Going the 'last mile' to keep elderly in the loop

This post came out from The Straits Times (25 April 2016)

The Chinese Development Assistance Council (CDAC) intends to step up its efforts to keep the elderly abreast of current affairs and schemes that may benefit them. This is to address the issue of how some of the elderly are illiterate or socially isolated and do not know of the government schemes that may help them live more comfortably in their golden years.

Reaching out to them is hard as they may not read newspapers or go to community events, say social workers and grassroots leaders. In the past two years, CDAC - a Chinese self-help group - has been conducting information sessions on topics concerning the elderly, such as the Pioneer Generation Package, Lasting Power of Attorney and Medishield Life.

So far, 3,500 elderly residents from seven constituencies have attended the sessions. By next year, CDAC hopes to cover eight more constituencies and introduce other topics to the seniors. For example, it will work with the Central Provident Fund (CPF) Board to train its volunteers to explain to the elderly CPF schemes such as the Retirement Sum scheme and CPF Life.

It will also expand its one-hour news reading programme to three more CDAC centres by next year, up from four now. The programme is run by volunteers who guide the seniors to use tablets to access news articles from social media platform.

"I think the challenge (in reaching out to the elderly) is covering the last segment. For some reason, they are not contactable at home. The role of the CDAC is to go that last mile, using the language or dialects that they are familiar with," said Parliamentary Secretary for Culture, Community and Youth Baey Yam Keng, who chairs CDAC's volunteers engagement and development committee.

Mr Baey, also an MP for Tampines GRC, spoke to The Straits Times at the launch of an elderly befriending project run jointly by the CDAC and Singapore Federation of Chinese Clan Associations (SFCCA) in Ang Mo Kio yesterday.

About 600 volunteers from the CDAC and SFCCA will make home visits to 540 socially-isolated elderly residents this year. The group has been taking the elderly out to buy groceries or visit places of interest, but wanted to expose volunteers to other forms of interaction with the elderly. Said Mr Baey: "The elderly have been our focus for the last three to four years and we are doing a review now to see how to do more." Noting that their strength is in Chinese language and culture, he added that they may further develop a pool of volunteers proficient in dialect to reach out to the elderly.

Thoughts anyone?

Yours,

Something Small Thinking Big

Ensuring less well-off kids are not left behind

This post came out from The Straits Times (7 December 2015)

With parents willing to fork out thousands of dollars for private coaching to give their children an edge over others, it is no wonder tuition is a billion-dollar industry. But tuition is not just for the rich. Through the four ethnic self help groups in Singapore, financially less well-off children have been able to receive extra academic help.

More primary and secondary school students are attending these subsidised tuition programmes by three of the four groups - Chinese Development Assistance Council (CDAC), Singapore Indian Development Association (SINDA) and Yayasan Mendaki. The number of students in such programmes has grown by up to 67 per cent over the past five years. The fourth group - Eurasian Association (EA) - sees a steady number of students for tuition each year.

The self help groups told The Straits Times the spike in student numbers may be due to more low-income families recognising education as a tool in achieving social mobility, the setting up of more centres to reach out to students, and more schools helping to identify needy students who may require such tuition services. Among the four groups, Mendaki, a self help group for the Malay and Muslim community, noted the biggest surge in student numbers in recent years. Its tuition programme, started in 1982, has some 10,000 students this year, up from about 6,000 five years ago.

Mendaki chief executive officer Tuminah Sapawi said the increase may be due to outreach efforts, such as educational seminars, to share such programmes with the community. "More Malay and Muslim families are recognising the importance of education," she added.

Ms Gam Huey Yi, CDAC's director for student education and development, said its new centres and upgraded facilities have enabled it to reach more students in the estates. The Chinese self help group has some 11,000 students, up from 9,000 five year back. Ms Gam added that these tuition programmes play a part in helping students from lower-income families "achieve social mobility".

Sinda has also seen more children in its two flagship tuition progammes, the Sinda Tutorials for Enhanced Performance (Step) and Project Teach. Step, designed to provide affordable after-school tuition, has 3,800 primary and secondary students this year, a 26 per cent jump from five years ago. Over the same period, Project Teach, a school-based supplementary educational programme in partnership with the schools, has seen a 6 per cent increase to 1,150 students this year.

For the EA, about 20 students tap a Collaborative Tuition Programme (CTP) to attend tuition classes yearly. The programme, launched in 2002, allows students to attend tuition classes offered by the other ethnic self help groups, optimising the use of community resources and providing more convenience to students fro less well to do families.

Parents who send their children for these tuition classes noted that the programmes offer academic support for their children's education, without adding significantly to their financial burden.

Thoughts:

1. I agree that education is a great tool to enhance social mobility! And who says tuition is only for the rich! Self help groups here are doing a great job to keep these costs affordable for those who genuinely needs it, but are unable to afford them.
2. All i hope is these beneficiaries will contribute back to the society when they grow up! 

Thoughts anyone?

Yours,

Something Small Thinking Big