Eligibility
E-PREP is a MINDEF initiative to recognise our full-time
National Servicemen's (NSF) contribution to Singapore's defence and
continued stability. It offers online preparatory and refresher
courses to NSFs to help them transit from full-time NS to either
join the workforce or further their studies.
All NSFs are eligible to participate in e-PREP during their last
12 months of service till 1 year after their ORD. They will be
notified by post individually when they are eligible.
Details Of E-Prep
Every NSF will be allocated $350 worth of credits to help
subsidise the course that he subscribes. As a guideline, MINDEF
will subsidise up to 90% of the course fee, subject to the maximum
subsidy given or the credit balance of the NSF, whichever is
higher. The balance of the course fee will be borne by the NSF. For
example, for a $100 course, the NSF will pay $10 and MINDEF $90.
Subsidies that are not consumed within 1 year after the NSF’s ORD
will be forfeited.
Category Of Courses
There are now 12 participating training providers, including local
Institutes of Higher Learning, and e-learning vendors. Together,
they offer more than 1,500 course titles in three broad categories,
namely:
Academic Courses. These courses aim to help the NSFs refresh and
update their academic knowledge from previous learning or bridge
their knowledge gaps for further studies. Such courses are
typically provided by Institutions of Higher Learning. Completion
of selected courses would gain the NSFs advanced standing thus
helping them to get a head start in their educational pursuits
after fulltime NS.
Professional Certification and Technical Courses. Professional
Certification courses are predominantly technical in nature e.g.
Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer. These courses together with
other IT non-certification courses will help to enhance the NSFs'
employability.
Enabling Skills ("Soft Skills") Courses. These courses aim to
provide the NSFs with generic knowledge, skills and attitudes to
succeed in the workplace or further studies.
Participation
There are no restrictions on the number of courses that each NSF
can sign up as long as they have available credits. The NSFs will
have to bear the full cost when their credits are used up. All
e-PREP courses are priced at an affordable rate and significantly
lower than market prices.
Participation in the scheme is voluntary. As all e-PREP courses
are published on the internet, NSFs can e-learn from their homes or
in their camps where internet facilities are available.
Notwithstanding, military training and duties will take precedence
over participation in this scheme.
The NSFs can obtain more information on the scheme from the NS
portal. They are also able to view their credit allocation and
balance, records of their past courses attended and the range of
courses available. Application for courses can be done online. Once
an NSF has made the 10% co-payment to the course provider, he will
be granted access to the course materials.
