Online users express anger towards Chan Chun Sing over his remarks of calling people “idiots” and “disgraceful”

[jw5]

Keechiu is encouraged by students getting vaccinated.

Chan Chun Sing​

12 hrs ·
Within a week since we started inviting our P4 to P6 students in Ministry of Education, Singapore schools, more than 1 in 2 of them have booked their #COVID19 vaccination appointments, with several thousand already receiving their first dose.
This is a very encouraging start. I thank the many public officers and our healthcare service personnel manning the vaccination centres for working hard during this holiday season to make this possible.
We have also received >5,000 registrations on the National Appointment System at child.vaccine.gov.sg, since opening it up to 9 to 11-year-olds who are not in MOE schools on 26 Dec 2021.
I understand that many parents are hoping to secure the Friday to Sunday slots. I would encourage parents to consider booking an appointment on Mondays to Thursdays as well, so that you can register as early as possible. Rest assured that your child will be deemed to be on medical leave if they get vaccinated during school hours, or feel unwell from the vaccination. Our schools will make the necessary arrangements to help them catch up on their schoolwork if needed.
We will soon open up slots for P1 to P3 students from 5 January 2022, and for all children aged 5 to 8 from 6 January 2022. Let us get our children vaccinated if they are medically eligible. This will keep our children and community safe.

 

[jw5]

Students and their parents registering for vaccination.

 

[jw5]

from straitstimes.com:

Reduce emphasis on academics as measure of success: Chan Chun Sing​

SINGAPORE - Singapore needs to remove artificial and incomplete yardsticks of success prescribed by others - such as in academics - and provide multiple pathways for its youth to do well in life.

The country can do so by embracing a diversity of talents and encouraging young people to pursue the path that might be less travelled, said Education Minister Chan Chun Sing on Saturday (Dec 11).

"This is a fundamental cultural change that we need to bring about. We need to let our children know that success is not based on just how they do in examinations."

The Ministry of Education (MOE) has made "some structural shifts" in recent years to reduce the emphasis on academics as a measure of success, said Mr Chan, noting the widening of scoring bands for the Primary School Leaving Examination.

But there is still a long way to go, he said at the launch of an e-book collection of stories from young people on their mental health struggles. "Despite recent efforts, the prevailing skewed perspective remains that getting a good degree is a failproof way to secure a good future."

Making the digital world safer for youth is also key to improving their mental health while they harness the benefits of technology, said Mr Chan.

"As a start, we will need to work with social media platforms to enhance online protection mechanisms for our youths.


"This includes exploring age verification requirements and addressing the issue of social media users hiding behind anonymity to post hurtful and inappropriate comments," he added.

Citing the formation of the Interagency Taskforce on Mental Health and Well-being, Mr Chan said supporting youth mental well-being requires a whole-of-government effort.

The task force, led by Senior Minister of State for Health Janil Puthucheary, was set up in August to oversee mental health efforts on a national level, focusing on issues that require inter-agency collaborations.

"Together, with the Ministry of Health and other agencies, we are working on areas such as helping youths and parents better access coordinated mental health services and empowering parents to support their child's mental well-being," said Mr Chan.

 

[jw5]

Keechiu is grateful for the deep mutual understanding between Singapore and China.

Chan Chun Sing added 3 new photos.​

2 hrs ·
The deep mutual understanding between Singapore and China is the result of the seeds planted by our previous generations. This has created a strong foundation for our people to build up personal ties and trust, to enable mutually beneficial projects to come to fruition.
At the 17th Joint Council for Bilateral Cooperation (JCBC) meeting, I spoke on the importance of forging even stronger bonds, to plant the seeds for our future generations. This is especially pertinent in a world that risks becoming more fragmented according to ideology, economic, and socio-political order.
There are extensive interactions between Singapore and China, from education to our public service. Notwithstanding the challenges of #COVID19, we look forward to strengthening our exchanges. This includes:
• Not only resuming our student exchanges with China, but breaking new ground with more and different partners across China, through diverse modalities such as virtual and hybrid exchanges.
• Moving beyond academic exchanges, to technical and vocational exchanges, and the increasingly important area of Continuing Education and Training (CET) for adults.
We will work closely with our Chinese counterparts towards the resumption and expansion of student exchanges between schools in Singapore and China, tertiary institutions, adult learning institutions and research institutes.

 

[jw5]

Keechiu sitting tall among colleagues and friends.

 

[jw5]

Keechiu standing tall among colleagues and friends.

 

[jw5]

Keechiu and son on bus ride wearing the same brand of watch.

 

[jw5]

Keechiu and son holding the same pole wearing the same brand of watch.

 

[jw5]

Keechiu and son exploring mrt route.

 

[jw5]

Keechiu enjoys answering your questions.

Chan Chun Sing added a new video.​

14 hrs ·
You asked, I answered! Or at least I tried my best to. There were over a hundred questions and some tough ones – like who is my favourite K-drama actor?

Thanks for the questions. I enjoyed answering them

#AskMeAnything

 

[jw5]

Keechiu has his own little countdown.

Chan Chun Sing​

12 hrs ·
Our own little countdown…

Welcoming 2022 in My Buona Vista.
Happy new year to everyone!

 

[jw5]

Keechiu is happy with a good start to 2022.

