People's Voice Party (PVP) member, Kok Ming Cheang, slammed Ong Ye Kung, the Education Minister, for his latest response on the ministry's practice of witholding result slips in lieu of unpaid school fees.
Kok pointed out that the Ministry did not show any empathy in their responsem, when the plight of the students were brought to the attention of the public by Gilbert Goh. They stood by their longstanding practice.
“MOE’s consideration stems from the underlying principle that notwithstanding the fact that the cost of education is almost entirely publicly funded, we should still play our part in paying a small fee, and it is not right to ignore that obligation, however small it is.
Kok pointed out that Ong's statement to review the practice undermines the longstanding practice that they stood by.
Besides this, Kok also felt that the Ministry's handling of the education grants and scholarships have not been satisfactory.
It seems clear that he didn’t agree when he ordered the issue of a POFMA Correction Directive to Lim Tean to correct his posting to reflect that MOE is spending more than the $167m for grants and bursaries to Singapore students. Education Minister Ong asserted that Lim Tean’s posting contained falsehood as he didn’t mention the $13b education budget which was mostly spent on Singapore students. But Lim Tean was merely comparing the $167m spent on Singapore students grants and bursaries to $238m spent on scholarships and grants for foreign students. It was an apple-to-apple comparison. How could a Minister misread it? It reflects a shallow intellect. I think he should reflect on his decision to issue a POFMA directive to Lim Tean. If he can’t see that the granting of $238m to educate foreign students is wrong in principle, I think the Education Ministry is not in the right hands. This sum is sufficient to send 100-odd outstanding A-Level students to medical schools abroad annually.
For these reasons, Kok urged parents to carefully consider who they vote for in the coming elections and if these millionaire Ministers are truly looking after the interest of Singaporeans.
