STATEMENT BY MS BERNICE TEO, FIRST SECRETARY (SOCIAL AND HUMANITARIAN ISSUES), PERMANENT MISSION OF THE REPUBLIC OF SINGAPORE TO THE UNITED NATIONS, ON AGENDA ITEM 67, ON THE PROMOTION AND PROTECTION OF THE RIGHTS OF CHILDREN, THIRD COMMITTEE, 6 OCTOBER 2023

Mr Chair,

1 Singapore aligns itself with the statement made by Indonesia, on behalf of ASEAN.

2 It is our collective duty to nurture the next generation and empower them to reach their full potential. The fact that the Convention on the Rights of the Child remains the most widely ratified human rights treaty in the world to date shows that we all recognise this. We also commend the fact that the UN Secretary-General’s milestone report on “Our Common Agenda” has specifically called for improving education and social protection systems for children.

3 Singapore has long regarded these as priorities when creating policies to educate and protect our children.  One of the key components in a child’s welfare is access to good education.  We invest about 3% of our GDP in education, which is heavily subsidised, and primary education is compulsory.  Over the years, we have gone beyond educating for skills to ensure that our schools not only equip our children with skills to join the workforce, but provide them a safe environment and an opportunity to learn and live together with their peers from different racial, religious and socio-economic backgrounds.  On this point, I would like to highlight that in the 2018 OECD’s Programme for International Student Assessment or PISA, Singapore students from less advantaged backgrounds performed better than the OECD average in all core domains and outperformed their international counterparts of similar socio-economic backgrounds.

4 However, we recognise that more could still be done to give every child a good start in life. First, we must strengthen support for early childhood education for young children, particularly those from low-income families or with higher needs. The KidSTART programme, which was started by the government, provides young children aged 6 and below from low income or disadvantaged families with health, learning and development support. Since 2016, over 6,000 children have benefitted from KidSTART. Singapore will scale up KidSTART nationwide by 2026. We will also enable more children with higher developmental needs to access timely early intervention support. We will expand the capacity in government-funded early intervention programmes to serve 80% of children who require higher level of support by 2027, up from 60% today.

5 Second, we must protect children from troubled homes, such as those who suffer the consequences of broken families and family disputes. Under the UPLIFT Community Network programme, disadvantaged students that exhibit early signs of absenteeism are proactively identified and referred to a coordinator in the town’s social service office. Coordinators will link students and their families to appropriate agencies and community resources based on their needs. The programme has supported 900 students across 12 social service office towns since 2022. This will be expanded nationwide and aims to support about 1,300 students.

6 Third, to ensure that children are “future-ready”, Singapore has launched the ‘Transforming Education through Technology’ Masterplan 2030. This Masterplan is aimed at enhancing children’s digital literacy and technological skills to enable them to thrive in an increasingly technology-driven world. Schools will be provided with resources to support young students in the development of skills such as digital information management and Artificial Intelligence or AI literacy, as well as to form good digital habits. All Singapore students, from the age of 7, can also access an online Student Learning Space which offers a wealth of resources and tools to guide their learning. We are also leveraging new technologies like AI, to better customise learning for every child.

Mr Chair,

7 It has been more than 25 years since Singapore ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child. While we have made much progress, there is still a long way to go. Singapore remains committed to caring for and providing the best opportunities to give every child a good start in life and to enable them to realise their full potential.

8 Thank you.

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