In a nine-month crime spree starting last December, Mohamed Faridz Abdul Azeez committed five offences.

He punched a bus driver, exposed himself to a woman, possessed contraband cigarettes, committed snatch theft and even drove illegally.

In court yesterday, Mohamed Faridz, 33, pleaded guilty to five charges: causing hurt, committing an obscene act, possessing uncustomed goods, snatch theft and driving despite being disqualified.

He was sentenced to a total of 23 months and a week in jail, was fined $40,000 and was disqualified from driving for four years.

CAUSING HURT

On Dec 9 last year, Mohamed Faridz punched bus driver Zhang Lei, 35, multiple times causing him to suffer bruises on his face and a loose tooth, the court heard.

Mohamed Faridz had boarded the bus at about 9pm at a stop in Bugis with his girlfriend and her two daughters.

The girlfriend, Ms Nur Asyiqin, 28, was pushing her older daughter in a stroller while he carried the younger girl.

Court documents said that the driver closed the door before Mohamed Faridz had fully entered, and one side of the door hit the girl’s left arm and head.

He reacted by punching the bus driver in the mouth and a commotion broke out.

Mohamed Faridz then pressed the emergency door button and alighted.

His girlfriend attempted to follow him, but the bus driver tried to stop her by holding onto the stroller.

When Mohamed Faridz saw this, he boarded the bus again and punched the driver three times on the head.

The bus driver sought treatment the next day and was given seven days’ medical leave.

OBSCENE ACT

On Feb 6, Mohamed Faridz (above) exposed himself in front of a 50-year-old woman at a Simei void deck.

The woman, who cannot be named due to a gag order, was walking alone from Changi General Hospital towards a block in Simei Street 1 when she saw Mohamed Faridz standing behind a pillar at Block 109 with his trousers down and exposing himself.

She tried to take a picture of him, but he fled. She shouted for help and a passer-by managed to snap a shot of him from the back.

CONTRABAND

In April this year, Customs officers found him with a box of contraband cigarettes at the lift lobby of Block 135, Bedok North Street 2.

The excise duty leviable on the 3.37kg of cigarettes was $1,307.56.

This was not Mohamed Faridz’s first brush with Customs officers. In May 2013, he was sentenced for having uncustomed cigarettes.

SNATCH THEFT

On Aug 29, he snatched a waist pouch containing $10,000 in cash, a gold chain valued at $300 and a mobile phone valued at $30 from a 62-year-old man.

He had tailed the victim from a coffee shop in Lorong 18 Geylang, having earlier seen the man hold a stack of cash. He split the money with co-accused Muhammad Qayyuum Sulong, 31, and spent his share of $2,000 on clubbing.

ILLEGAL DRIVE

Three days later, at 3.20pm, while on court bail, Mohamed Faridz was spotted driving a borrowed car despite being barred from driving for two years from July 2015.

He was arrested later that day by plainclothes police officers.

During sentencing, District Judge Low Wee Ping said that Mohamed Faridz’s actions seemed to be getting “bolder and bolder”.

He said: “This court must deter people like you from committing these kind of crimes.”

This court must deter people like you from committing these kind of crimes.

–​ District Judge Low Wee Ping on Mohamed Faridz Abdul Azeez

The training and adult education sector, which plays a crucial role in building up a skilled workforce, has to upgrade as more sectors transform themselves and seek workers with relevant skills.

The sector “has to continue to be responsive to the changing needs of the economy and industries”, Education Minister (Higher Education and Skills) Ong Ye Kung said yesterday at the unveiling of a five-year transformation plan to refresh and raise the continuing education and training system in Singapore.

The Training And Adult Education Sector Transformation Plan is made in line with the national SkillsFuture movement to keep pace with the changing skills needs of the fast-evolving economy.

Today, there are about 6,000 adult educators and curriculum developers in the diverse training and adult education sector.

The plan, developed by the Training And Adult Education Skills Council in consultation with more than 150 professionals, was announced at the Adult Learning Symposium at Marina Bay Sands Expo and Convention Centre.

