SINGAPORE: A 57-year-old man was arrested on Sunday (Feb 18) at Block 15, Upper Boon Keng Road after he was reported to be throwing household items and cans of paint from his flat.

Police were alerted to the incident at the HDB block at 10.20am. No injuries were reported.

Channel NewsAsia understands that the items were thrown from the fourth floor and three cars were damaged. The car park in the area was cordoned off during the incident.

The man was arrested for committing a rash act and under the Mental Health Act. Police investigations are ongoing.

The Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) said forcible entry was conducted by police before the man was arrested. 

The SCDF set up two lifepaks and deployed a rescue net.

SINGAPORE: Transformative. Invaluable. Life-changing. 

These are the words used by a growing NOC alumni in describing their overseas stints interning in start-ups in entrepreneurial hotspots around the world such as Silicon Valley, Beijing and Israel.

The NOC, short for NUS Overseas College, is the highly acclaimed internship programme started by NUS over a decade ago to immerse its undergrads into the intense high-energy start-up environment of top start-up regions. 

The intent is for them to experience for themselves the thrills and spills of being part of a small team seeking to change the world with new innovations. 

In fact, the Global Innovation Alliance programme that came out of the Committee on the Future Economy early last year was largely inspired by the NOC’s success.

More resources have since been made available to scale up NOC-type programmes to establish more permanent linkages with entrepreneurial hotspots overseas.

NUS Enterprise, the innovation arm of NUS, has been quick in setting up Block 71-like offices in Silicon Valley, Jakarta and Suzhou.

GROWING SERIAL ENTREPRENEURS

How much does the NOC and similar overseas internship programmes contribute towards Singapore’s ambition to become an entrepreneurial nation? 

Evidence suggests that a sizeable proportion of NOC alumni ends up joining start-ups upon their return compared to the general student population.  

Many of the more well-known start-ups that came out of NUS were indeed founded by NOC alumni – Carousell, Shopback and Zopim come to mind. 

Alumni from the earlier batches are becoming serial entrepreneurs in the tradition of Silicon Valley start-up founders. Darius Cheung for instance, is now into his third start-up in real estate company 99.co having sold his first company tenCube to McAfee almost a decade ago.   

As a professor teaching tech entrepreneurship at the NUS School of Computing for many years, I can certainly see the difference an NOC stint does to students.

Students returning from NOC internships are generally more confident, vocal and tech-savvy. They are able to present their ideas effectively and in more creative ways. They become natural team leaders. 

For example, NOC (New York) alumnus Jake Goh, co-founder and CEO of RateX, an e-commerce company providing savings for cross-border purchases, was fully confident and clear about his business model and strategy when he applied to have his start-up housed in the School of Computing’s incubator a year ago. 

In that time, he and his founding team built their product, launched the business, attracted paying customers and raised funding. 

Not bad for a bunch of students doing all these while studying for their finals.

SELF-SELECTION?

Of course, self-selection plays a large part. Students applying for the NOC programme are likely to be those who are self-driven, adventurous and with an entrepreneurial bent. 

But with growing popularity, the pre-requisites for applying to NOC have also risen over the years – students are now encouraged to get letters of support from their professors and have to clear an interview with a panel that looks for students who demonstrate entrepreneurial qualities.

Being far away from home probably plays a part as well. Just as Singaporean students tend to do well when studying abroad, the same drive to prove themselves in a foreign environment may well be true for NOC interns.

I believe however, that the biggest reason why the NOC internship stints have been successful in preparing students to become entrepreneurs is because they immerse the students completely in a very well-developed start-up eco-system. 

The NOC sites of Silicon Valley, Beijing and Israel are arguably the top start-up eco-systems in the world. 

Therein lies the power of mature eco-systems and start-up communities. 

When one is surrounded by huge numbers of smart people with high drive, strong entrepreneurial ambitions and a “can do” attitude, it is difficult to remain unaffected, particularly so when news of fellow start-ups raising venture capital or getting acquired for millions are everyday occurrences. 

In such environments where every aspiring start-up founder knows of dozens of his peers achieving some form of success or other, it becomes natural to expect that his turn would surely come.

POWER OF AN ECO-SYSTEM

I recall talking with some Israeli entrepreneurs several years back at a start-up event in Tel Aviv. 

Israel, with a population only slightly larger than Singapore’s, is an undisputed global leader in tech entrepreneurship. It has achieved a reputation as the “Start-up Nation”, attracting more venture capital investments and achieving higher start-up exit value per capita than any other country. 

When I asked those present what the top career choices are for bright graduating college students, their answers were unequivocal. Everyone wanted to start a company or work in a start-up. 