Chan Chun Sing​

13 hrs ·
A good start to 2022 – more than 6 in 10 of our P4 to P6 students in MOE schools have booked their #COVID19 vaccination appointments.
We have received about 8,600 registrations on the National Appointment System for those aged 9 to 11 who are not in our schools.
Since we started the vaccination exercise on 27 Dec 2021, about 20,000 children have already received their first dose. This is only possible with the support of parents, as well as the hard work of our public and healthcare officers.
With a good vaccination rate in our primary school students, we certainly look forward to 2022 being a more normal school year for our children as we carefully consider how to safely resume more activities in the coming months.
7 more paediatric vaccination centres will start operating tomorrow, as we get ready to support the next phase of the rollout for P1 to P3 students.
We understand that some parents may have questions about vaccinating their children. MOE, in collaboration with MOH and ECDA, will be holding a webinar for parents on 5 Jan, 7.30pm to 8.30pm at https://go.gov.sg/5janvaccinewebinar (passcode to enter the webinar: 5janvac). This is open to 3,000 participants on a first-come, first-served basis.
I encourage parents who have queries to join us at the webinar, and to submit questions ahead of the session at https://go.gov.sg/questions5janwebinar/.

 

[jw5]

Keechiu's favourite soaperhero is in the background - Wipe Up Wilson.

 

[jw5]

Keechiu knows that many families are busy.

Chan Chun Sing​

9 hrs ·
With school resuming this week, I know that many families are busy gearing up for the start of the school year.
Parents who are vaccinating their children can look forward to greater convenience, especially those with more than one child aged 5 to 11:
• From 10 Jan 2022, siblings of children with vaccination appointments on Mon - Thurs, can join their sibling and walk in for their vaccination without prior appointment. This will allow families to vaccinate their children together and avoid separate trips to the Vaccination Centres (VCs). Parents who intend to make use of this arrangement should arrive at the VCs on Mon - Thurs by 7pm.
• From today, 7 more paediatric VCs island-wide will start offering vaccination for children aged 5 to 11.
• From 5 Jan 2022, parents/guardians of P1 to P3 students in MOE primary schools can expect to progressively receive a unique link via SMS to book a vaccination appointment.

 

[jw5]

Keechiu posts photo of soaperhero.

 

[jw5]

Keechiu posts photo of vaccination registration for students.

 

[jw5]

from straitstimes.com:

S'pore must not use narrow yardsticks to measure success: Chan Chun Sing​

SINGAPORE - Singapore’s education system needs to continue moving towards measuring success in more diverse ways, and away from using narrow yardsticks to do so, said Education Minister Chan Chun Sing

It should also be one that focuses on allowing students to do well enough that they surpass themselves, rather than focusing on outperforming others, he added.

Different people have different talents, and the education system here recognises this, said Mr Chan in an interview with Berita Harian last week (Dec 15).

"We must not just have one narrow yardstick to try to measure everyone. In fact, one of the things that we are constantly doing is to encourage our society to broaden the definition of meritocracy," he said.

Individual fields should stay meritocratic, said Mr Chan, referring to how people should work hard to attain success within these fields.

But there is no one path to success, and the minister stressed that a meritocratic system cannot be narrowly confined to a few jobs.

"Whether you're singing, you're cooking or you're doing engineering - all these are different skills. All these are diverse skills and they are all required for the resilience of our country," said Mr Chan.

"So we must make sure that we have a system to help our students, including our Malay students, to understand their potential and not just chase a very narrow definition in terms of what we deem as successful."

Mr Chan, who became Education Minister in May, also underscored how parents and educators have to encourage children to outdo their own personal bests rather than try to one-up someone else.

Trying to surpass oneself is even more challenging than trying to get ahead of others, he said. Even if one manages to do so, the question remains if that is the best that one has done for oneself.

"Life is a long journey where we constantly want to improve ourselves, regardless of whether other people are competing with us. I think that's a very important cultural issue," he said.

Asked how well Malay students are faring compared with students of other races, Mr Chan said that they have done well.

Census data released earlier this year showed that more Malays have attained post-secondary or higher qualifications across all age groups, especially among younger Malays.

The community was also among the most improved in terms of pre-secondary qualifications among those aged 25 and older.

But Malays lag behind when it comes to getting a degree. While 34.7 per cent of Chinese and 41.3 per cent of Indians aged 25 and older in 2020 were university graduates, only 10.8 per cent of Malays were.

Everyone is "running very fast" in terms of education, but the Government wants every Singaporean student, regardless of race, to run pretty much at the same pace, Mr Chan said.

Compared with their peers in the region and globally, Malay students here have done "tremendously well", he said.

Malay-Muslim students here outperformed their peers from around the world in mathematics in the latest Programme for International Student Assessment test, done in 2018. The test is conducted by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development once every three years.

"We have many things that we are proud of. But of course... we all want to do better, faster than yesterday. So this is something that we have to continuously work on as well," he said.

 

[jw5]

Keechiu wishes all students Happy First Day Of School.

Chan Chun Sing added 8 new photos.​

4 hrs ·
Happy first day of school to our K1, P1, and secondary school students! The school year kicks off today. Dropped by Punggol Cove Primary School this morning, and seeing parents and children arriving hand in hand, I was reminded of my kids’ first day of primary school years back. I remember peeking at them through their classroom windows and trying to spot them during recess to see if they managed to buy a meal.
Each year, this experience is a big highlight for all our P1 students and their parents. This year, with the ongoing #COVID19 situation, Ministry of Education, Singapore has once again put in place a special first day of school arrangement for our P1 and K1 students. A BIG thank you to our teachers for settling in our P1 and K1 students and parents today.

 

[jw5]

Keechiu squats beside student to interrogate her.

 

[jw5]

Keechiu sits beside parents to interrogate them.