

With great strides in artificial intelligence, AI will cause major disruptions in the labour market very soon. This would require state policies to ensure at least one person in a family is gainfully employed. But with single family income our HDB flats become unaffordable.

I urge our government to study providing high end co-living spaces.

We must accept that advances in AI and robotics will mean that there'll be little need for companies to situate or grow operations in a high cost country like Singapore. Salaries of fresh graduates in Shanghai and Taiwan are only about 40% of the salaries in Singapore. Land and transport costs are similarly much cheaper in those countries. These costs are significantly lesser in Malaysia, Thailand and India.

We must not lose sight of new competition in the Middle East and Africa. Saudi Arabia is fighting hard to yank businesses from other gulf countries. These other gulf countries naturally would make it more attractive for businesses to grow or start in their countries.

It is time to bring down land, housing costs, medical and education costs in Singapore. We should explore co-living spaces, national medical and education funds to pay for these services so that these are no longer concerns deterring young couples from starting a family. The faster we study and implement these issues and solutions, the lower the cost of living in Singapore is going to be. With lesser financial stress and more job opportunities hopefully more will start a family earlier and start having larger families.