TRAINING

Mr Ong said: “Training is not just delivering a lecture and showing slides, but you dive into the dreams, hopes and fears of your trainees and help them develop.

“You hone their skills and raise their game to a higher level but, more importantly, if you are really good at what you are doing, you uncover their passions, you help them discover their direction in life and their aspirations, and activate their inner motivations.”

Under the plan, seven key recommendations were identified under three areas: repositioning the sector for growth, strengthening the systems and processes for training providers, and addressing manpower and skills needs.

The recommendations include measuring if training meets workplace performance outcomes, refreshing the learning infrastructure to support innovation and upgrading the educators’ skills.

– The Straits Times Online

The Sennheiser PXC 550 Wireless headphones are a traveller’s dream come true. Compact when folded, the headphones fit into most bags and you can hardly feel their weight or presence.

Instead of pressing and holding a power button to activate the wireless headphones, you just unfold and twist the earcups to the open position to power them up.

The earcups fit snugly and do not create unnecessary stress on your ears. They were surprisingly comfortable even after nearly an hour.

Pairing the headphones to devices with near-field communication support is also a fuss-free affair.

Controlling the volume and skipping tracks is also simple – just swipe up and down the right earcup to adjust the volume.

To skip tracks, swipe forward or backwards on the same earcup.

To say the headphones are intelligent might be stretching it a bit, but the cans are smart enough to pause playback once they are lifted off the ears.

AUDIO

Without any tweaks to the settings, the headphones’ audio quality is already impressive, with a strong deep bass. This was especially prominent when I was playing games on an iPad and listening to my favourite Spotify mix.

The adaptive noise cancelling is a much-needed feature, tuning out unnecessary background noise.

You can even alter how much noise cancelling is applied for the headphones and adjust the audio settings through Sennheiser’s CapTune app, which is available for iOS and Android devices.

The app also does sound checks to determine the best audio setting based on the environment.

You can save settings under different profiles, so it is simply a matter of choosing a suitable profile for that noisy daily commute on the train or the quiet little corner at home.

The headphones’ battery life is rated at up to 30 hours. Even with the noise isolation feature activated, I was pleasantly surprised to find that it had enough juice to last through a two-day binge-watching session on Netflix.

The Sennheiser PXC 550 Wireless headphones are pegged at a premium $649 price tag, but it is money well-spent to treat your ears right and to give yourself a very comfortable and aurally pleasing experience.

The New Paper remained the local paper with the highest proportion of young readers, according to market survey company Nielsen.

About one in four readers – or 25.8 per cent – aged between 15 and 29 reads TNP, said its latest report on Singapore Media, conducted between July last year and June 2016.

It surveyed 4,660 of the Singapore population aged 15 and above.

The paper’s popularity with the younger readers could be due to the generation becoming more socially conscious and taking to social issues, said Mr Joe Baladi, CEO of the branding consultancy brandAsian.

Over the years, TNP has established itself for its compelling human interest stories, told with strong visuals.

“Stories that make people feel a perceived sense of injustice tend to gather more traction today,” said Mr Baladi.

The paper’s extensive sports coverage was also another pull factor, said TNP reader Ismail Rahim, 28, who has been buying the paper since his primary school days.

“I read TNP for the football news and match reports and I will continue to do so,” he said.

The combined average daily readership for TNP was 6.4 per cent, with the hardcopy publication’s reach at 5.6 per cent, and its digital read at 1.0 per cent reach.

The Straits Times has retained its top spot as the most-read English title in Singapore, with print and digital readership combined at 29 per cent reach on an average daily basis.

The survey showed the combined readership of print and online newspapers reached close to six in 10 adults (58.2 per cent) in Singapore.

Printed newspapers continued to be the staple read for one in two adults (50.7 per cent), while on an average daily basis, digital newspapers were read by 14.9 per cent of local readers.