Failing that, the next best option is to work for a high-tech company like Google, Facebook or Intel, which have a strong tech development presence in Israel. And for many, even that was just a stepping stone before going into a start-up. 

Working for government comes in almost as a last option, when all else fails. While these views may not be representative of the general population (these were entrepreneurs after all), I suspect the strong start-up preference is not that far off among the young in Israel. 

Almost all the aspiring entrepreneurs I spoke to knew of someone – a relative, classmate or neighbour who has done well in a start-up venture and that gave them the inspiration and confidence that they could do so as well. It’s just a matter of time. 

Singapore’s intent of strengthening our innovative capability by forging global innovation alliances with leading innovation regions is not a bad strategy. It is consistent with our aspiration to become an entrepreneurial hub. 

Indeed, with a highly diversified workforce, advanced infrastructure and high standard of living, we are well-placed to be a hub for start-ups in Southeast Asia that can attract venture capitalists, entrepreneurs, technical talent and support service players. 

This plays to Singapore’s strengths – the quality, abundance and flow of talent will greatly enrich, invigorate and reinforce our eco-system in a virtuous cycle.

As we mature as an entrepreneurial hub, internships in start-ups overseas via NOC-type programmes will become less of a means for us to merely learn from others and more of a global multi-directional exchange programme. 

The real indication that we have become successful as an entrepreneurial hub is when other countries begin to send their students to intern in Singapore-based start-ups. 

It is then that we know we have built up a healthy and sustainable entrepreneurial eco-system.

Dr Francis Yeoh is Professor for Entrepreneurship at the NUS School of Computing, as well as executive director of the Mediapreneur, Mediacorp’s incubator programme.

SINGAPORE: In a multilingual Singapore, people see benefits in being fluent in multiple languages. 

Any school-going child in Singapore would probably be well-exposed to the pressures of learning to be effectively bilingual. Chances are, they’ll be encouraged profusely by well-meaning parents to live and breathe English as well as Chinese, Malay or Tamil. 

And for good reason. A language opens the door to another world, offers a lens into another culture, and allows one to express oneself so as to be understood by more people. 

This pressure doesn’t let up in adulthood – where there are significant economic and professional benefits to being conversant in several languages.

In fact, multilingualism and Singaporeans’ ability to understand the region around us are arguably cornerstones of Singapore’s economic success. 

One language of choice is standing out, amid the focus on bilingualism and the importance of being conversant in English and mother tongue – that of programming language, such as Java or Python.

Mastery over coding, in knowing how to harness programming languages allows one to write computer programmes that give instructions to a computer.

Where Singapore’s Smart Nation future is encouraging the build-up of capabilities by leveraging technology to solve everyday problems, it seems knowing to code may help your kid achieve an edge over others when he or she enters the workforce some day.

COMPUTATION TOUCHES US ALL

Barely any discipline or any profession today remains untouched by computation.  A cursory search for the query “computational” on the National Library Board catalogue throws up books covering such subjects as computational finance, computational sciences, even computational approach to painting and calligraphy.

With computers and information technology permeating every aspect of how we work and live, modern-day multilingualism may involve picking up one or a few programming languages. 

Many Singaporeans are jumping on the bandwagon. 

In some shopping malls, coding schools for kids can be found alongside Chinese enrichment centres. 

Coding fever is at an all-time high. 19 secondary schools now teach programming at the GCE O level. 6 IP schools or junior colleges offer computing as an A-level subject. Applications to IT-related degrees are rising in local universities. 

Professionals and new graduates attend short-term, intensive coding boot camps, hoping to transition to the tech industry. 

This greater cognizance of the importance of programming and computing bodes well for our future digital economy and will serve our Smart Nation vision well.

But what we need to keep in mind is that learning programming needs to go beyond simply understanding specific syntax and the peculiarities of a programming language.

Coding is useful, not because kids learn how to use computers, but because it helps them develop skillsets to think about the world and go about problem solving.

HOW TO BE AN EFFECTIVE CODER

Just as knowing English grammar rules alone does not make one an eloquent speaker of English, knowing the syntax rules of how to put together a computer programme does not make one a proficient programmer. 

Communicating well in a language involves a host of skills, not least of which is the empathic consideration for how the message will be processed and acted upon by the computer.

The phrase “computational thinking” has been coined by professor of computer science at Columbia University Jeanette Wing.

It encapsulates the thinking process involved in formulating a real-world problem in computational terms, and to design an algorithm – a sequence of step-by-step operations the computer can take in reaching a solution in good time. 

In learning coding, kids may go away with a well-rounded education, provided they also develop a grasp of concepts that underpin computational thinking. 

