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As part of the government's efforts to reduce social inequalities, a task force has been created to strengthen support for students from disadvantaged families.
The Interagency Working Group, called Uplift, is one of the main tasks of the Uplifting Pupils in Life and Inspiring Families Working Group, which focuses on three areas:
- Improve student motivation
- Fight against long-term absenteeism and drop-out rates; and
- Intensify parent relations programs and parenting programs to empower families.
The eight-member working group is headed by the second minister of education, Indranee Rajah, who announced the composition at a press briefing last Friday.
Citing last week's report from the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) that Singapore ranks among the world's best in terms of mobility in education, Indranee said that his country had done much better than other countries.
But she also pointed out that there would be gaps in society as Singapore progresses.
She said, "We do not want to be a society where the gap is so big that we leave the others behind.Where possible, we want to give people a chance to develop and realize their potential."
One of the key areas is long-term absenteeism and dropout rates, which are more prevalent among students from disadvantaged backgrounds.
The Ministry of Education (MOE) said that about 1.1 elementary school students over 1,000 years were absent for 60 days or more a year without a valid reason, but it reached 7.5 per 1,000 high school students.
Schools pay close attention to attendance, and social welfare officers to students address irregular students. Teachers and counselors are also being trained to identify the warning signs of a school disengagement, the ME said.
Ms. Indranee said that she did not want to give a "definitive definition" of disadvantaged backgrounds, but admitted that there was a correlation between academic achievement and student background.
"We are going to look at the poorest 20%, but we will also include children from the bottom 30% or even 40%," she said.
"These students have the potential to do a lot better, and we want to help them reach that potential."
She added, "The goal of the task force is to identify and resolve the issues that are holding back these children."
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