DIGITAL

The Straits Times was the most-read English title with the print edition read by 22 per cent of Singapore adults, and its digital version scoring 10.4 per cent readership.

The paper was primarily read by higher income groups, with three-quarters (74.7 per cent) of its readers registering a monthly household income of $5,000 and above.

Forty-eight per cent of its readers were professionals, managers, executives and businessmen (PMEB).

Lianhe Zaobao was Singapore’s top Chinese-language paper and had a combined daily readership of 14.1 per cent among the Chinese.

The printed copy obtained a reach of 12.7 per cent and the digital edition 2.1 per cent.

Freesheet Today had a combined average daily readership of 12.9 per cent, with its print edition reaching 11.4 per cent and the digital version 1.8 per cent on an average daily basis. About three in four readers (73.9 per cent) had a monthly household income of $5,000 and above. Forty-five per cent of its readers were PMEBs.

The report also said that Internet usage had continued to grow, hitting a daily usage of 80.8 per cent and a monthly usage of 83.3 per cent.

The increased usage came mainly from instant messaging, watching movies/TV/videos and news or e-newspapers access.

Accessing the Internet monthly was prevalent for almost all people aged 15 to 44 years old (98.9 per cent). For those aged 45 and above, there was also a growth, with more than six in 10 (64.3 per cent) adults going online.

More than seven in 10 (76.4 per cent) adults accessed online news or watched movies/TV/videos monthly.

On a weekly basis, close to four in 10 (39.7 per cent) adults accessed local online news or watched movies/TV/videos. At the same time, over nine in 10 (91.7 per cent) adults read local print newspapers or watched local television broadcasts every week.

Ms Annette Kunst, managing director, media, Nielsen Singapore, said: “In spite of the increased Internet penetration…and the availability of a wide potpourri of online content globally, home-grown news and entertainment content remain a fundamental source of information to the Singapore audience as they provide a local perspective and flavour.”

More cases of disguised retrenchments – workers getting laid off without their employers treating it as a retrenchment to avoid paying a fair package – are surfacing.

There has been an increase in disguised retrenchment cases, said NTUC assistant secretary-general Patrick Tay, who is also the director of NTUC Legal Services and its PME (professionals, managers, executives) unit.

About 15 to 20 people have approached the NTUC’s U PME Centre for help, compared to fewer than 10 in 2015.

In disguised retrenchment, a company avoids treating the layoff as a retrenchment so as not to pay fair benefits.

Mr Tay told The New Paper on Wednesday that cases of irresponsible retrenchments are not rampant. But they remain a concern because companies are carrying out such practices without breaking the law. (See report on facing page.)

For example, some workers are terminated with a month’s notice – allowed under provisions in employment contracts – and do not get retrenchment benefits.

He said: “The employee might be working for them for 15, 20 years, then they are told, ‘You don’t have to come back any more.’

“Legally, the employer may have the right to do that because the employment contract doesn’t have any severance package but this is not progressive.”

Nine in 10 companies paid retrenchment benefits, according to the last survey in 2013 on retrenchment carried out in the previous year.

It showed that the prevailing norm was to pay a retrenchment benefit of between two weeks’ and one month’s salary per year of service, Manpower Minister Lim Swee Say told Parliament in September.

In May, tripartite guidelines on managing excess manpower and responsible retrenchment were issued by the Ministry of Manpower (MOM), the Singapore National Employers Federation and NTUC. They highlighted the measures that companies are supposed to take during a retrenchment exercise, such as giving ample notice to affected employees and paying them benefits.

Mr Tay thinks irresponsible retrenchments could happen to employees across all industries and age groups.

He said: “It affects firms that are facing challenges and need to fire people. If (disguised retrenchments) are legal, it doesn’t matter if you are old or young.”

There are tell-tale signs when a company is trying to get rid of employees to reduce costs, Mr Tay added.

For instance, workers who have been doing the same job are suddenly given poor performance ratings when they had previously received consistently good ratings. Another sign is when a company’s order books are empty.

