The top student in this year’s Primary School Leaving Examination (PSLE) is a China national Qiu Biqing, 13, from Qifa Primary School, who achieved an aggregate score of 290, with four A*s and a Distinction in Higher Chinese.
She could barely speak any English when she moved here from China in 2006 with her family.
Her father, Mr Qiu Guo Hua, 45, is a research fellow at the National University of Singapore, and her mother, Madam Xie Xiaojin, 42, is a research assistant there. It is not known if they are PRs or citizens.
Six other top PSLE students are also from neighbourhood schools. These primary schools include South View, Greenridge, Gongshang and Rulang.
The number of China students studying in Singapore’s schools is not revealed by the Ministry of Education. Besides those already studying in Singapore, a number of them come on government scholarships to pursue their tertiary education in Singapore.
While Channel News Asia made no mention of Qiu’s nationality, it was highlighted by the Straits Times which has been trying hard to revamp the image of China nationals working and living in Singapore.
Yesterday, the Straits Times gave prominent coverage to a Fu Yun, a new citizen from China who was awarded the “Good Neighbour Award” by the People’s Association though there are four other recipients.
Ghost writers have also appeared frequently on the Straits Times Forum defending the new migrants from China. After an Australian tourist wrote in to complain about a China service staff who could not speak English, the Straits Times published a leter from a Singapore Indian a few days later sharing his positive experience with a PRC customer service staff.
Due to the declining birth rate among locals, the ruling party is trying hard to increase the population via immigration especially from China and India to maintain the racial balance in Singapore.
About 76 per cent of Singapore’s populations are made up of ethnic Chinese. They usually have less children per head than the Malays. In Malaysia, Chinese now consists only 25 per cent of the population, down from 40 per cent in 1957 when Malaysia attained independence.
Though Singapore is predominantly a Chinese society, the ethnic Singapore Chinese has more in common with the Singapore Malays and Indians than the mainland Chinese.
Singapore Hokkien is a hybrid of the native Min-nanese dialect from Xiamen and Bahasa Malaysia. Singapore Chinese are also more accustomed to Malay food such as Mee Rebus, Mee Siam, Lotong and culture than those from central and northern China where the newcomers are largely from.
Unlike other developed countries like Australia, Canada and United Kingdom, the Singapore government is very liberal or lax in its immigration policies. There are few criteria imposed on PR applicants such as their length of stay in the country or their fluency in the English language.
In the United Kingdom, one has to stay there continuously for a period of five years before one can even apply for a PR while for Australia, one must stay two out of five years in the country.
There seems to be no such restrictions in Singapore. One China national by the name of Zhang Yuanyuan who caused a furore in Singapore blogosphere lately with her public, if not outrageous proclamation of her allegiance to China revealed that she got her PR within 2 months of application after she started work as a Chinese language teacher in a private school. Zhang originally came to Singapore on a student’s pass with only a diploma from an unknown institution in China.
For prospective Singaporeans who wish to work in Australia or Cananda, they must first pass a basic English proficiency test here at their own expense. Over in Singapore, one need not pass any language tests to apply for PR or citizenship. In fact, the Singapore government is so generous that it will provide free language courses for the newcomers out of a $10-million Community Integration Fund.
Ms Qiu will be continuing her secondary education at Raffles Girls School and she is likely to excel in her academic studies. However, it is a big question mark if she will pursue her tertiary education in Singapore or even stay on in Singapore after she completes her studies.
Like many of her compatriots from China, she may decide either to return to China or seek greener pastures elsewhere. Singapore may end up “incubating” talents for other countries rather than winning and keeping their hearts here.
She could barely speak any English when she moved here from China in 2006 with her family.
Her father, Mr Qiu Guo Hua, 45, is a research fellow at the National University of Singapore, and her mother, Madam Xie Xiaojin, 42, is a research assistant there. It is not known if they are PRs or citizens.
Six other top PSLE students are also from neighbourhood schools. These primary schools include South View, Greenridge, Gongshang and Rulang.
The number of China students studying in Singapore’s schools is not revealed by the Ministry of Education. Besides those already studying in Singapore, a number of them come on government scholarships to pursue their tertiary education in Singapore.
While Channel News Asia made no mention of Qiu’s nationality, it was highlighted by the Straits Times which has been trying hard to revamp the image of China nationals working and living in Singapore.
Yesterday, the Straits Times gave prominent coverage to a Fu Yun, a new citizen from China who was awarded the “Good Neighbour Award” by the People’s Association though there are four other recipients.
Ghost writers have also appeared frequently on the Straits Times Forum defending the new migrants from China. After an Australian tourist wrote in to complain about a China service staff who could not speak English, the Straits Times published a leter from a Singapore Indian a few days later sharing his positive experience with a PRC customer service staff.
Due to the declining birth rate among locals, the ruling party is trying hard to increase the population via immigration especially from China and India to maintain the racial balance in Singapore.
About 76 per cent of Singapore’s populations are made up of ethnic Chinese. They usually have less children per head than the Malays. In Malaysia, Chinese now consists only 25 per cent of the population, down from 40 per cent in 1957 when Malaysia attained independence.
Though Singapore is predominantly a Chinese society, the ethnic Singapore Chinese has more in common with the Singapore Malays and Indians than the mainland Chinese.
Singapore Hokkien is a hybrid of the native Min-nanese dialect from Xiamen and Bahasa Malaysia. Singapore Chinese are also more accustomed to Malay food such as Mee Rebus, Mee Siam, Lotong and culture than those from central and northern China where the newcomers are largely from.
Unlike other developed countries like Australia, Canada and United Kingdom, the Singapore government is very liberal or lax in its immigration policies. There are few criteria imposed on PR applicants such as their length of stay in the country or their fluency in the English language.
In the United Kingdom, one has to stay there continuously for a period of five years before one can even apply for a PR while for Australia, one must stay two out of five years in the country.
There seems to be no such restrictions in Singapore. One China national by the name of Zhang Yuanyuan who caused a furore in Singapore blogosphere lately with her public, if not outrageous proclamation of her allegiance to China revealed that she got her PR within 2 months of application after she started work as a Chinese language teacher in a private school. Zhang originally came to Singapore on a student’s pass with only a diploma from an unknown institution in China.
For prospective Singaporeans who wish to work in Australia or Cananda, they must first pass a basic English proficiency test here at their own expense. Over in Singapore, one need not pass any language tests to apply for PR or citizenship. In fact, the Singapore government is so generous that it will provide free language courses for the newcomers out of a $10-million Community Integration Fund.
Ms Qiu will be continuing her secondary education at Raffles Girls School and she is likely to excel in her academic studies. However, it is a big question mark if she will pursue her tertiary education in Singapore or even stay on in Singapore after she completes her studies.
Like many of her compatriots from China, she may decide either to return to China or seek greener pastures elsewhere. Singapore may end up “incubating” talents for other countries rather than winning and keeping their hearts here.