These include logical thinking, how to apply algorithms, abstraction and decomposition, among others.

Computational thinking helps kids develop practical skillsets in questioning the world around them and learning how to approach problems from a variety of perspectives, applying axiomatic principles.

One computational thinking principle is to design algorithms that can still be executed in reasonable time even as the problem scales up. 

For instance, it is an Olympic tradition to conduct a torch relay that visits a number of localities in the host country. One may use a computer to calculate the route with the shortest distance for instance.

Yet for Tokyo 2020, the fastest supercomputer today cannot investigate every possibility to arrive at the best route to tour the 47 prefectures in Japan, even within our grandchildren’s lifetime. So a solution with less complexity, with a smaller set of possible solutions, may be more practical. 

Another computational thinking principle is the importance of organising one’s data well to allow a problem to be solved efficiently. You can only use a hard-copy dictionary quickly if you know that the words are ordered alphabetically. 

Similarly, an understanding of how data is organised stands at the heart of search engines like Google – which can search trillions of pages on the World Wide Web, and yet return the relevant links to us within a second. 

Kids need to take to heart the same adage when they learn how to programme.

Once kids begin to realize that at an abstract level many problems are fundamentally similar in computational terms, they will see the applications of computational thinking at every nook and cranny. 

For example, Webpages link to one another just as Twitter users follow one another. Intuitively, there is similarity between finding an authoritative web page and finding an influencer on Twitter.

For another example, finding the fastest way to send a message over the Internet is not very different from finding the fastest way to go from one’s home to Lau Pa Sat for supper. An algorithm that solves one could be applied to solve the other. 

The computational thinking process allows kids to gain inspiration from a variety of problems, and thus widens the applicability of programming across various disciplines.

When learning a foreign language, we learn not only new vocabulary, but more importantly a new way of thinking.

In the same way, coding can help our kids be better communicators and problem solvers, if it helps them develop these skillsets along the way.

Hady W Lauw is assistant professor of information systems at the School of Information Systems, Singapore Management University.

SINGAPORE: Registering a child for Primary 1 can be a laborious process due to the amount of checking and documentation required for the various phases of the Primary 1 Registration Exercise. And implementing stricter measures to ensure no parent gets away with lying about their address could border “on the absurd”, former teachers told Channel NewsAsia.

This follows a recent case of a couple who was fined S$9,000 for lying about their address to get their child into a popular primary school in Bishan. 

The parents had used a fake address in the Bishan area to register their child for Primary 1 at the school under Phase 2C of the registration exercise, which gives priority to families living within one kilometre of a school. The family had, in fact, lived at a bungalow in Serangoon Gardens. 

One former primary school teacher who wished to be known only as Ms Ang said in her experience, a lot of checking and documentation is required in the registration process. Parents would have to fill up registration forms, and come prepared with various supporting documents like identity cards, birth certificates and immunisation records.

“We would have to check all these, and also their address on the IC, to make sure it falls within the one to two-kilometre mark to qualify them for Phase 2C,” she said. “I’ve come across some parents that have no idea about such things … the documents they are supposed to bring, or their address could be just outside of the two-kilometre mark, and they will try and appeal.”

Changing one’s residential address on the IC can be done at any neighbourhood police post or at the Immigrations and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) Building, according to criminal lawyer and director of Straits Law Practice LLC, S Balamurugan. He explained that hardcopy documentary evidence of one’s new address is required, like a bill, statement or letter from HDB, a credit card or bank statement or a utilities bill from Singapore Power.

One could also request online for a pre-notification letter from the ICA, which will mail a letter to the new residential address within seven working days, he added. This can then be used as documentary evidence of the new address.

“One security measure is the requirement of providing hardcopy documentary evidence,” he said. “As the ICA will give out an address sticker for pasting on your IC, it may be possible that some may print out their own sticker to paste on their IC.”

DIFFICULT TO CATCH PARENTS LYING ABOUT THEIR ADDRESS

With the amount of paperwork and verification already required at the schools upon registration, Ms Ang stressed that going above and beyond the existing safeguards to catch errant parents who lie about their address would be difficult.

“What more can they do? You can’t possibly be interviewing neighbours for every child, or (get) CCTV footage … Does that mean everyone would need to submit that? It would be a tall order,” she said. “I think the existing system of checks is really as far as it can go, and if it goes beyond that, that would really border on the absurd for parents.”

She suggested that in the Bishan case, it was possible that the parents’ action may have come to light upon questioning of the child.

“If you want to lie about your address, you’ll have to prepare everyone involved, including the child, and children of that age are empty vessels,” she said. “Or maybe it was just a harmless activity, where maybe the child had to write their address down in a lesson, and they realised it wasn’t a match.”