Mr Tay urged companies to inform MOM and the Tripartite Alliance for Fair and Progressive Employment Practice of any impending retrenchment exercise so that affected employees can get help finding another job.

According to the tripartite guidelines on retrenchment, the relevant union is supposed to be consulted as early as possible if the company is unionised.

Where it is provided in the collective agreement, the norm is one month before notifying the employee.

Mr Tay said: “We want to know early so that we can help workers who are affected as best as we can. We want to help them with a seamless transition to another employer.

“We can also negotiate the retrenchment payout which might not be prescribed in the collective agreement.”

In September, Labour NMP K. Thanaletchimi asked in Parliament whether it could be made compulsory for companies to notify MOM about any retrenchment exercise.

Mr Tay said the matter is currently being discussed with MOM and there will be an announcement in the coming months.

Asked if compulsory notifications could lead to more disguised retrenchments, he thinks that would be unlikely but he called on companies to conduct retrenchment exercises in a “fair, responsible and progressive” manner.

“There is more to lose for the employer if word goes around and employees still with the company will give them a dirty look. It affects morale and productivity.”

He added that the employer’s reputation could suffer, especially if the “retrenched” employees go to the media or use social media to reveal how the employer had treated them.

Legally, the employer may have the right to do that because the employment contract doesn’t have any severance package but this is not progressive.

– Mr Patrick Tay

More cases of disguised retrenchments – workers getting laid off without their employers treating it as a retrenchment to avoid paying a fair package – are surfacing.

There has been an increase in disguised retrenchment cases, said NTUC assistant secretary-general Patrick Tay, who is also the director of NTUC Legal Services and its PME (professionals, managers, executives) unit.

About 15 to 20 people have approached the NTUC’s U PME Centre for help, compared to fewer than 10 in 2015.

In disguised retrenchment, a company avoids treating the layoff as a retrenchment so as not to pay fair benefits.

Mr Tay told The New Paper on Wednesday that cases of irresponsible retrenchments are not rampant. But they remain a concern because companies are carrying out such practices without breaking the law. (See report on facing page.)

For example, some workers are terminated with a month’s notice – allowed under provisions in employment contracts – and do not get retrenchment benefits.

He said: “The employee might be working for them for 15, 20 years, then they are told, ‘You don’t have to come back any more.’

“Legally, the employer may have the right to do that because the employment contract doesn’t have any severance package but this is not progressive.”

Nine in 10 companies paid retrenchment benefits, according to the last survey in 2013 on retrenchment carried out in the previous year.

It showed that the prevailing norm was to pay a retrenchment benefit of between two weeks’ and one month’s salary per year of service, Manpower Minister Lim Swee Say told Parliament in September.

In May, tripartite guidelines on managing excess manpower and responsible retrenchment were issued by the Ministry of Manpower (MOM), the Singapore National Employers Federation and NTUC. They highlighted the measures that companies are supposed to take during a retrenchment exercise, such as giving ample notice to affected employees and paying them benefits.

Mr Tay thinks irresponsible retrenchments could happen to employees across all industries and age groups.

He said: “It affects firms that are facing challenges and need to fire people. If (disguised retrenchments) are legal, it doesn’t matter if you are old or young.”

There are tell-tale signs when a company is trying to get rid of employees to reduce costs, Mr Tay added.

For instance, workers who have been doing the same job are suddenly given poor performance ratings when they had previously received consistently good ratings. Another sign is when a company’s order books are empty.

Mr Tay urged companies to inform MOM and the Tripartite Alliance for Fair and Progressive Employment Practice of any impending retrenchment exercise so that affected employees can get help finding another job.

According to the tripartite guidelines on retrenchment, the relevant union is supposed to be consulted as early as possible if the company is unionised.

Where it is provided in the collective agreement, the norm is one month before notifying the employee.

Mr Tay said: “We want to know early so that we can help workers who are affected as best as we can. We want to help them with a seamless transition to another employer.

“We can also negotiate the retrenchment payout which might not be prescribed in the collective agreement.”

