More S’poreans completing secondary education: minister

SINGAPORE: The percentage of Singaporeans who do not complete secondary education today is less than 1 per cent, compared to 10 years ago, when it was 4 per cent.

Ninety—four per cent proceed to post—secondary education, up from 10 years ago when it was 86 per cent.

Growth in median gross monthly income from work over the last 10 years was 1.3 per cent per annum, while the 20th percentile was 0.1 per cent per annum during the same period.

Acting Minister for Social and Family Development Chan Chun Sing shared these figures in Parliament on Tuesday, in response to a question by Nominated Member of Parliament Ms Tan Su Shan, on how Singapore has fared in social mobility.

But Ms Tan had concerns that Singapore’s intergenerational elasticity is less mobile than Hong Kong and other Scandinavian countries.

Mr Tan said: "We are focusing a lot of our efforts on childcare education to make sure that the next generation will get the best head—start possible and to be roughly at the same starting point before they go onward in the rest of their lives."

— CNA/xq