Alternatively, another former primary school teacher pointed out that the parents could also have been caught if someone who knew of what they were doing had blown the whistle on them.

“Maybe someone tried to sabotage them,” said the teacher, who taught in a popular boys’ school. “They may have let the school know that the parent had lied about their address, and that could have been the trigger for the school to investigate.”

“Otherwise, it’s really very hard to catch these people,” the teacher added. “If you really want to take the time to check everything in detail, the registration process would take even longer, and I don’t know if the schools are willing to go through all this.”

It is not known how such cases are investigated, but the Ministry of Education (MOE) had earlier said that it views the use of false addresses during the Primary 1 Registration Exercise as a serious matter, and will refer any suspected cases to the police. It added that there have been fewer than 10 reported cases in the last 10 years.  

In this particular case, it was reported that the parents have 14 days to appeal against their sentences. In cases where the verdict is finalised and the parents are convicted of the charge, the child who was previously registered in a school based on false information would be transferred to another school with available vacancies. MOE was not able to provide a further update to this case. 

While Straits Law Practice’s Mr Balamurugan has not personally come across such cases, he pointed out a few that were reported. In 2007, a former lawyer was jailed two months for providing a false address to enroll his daughter in a top primary school. And in 2015, a man was fined the maximum S$5,000 for doing the same thing.

“Previous cases of parents who have provided false addresses have come to light when officers from MOE visited the false addresses,” he said. “Given that the punishment for falsifying one’s address can be an imprisonment term and much publicity of such cases now, it appears that the penalties can act as sufficient deterrence on the parents.”

“Perhaps criminal prosecution can be initiated against home owners who accept payment or favour in exchange for their address for parents who intend to enroll their children in schools which they would not have gotten without the falsification,” he added. “In addition, parents should give an undertaking that a child who gains priority admission into a school would be required to reside at the address until Primary 6 unless there are exceptional reasons.”

“THE ONES WHO BROKE THE LAW MUST BE REALLY DESPERATE”

But despite the fact that these parents ran afoul of the law, some parents Channel NewsAsia spoke to understood why they may have resorted to this.

“Though what they did was quite extreme, I can emphathise with them,” said a parent of two boys in a school in Bishan who wished only to be identified as Mrs Chan. “When we were signing up, a lot of people were saying things like ”What if your child cannot get into a good school?’ So even if you don’t feel anything from the start … it adds a lot of undue stress for the parents.”

“Parents will definitely try to do the best they can for their kids,” said another parent, Kende Chew. “It’s sad, but I’m not surprised.”

Sociologists pointed out that the parents’ actions are reflective of the large amount of stress they face in putting their child through the education system. 

“Parents are probably under the impression that getting into a reputable school is critical to their child’s future,” said associate professor of sociology at the National University of Singapore Tan Ern Ser. “The ones who broke the law must be really desperate, thinking that their child’s future is at stake.

“It could also be a matter of pride, in the sense that they would lose face if their child can’t get into a reputable school.”

“Some parents may be engrossed in ideas about what constitutes a good or top school, even when there is no official ranking as such,” added lecturer G Kaveri from the Singapore University of Social Sciences’ (SUSS) School of Human Development and Social Services. “There are also certain labels that continue to exist among many parents about schools and the results they can produce, and an obsession towards product-based, results-oriented education.”

Singapore Management University sociology professor Paulin Straughan also pointed out that these parents’ actions, coupled with other “tell-tale signs” like parents’ pre-occupation with enrichment lessons, reflects that there may be too much at stake in national examinations like the Primary School Leaving Examination (PSLE).

“The perception is that if you don’t do well at the PSLE and you don’t get streamed to your desired school, you won’t have the kind of opportunities to rise to your potential,” she explained. “The difference after PSLE is quite startling, because you get your IP schools, your independent schools, and then it’s down the stacking order.

“So parents feel that if you don’t do everything you can in the formative years of their education – which is really primary school – once they cross over into secondary school and they’re in this traditionally feared stage of teenage rebellion, they want their children to be in an environment which they consider safe.”  

One factor that is often overlooked is the role of the family in the child’s development.

Senior lecturer Sirene Lim from SUSS’ School of Human Development and Social Services said: “A teacher has to work with 30 to 40 children in a class within a limited amount of time, and it is impossible for him or her to educate each child the way that parents are able to,” adding that research is beginning to uncover the importance of a quality home learning environment as a predictor of a child’s success in school and later in life.

“Such findings increasingly reveal that it is not parents’ education or socio-economic status that matter most in predicting a child’s academic success, but it is what parents do and say on a daily basis that can better predict a child’s language and mathematical learning in school.”