Daily Lessons from Life 21-22 February 2014 - MOE doing more to track foreign students who took grants & defaulted on bonds

"MOE doing more to track foreign students who took grants & defaulted on bonds - CNA 22 Feb 2014

SINGAPORE: The Education Ministry has been stepping up efforts to better track foreign students who took tuition grants for their studies in Singapore but have not served their bonds.

It takes action against those who default on service obligations by pursuing liquidated damages against them, Education Minister Heng Swee Keat said in Parliament on Friday.

When liquidated damages cannot be recovered, their status as bond defaulters would be taken into consideration should they apply to work or reside in Singapore.

Mr Heng said eight in 10 international students who received tuition grants from 2010 to 2013 have either found employment in Singapore, or have had deferments for further studies approved.

The rest, he said, may not have necessarily defaulted.

They could either still be looking for work, or have gone overseas for further studies without getting approval for deferment."

Kudos to the Minister of Education. I really like what he has been doing! Listening and taking actions to correct neglected issues brought out by many Singaporeans!

Lessons for me are:

1. it was a GOOD strategic move to attract talented foreign students to come to Singapore to study and HOPEFULLY get them to sink roots in the nation given our 'limited' human resources;

2. having GOOD INTENTION is NOT good enough when the beneficiaries are taking you for a ride. It is good to be generous but it is irresponsible to be unaccountable! :-);

3. this particular issue has been thrown around for quite a few years and FINALLY, or maybe MOE had done it earlier, the official reply in Parliament by the Minister that MOE is tracking! Make it public via the 'Monthly or Quarterly Report to the People' by MOE.

In fact, such a practice SHOULD be done for ALL the ministries EXCEPT those involving securities and finances since the GOVERNMENT works for the PEOPLE. No?