In September, Labour NMP K. Thanaletchimi asked in Parliament whether it could be made compulsory for companies to notify MOM about any retrenchment exercise.

Mr Tay said the matter is currently being discussed with MOM and there will be an announcement in the coming months.

Asked if compulsory notifications could lead to more disguised retrenchments, he thinks that would be unlikely but he called on companies to conduct retrenchment exercises in a “fair, responsible and progressive” manner.

“There is more to lose for the employer if word goes around and employees still with the company will give them a dirty look. It affects morale and productivity.”

He added that the employer’s reputation could suffer, especially if the “retrenched” employees go to the media or use social media to reveal how the employer had treated them.

Legally, the employer may have the right to do that because the employment contract doesn’t have any severance package but this is not progressive.

– Mr Patrick Tay

What started as a routine trip to Kuala Lumpur turned into a nightmare for a Singaporean businessman.

Mr Herman Zaidin, 31, was driving home to Singapore alone along the North-South Highway near Simpang Renggam in Johor on Sunday evening when a group of more than 10 men assaulted and robbed him.

The attack came after one of them claimed to have been injured after hitting his motorcycle against Mr Herman’s car on the heavily congested road.

During the attack, one of the men even used a spanner to smash his Mercedes Benz’s windscreen and hit his left eye.

“There is now internal bleeding in my eye and my vision is blurry.

“I’m very worried, as a doctor told me these’s a possibility that my vision may be permanently affected after this,” Mr Herman told The New Paper after visiting the hospital yesterday.

He has since made police reports about his ordeal in both Singapore and Johor Baru.

Singapore police and an officer at Simpang Renggam Police Station confirmed the reports.

Mr Herman told TNP he drives to the Malaysian capital almost weekly for business trips.

The highway was congested with bumper-to-bumper traffic as he was driving home his Singapore-registered car at around 11.30pm.

He was in the left-most lane and was about 90km away from Tuas Checkpoint when he felt something hitting the rear of his vehicle.

When he looked at his side mirror, he saw a motorcyclist falling off his bike.

Worried that the rider could have been injured, Mr Herman said he stopped his car.

All of a sudden, more than 10 men, who looked to be in their late teens and early 20s, came towards him on motorcycles and surrounded his car.

Mr Herman said: “They accused me of causing the accident and started banging on my car. They also hurled vulgarities and asked me to step out.

“The rider who hit me also came forward and demanded a compensation. I panicked.”

One of the men then took out a spanner and used it to smash his windscreen.

Seeing this, Mr Herman decided to wind down his window to talk to the men.

He said: “I had no choice as my window could have been broken next. I had to talk to them to find out exactly what they wanted.”

What happened next took place so quickly that it seemed like a blur now, he said.

“One of the guys unlocked the door and opened it. Then they started to rain blows on me. One guy used the spanner and hit my left eye.

“With one hand, I held on to my seat belt while I covered my face with the other.”

The men ordered him to get out of his car, but he refused as he feared they might drive away in it.

Realising that he would not budge, the men ordered him to hand over his wallet containing about S$300 and RM400 (about S$130)

After he gave in to their demands, they also helped themselves to his in-vehicle camera, his mobile phone and its power bank.

ESCAPE

They also ordered him to open the boot from the driver’s seat. When he gave in, they took his laptop computer which had been placed there and fled on their bikes.

Mr Herman said he lost about $2,400 worth of valuables.

He said: “I (later) stepped out of my car and when I went to the rear, I saw no dent there.

“I’m sure the accident was staged, for after the biker fell off, he immediately asked me for compensation.

“The ordeal lasted about 10 minutes, but it was the longest 10 minutes of my life.”

Mr Herman said he was disappointed that no-one came to his aid.

“The road was congested so I’m sure many motorists saw what had happened. Maybe they thought it was a genuine accident or were just too afraid to step in.”

In pain and nursing a badly bruised eye, he managed to drive to the Johor checkpoint. Due to the congestion, he only reached the checkpoint about 1½ hours later, when it usually takes 45 minutes.

