Over 70 awarded Public Service Commission scholarships - CNA

sbst275 SG

SINGAPORE : Singapore's Public Service Commission (PSC), tasked with identifying young and talented individuals for the civil service, is strengthening its outreach efforts.

It is launching an internship programme for top junior college students at the end of the year.

This was one of the initiatives announced on Saturday at the Public Service Commission Scholarships Awards ceremony.

Over 70 PSC scholars will go to prestigious universities in countries like the US, UK, China and even Singapore to pursue an education that will eventually see them holding senior positions in government, academia and the private sector.

Minister-in-Charge of Civil Service and Defence Minister, Teo Chee Hean, said: "Our public service scholars touch the lives of ordinary Singaporeans. Some teach our children or work in our Community Development Councils, strengthening community bonds and helping the needy. Others work to bring investments and jobs to Singapore."

So to engage the best talents, the government is reaching out to junior colleges (JCs). Top JC students can take up internships at the end of their first year of study or after the A-Levels.

Students will be attached to ministries for a few weeks to catch a glimpse of what work is like in the Civil Service.

PSC already has an internship programme for university undergraduates.

Other initiatives to better train and develop scholars include the first Public Policy Challenge for undergraduates from Singapore's three universities.

Participants will get to discuss policy issues. They will have a chance to see that in making public policy, tradeoffs are inevitable and difficult decisions often have to be made.

Mr Teo said: "How a policy is communicated can sometimes be as important as the policy itself."

It was a diverse mix of scholars this year. Award recipients included three mid-term scholars who are in their second or third year of studies, the PSC's first Masters' scholar and two polytechnic undergraduates.

One of the recipients is 27-year-old Marvin Kang, who took the road less travelled, opting to go to Raffles JC, then Ngee Ann Polytechnic before pursuing his degree.

He will be pursuing a course in Business Administration, Communication and New Media at the National University of Singapore.

He said: "I guess unlike some of the other students, I did quite badly when I was in JC, so I thought about giving myself a second chance at education. So after some soul searching, I decided to enter a polytechnic to resume my education.

PSC received more than 2,000 scholarship applications this year and conducted 370 interviews - the largest number conducted in the past five years. - CNA/ms

http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/362957/1/.html

Rhonda SG

Aaahhh... stepping up their efforts because recruiting talent to work in the civil sector is getting tougher and tougher! What better way than to offer 'scholarships' and bond them for the next few years?

sbst275 SG

maybe by tying JC students w/ internship as well

but you take a look at e article, it's a bit of a slap in e face cos e reporters (In Zaobao, ST & CNA) talked abt tis scholar from poly (But actually he went to poly partly cos of his A level results) tat received it.

Though it's a bit off track, recently tat same JC plans to bring in IB diploma prog for its JC students

Rhonda SG

maybe by tying JC students w/ internship as well

Though it's a bit off track, recently tat same JC plans to bring in IB diploma prog for its JC students

I've done both JC and Poly myself and honestly, academic-wise, JC is way tougher.

sbst275 SG

I've done both JC and Poly myself and honestly, academic-wise, JC is way tougher.

cos specialisation into one course subject?

Rhonda SG

cos specialisation into one course subject?

Nope. Simply the academic standards alone. The academic yardstick is much higher in JC. Polytechnics fare better in producing grads who have the requisite skills to be of great contribution to their employers though whereas the 'A' level grads aren't exactly trained to take on any profession.

I struggled a lot in JC, but Poly was pretty much a breeze.

sbst275 SG

I struggled a lot in JC, but Poly was pretty much a breeze.

I see

anyway one of e JCs wants to move into IB diploma

sbst275 SG

http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/362957/1/.html

linky of e article

Gackt247 SG

I felt like killing myself in JC. Worst decision ever in my entire life.

Fatum SG

what concerns me, was not this article, but the other article that came up after phillip yeo shot his mouth off again ....

he said something along the lines of his scholarships being more meritocratic than PSC ones cos more of his scholars lives in non-private estates .....

I think the figure's like 70% to PSC's 50% .....

now when you consider that 85% of Singaporeans live in public housing ........

what does it say ? .... of course, in a true meritocratic system, we shouldn't punish a kid for being born materially well-off anymore than we should punish him for being smart ... so we shouldn't look at a chap's background when awarding scholarships ....

but I can't help but be disturbed by the possibility that the richer kids may be getting a better headstart in life, statistically speaking .... so if you're born rich, you'd get a better shot at success later in life ? ... cos the parents can afford to pump enrichment, 心算, phonics, tuition, etc into you earlier in life ? ....

sbst275 SG

frankly speaking make them learn tis and tat, though it looks good but it ends up unknowingly get ppl to be ungracious cos of compeition and sometimes e kids might not grow up happy

wat matters more is one being happy

sbst275 SG

I felt like killing myself in JC. Worst decision ever in my entire life.

what happened?