YOUNG Indian nationals who want to become Singapore permanent
residents (PRs) may be required to attend local secondary schools,
not Indian international schools.
This has been considered, Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew says in
the book Hard Truths, launched on Friday. He did not say it would
be made a rule.
He made the point when a team of Straits Times journalists
probed his views on Singapore's immigration policy.
Noting the rising numbers of Indian nationals in Singapore, he
said many were highly qualified but needed to integrate better into
the local community.
Many send their children to Indian schools teaching an
India-oriented curriculum, rather than to Singapore schools as many
immigrants from China do. This worried Mr Lee, who felt that the
number of Indian schools should be capped.
'There are three Indian schools here. There were going to be
more but I said 'no'. You either go to a Singapore school or you go
back to India, because in the Indian school, even if they stay on
as PRs and do national service, they are not readily absorbed
because they have been orientated towards Indian culture.
-- ST