He told the immigration officers about what had happened and they referred him to the Malaysian police.

Mr Herman continued his journey home after filing a report. By the time he got to the Tuas Checkpoint, it was already about 3am on Monday.

There, police and immigration officers saw his bruises and asked him what happened.

They called for an ambulance, but he declined the service as he wanted to go home first to park his car.

Mr Herman only called for an ambulance when he arrived home in the central part of Singapore.

He was taken to Tan Tock Seng Hospital, where a doctor told him that even though he had bruises all over his body, the main worry was his eye.

He now needs to go for further check-ups.

Mr Herman said: “Looking back, I’m lucky that my injuries were not life-threatening. The men could have stabbed me.

“However, the incident has left me shaken and I don’t think I will be driving to Kuala Lumpur anytime soon. I will fly there instead until I feel brave enough to drive again.”

They started to rain blows on me. One guy used the spanner and hit my left eye.

– Mr Herman Zaidi on being attacked by a group

SINGAPORE — Some six years after motor-workshop owners were first told that they would have to relocate from Sin Ming Industrial Estate, they will finally have to make the move to a nearby multi-storey complex from January next year, even if some of them are not looking forward to it.

Those who are reluctant remain undecided on whether to relocate or to wind up their businesses, even though they have already balloted for their replacement units at the new location, AutoCity, which is still in Sin Ming.

Mr Ng Kee Huat, 64, who is thinking of winding down the family business, said that he would have to fork out about S$5,600 a month for rent at the new place — excluding miscellaneous fees for rubbish collection, for instance — and this is more than the S$4,000 or so he now pays at Sin Ming Industrial Estate. Mr Ng and his two brothers own Sin Koek Seng, which provides car spray-painting services, and the shop has been in business for about 40 years.

“We’ll collect the keys (at AutoCity) first and if the final costs are really too high, we’ll return the unit to the Housing and Development Board (HDB),” Mr Ng said in Mandarin. “Of course, it would be a pity. The new building is pretty, but business has been bad.”

The relocation of Blocks 11 to 21, 27 and 34 in Sin Ming Industrial Estate was first announced in 2010, and the move falls under the HDB’s Industrial Redevelopment Programme. The relocation was supposed to happen in the third quarter of this year, but there was a delay.

Chinese daily Lianhe Zaobao reported yesterday that the owners can move in about two months’ time. A HDB spokesperson said that the keys for the replacement units would be given out from mid-January next year and the tenants would have three months from the start of their new tenancy to vacate their current premises.

The vacated sites have been zoned for residential use, while Block 34 has been set aside for business use.

Most of the workshop owners told TODAY that they were concerned about the higher rental fees at AutoCity, the loss of drive-in customers, and the hefty costs of dismantling and shifting their existing equipment to the new complex.

The 50-year-old owner of Leong Auto Trading and Transport Services, who wanted to be identified only as Mr Teng, said that the workshops may see fewer drive-in customers because not many would want to circle around a few floors in the new complex to look for car workshops.

Tenants in the affected blocks who got their current premises before January 1998 would receive an ex-gratia of S$48,000 per unit and up to a six-month waiver in rent at AutoCity.

Even so, Mr Nelson Koh, 62, the owner of Yong Thye Seng Spray Painting and Auto Repair Workshop, said that he would still have to spend tens of thousands of dollars to relocate, renovate and buy new equipment. He intends to end his business because it has been tough trying to hire more manpower.

Mr Winson Ow, 48, managing director of CS Racing Autolab, hopes to continue his business for the older employees and partners working with him, but the higher rental fees are a concern. He pointed out that the rent at privately owned multi-storey complexes in Kaki Bukit, for instance, may be cheaper at about S$2,000 to S$3,000 a month, he said.

Others, such as Mr Saber Tan, 40, who took over his business from his father and is director of Eng Shing Mechanical Works, is giving himself three years at AutoCity.

