Everything You Need To Know About The National Day Rally In 18 Points

This is a guest post contributed by Jasmine.

If you while away the weekend going for the plethora of events and activities Singapore has to offer or spent it binge-watching Netflix…then you might have missed something of national importance yesterday.

No, it’s not the National Day Parade but the National Day Rally, a speech the Prime Minister of Singapore delivers yearly to share upcoming plans for our sunny island. So here’s the important stuff you missed, all in 18 points!

Education

Pre-school

• Parents rejoice! The income cap for additional childcare subsidies raised from $7,500 per household to $12,000 a household. The more you save, the more diapers you can buy!
• Amount of pre-school subsidies will be increased across the board.
• Expand KidSTART to reach another 5,000 children over the next three years

Institutes of Higher Learning

• Do you study at SUSS/SIT? Congrats! You have lower school fees – can buy more bubble tea now 😉
• Increase of Government bursaries for university and polytechnic diploma courses, lower-income students will have reduced school fees
• Pro-tip: Studying medicine for lower-income students will only cost at most $5,000 a year as government bursaries for medical school will be even more generous

Here’s a really concise infographic about the subsidies.

Older Workers

While most of us are light years away from being an “older worker” (or so we think), it is good to stay up to date on what would affect us in the future, whether near or far.

Employers need to do their part to re-design jobs around the abilities and strengths of older workers while employees need to do their part and adopt the right mindset – ready to adapt and take on different responsibilities.

• They say “Old is gold” and Singapore is proving it! From 2021 onwards, older workers above 55 will get their CPF contribution rates raised.
• From 2022, both the Retirement Age and Reemployment Age will be raised.

*The Retirement Age will go from 62 to 63 in 2022 and eventually to 65 by 2030. The Re-employment Age will go from 67 to 68, and eventually to 70. This is something that NTUC has continued to push for even from last year.

• P.S. THERE ARE NO CHANGES TO CPF WITHDRAWAL AGES OR POLICIES. In PM’s words “please ignore rumours and fake news on Whatsapp. POFMA will catch you” LOL!

Climate Change

The Earth’s average temperature has gone up 1 degree Celsius over the past decade. And I can assure you that if you ask any Singaporean, that is 1 degree too high given our already humid weather.

We must be prepared for the impact of climate change in Singapore.

• Understand climate change: set up the Centre for Climate Research Singapore (CCRS) for weather research
• Mitigate climate change: Singapore has joined international efforts to reduce emissions, each one must do our part
• Adapt to climate change: adopt measures locally to protect our infrastructure. But as we have low-lying areas, we still need coastal defences.
• Singapore will test out using “polders” as an option to protect our eastern coastline
  It’s going to cost quite a bit, but #worthit to solve a problem for the future generations

Greater Southern Waterfront aka Punggol By The Bay

Cue insane snaking queues to bubble tea ballot for BTOs with a gorgeous waterfront living views as Singapore opens up the Greater Southern Waterfront to give Sentosa living a run for its money!

• Housing: there is enough land to build 9,000 residential units, both HDB and private housing. Say no more – I’m SOLD!
• Work: More office space will be developed (quick join Google/Cisco/Unilever)
• Recreation: Two old power stations in Pasir Panjang will be redeveloped for this purpose
• Downtown South: The sister of Downtown East, where any teenager worths his or her salt would have spent nights at their chalet (plus BBQ-ing!) with friends. This new resort would be gifted to the Labour Movement to thank workers for their contributions to the nation.

Even after the Rally ended, this rang in my ear – “What we talk about, we will deliver!”.

As PM Lee summed up all the things that the Government promised to do previously and has delivered, he also made new promises and shared exciting developments.

Come what may – climate change and rising temperatures for when we “unite as one nation to build tomorrow’s Singapore”.. this will be our Home Truly! <3