News

Latest Report Shows Private Grads Face Discrimination: 6 Topics S’poreans Are Talking About Today (9 Apr)

2018-04-09 , 11:04 am

If there’s one article that’ll make you sit up and pay attention today, make it this one.

Because it’s insightful AF.

From discrimination faced by Private Education graduates to why Singaporeans are unconsciously doing NATO (No-Action-Talk-Only), here are six things Singaporeans are talking about today.

Graduates From Private Universities Face Discrimination, Lower Pay in S’pore

Even before this news report came out, we already know that if you’re from a private university, you’re disadvantaged when it comes to looking for a job.

But this report reveals what private uni students have known to be true for a long time.

Discrimination and lower pay.

According to the latest Private Education Institute (PEI) Graduate Employment Survey, only one out of two private degree holder get a full-time job within six months after graduation.

That’s a huge drop from last year’s six in every 10 graduate (60.1% to 47.4%).

Graduates have spoken about how they’re only able to secure contract jobs or were told outright that companies are only interested in graduates from local universities.

HR experts say that local universities’ graduates have a first-mover’s advantage, and PEI graduates shouldn’t be “unrealistic” and expect the same pay as their local universities’ counterparts.

But it doesn’t mean all hope is lost yet. A graduate who went out of her own way to arrange for internship opportunities helped increase her chances of getting employed.

Another took a part-time IT-related course at a local university and was given a job at an IT firm.

In other words, it’s not about where you’re from. It’s about how far you’re willing to go and secure success for yourself.

Don’t Talk Only: S’poreans Need To Make Sacrifices To Help Migrant Workers

First, a bit of context: This is Dr Goh Wei Leong, who founded a healthcare charity for foreign workers, Health Serve.

His charity provides low-cost healthcare, social and legal assistance and skills training programmes to migrant workers.

Most workers he deals with come to him because their employers refused to help them with their injuries.

For example, if a worker is injured, they’ll rather send him back home than pay for his medical fees.

But he doesn’t blame the employers. He feels that this is due to the deep-seated cultural framework that we’re all in.

For example, plenty of Singaporeans have asked for foreign workers to be treated better, to get rightful medical treatment, to have higher pay.

But then, are these same Singaporeans willing to fork out more for building maintenance, to pay more for conservancy charges or just higher prices for their houses?

When push comes to pull, will you bite the bullet and say, let’s do it?

Pretty interesting, isn’t it?

You can read the full article here.

Video Of 2 Men Fighting on SMRT Goes Viral, Police Investigating

People are getting unhappy with SMRT. Or in this case, on the trains itself.

On 7 Apr, a footage of two men fighting on board SMRT was uploaded by Facebook user Dzar Ismail, a Mediacorp deejay with 89.7fm.

It has since gone viral, with over 7,300 shares and 293k views.

The video showed two men in a heated debate before the man in bermudas started pulling at the other man’s shirt.

It soon evolved into blows and they pushed each other onto commuters who were seated in the area.

They were finally stopped by the people around and forcefully separated.

The police confirmed that a police report has been lodged with them and they’re currently investigating the incident.

You can watch the video here yourself, accompanied by catchy music:

Remember, don’t anyhow in public because big brother is always watching.

LTA To Equip Lamp Posts With Sensors & Cameras

Watched those futuristic films where the people’s every action are monitored by cameras and A.I?

Well, guess what? It could be arriving in Singapore sooner than you think.

GovTech revealed that they will be fitting sensors and cameras to street lamps at one-north business park in Bouna Vista and Geylang next year.

One huge part these cameras play in is the development of self-driving cars on the road.

The sensors help to direct self-driving vehicles and collect data like temperature, humidity and more. This information will improve the cars’ situational awareness.

In addition, the cameras act like speed cameras for the pavements and is able to detect if any rider is breaking the 15km/h speed limit.

The cameras are also capable of facial recognition.

GovTech says that this will increase the “situational awareness of government agencies, detect potential problems and respond quickly to incidents like traffic congestion, train breakdowns and unruly crowds.”

They will use the lessons and insights from the trial to determine implementation on a bigger scale.

In other words, it’s like Singapore’s GPS ERP system, but for pedestrians lah.

But that’s not as bad as it sounds.

If done right, you’ll see lesser accidents and lesser collisions between pedestrians and e-scooters.

East-West Line Between Joo Koon & Jurong East Break Down

After staying out of the news for a long time, SMRT is back again with yet another disruption.

This morning (9 April), the East-west line experienced a track fault during rush hour.

If you were at the train stations between Joo Koon and Jurong East today, and travelling towards Joo Koon, you’d have experienced true Monday Blues.

At 7.36 am, SMRT advised commuters to add 15 minutes to their travel time if they’re travelling towards Joo Koon.

Then at 7.54 am, they updated and asked commuters to add 20 minutes to their travel time.

And at 8.23 am, they updated that they’re working to recover the service.

Finally at 8.43 am, they ask commuters to add 25 minutes to their travel time.

The Hidden Cost of Being A Teacher in S’pore Went Viral

The recent Teacher must pay for parking saga sparked a conversation in Singapore, with the government saying that free parking is a hidden, taxable benefit for teachers.

But Facebook user, Mindy Tan, decided to reveal the hidden cost of becoming a teacher in Singapore in a candid post instead.

The post showed how her husband, who is a teacher in Singapore, fell asleep at 9.45 p.m. on a Friday evening.

She talked about how he shelled out cash for pizzas that will never be reimbursed by the school, and how he clocks 20,000 steps on a weekday.

And works throughout the weekends marking his students’ work.

At the end of the post, she leaves us with an impactful message: Hidden benefits? But really, all I see is costs.

Want more on what it’s like to be a teacher here in Singapore? Read this article by an ex-teacher here.

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This article was first published on goodyfeed.com