“I’ll try it out. We might be able to hold out for a while through Government schemes such as the PIC,” he said, referring to the Productivity and Innovation Credit Scheme where eligible businesses get tax deductions or allowances for spending incurred in selected activities.

The cost of rent is not the only concern for some workshops moving to AutoCity. Mr Jason Tan, 44, operations manager at Lai Huat (Meng Kee) Motor, said that the layout of the new building could be better. Each new unit sets aside rooms for workers, but Mr Tan does not need such quarters in all three units that his firm will be occupying, and he cannot do anything about the design.

He also noted that the balloting process for the new space could have given older tenants priority in selecting adjacent units.

While the motor workshops prepare to face the impending move and changes, at least one business is unlikely to worry about traffic from customers.

New Ubin Seafood Restaurant, a popular eatery at Block 27, has set its last day of operations on Nov 13, before it moves to Hillview Avenue near Upper Bukit Timah.

On its Facebook page, it said that it “has been / are already in touch with all those whose reservations are affected”, and will likely open in that same week at the new location “subject to operational readiness”.

SINGAPORE — Growing up, Mr Dean Yap was pushed to study hard and was often among the top students in class.

When he was 26, he had a bachelor’s degree in electrical and electronic engineering and a Master’s in communication software and networks in his bag, and had worked for two years in the semiconductor industry.

But he got a reality check on the limitations of glowing report cards eight years ago, when he failed to kickstart his own IT business. “Because I spent so much time on homework and examinations in my schooling years, I lost many opportunities to interact with others … I ended up not knowing how to talk to my clients, I couldn’t build my team, and my business failed,” said the 42-year-old.

He became a stay-at-home father instead to his first child, who was a newborn at the time. He now has three children aged nine years, six years, and four months old.

These days, concerned about the Republic’s perennial obsession with grades and spurred by the rise in teen suicides here, Mr Yap wants to take his message further. He has rallied a group of Singaporeans — among them well-known personalities and ordinary residents — with the aim of sharing the stories of at least 100 individuals who have shown that academic acumen had little to do with real-life success.

Named 100 Voices, the group currently comprises founding members such as World Toilet Organisation founder Jack Sim, who failed his O- and A-Level examinations, Kimberly-Clark associate director Gina Sim, who could not get into the “coveted Science stream” in school, and marketing entrepreneur Calvin Soh, who has been on a sabbatical to spend time with his son for the past five years.

“We want to share with students, parents and teachers that there are at least 100 different pathways to success, and that there are 100 different ways of defining ‘success’,” Mr Yap told TODAY, adding that society is often too quick to dismiss low academic results as “failure”.

He was prompted to start the 100 Voices initiative last month, after reading about the case of an 11-year-old who took his own life because of the anxiety he felt over revealing his grades to his parents.

In July, the Samaritans of Singapore (SOS) reported that the number of suicides among those aged between 10 and 19 years old last year spiked to their highest in more than a decade, at 27 out of 409 reported suicides.

This group also formed 9 per cent of callers to the SOS crisis hotline who disclosed their age. Their stressors included academic pressure and relationship problems at home and in school.

About 20 individuals have pledged to tell their stories, which 100 Voices hopes to share through various media outlets, on online platforms, and in schools.

While encouraged by the Government’s vision of “every school a good school”, and the introduction of more “hands-on” subjects to the secondary school curriculum, Mr Sim felt that all stakeholders must work together to “find better ways to deliver education that our children enjoy”.

Added Mr Soh: “What we often call failures are often stepping stones to success. Life is about trying new things … again and again. Students spend so much of their time doing ten-year-series exercises. There is no “ten-year series” for life, because every ten years is so different from the one before and the one after!”

Youth counsellors approached by TODAY said they have seen an increasing number of youths seeking help for depression and anxiety, many of whom have attempted suicide or verbalised thoughts of doing so.

Mr Daniel Koh, a psychologist at Insights Mind Centre, said constant emphasis and comparison on academic results can cause students to resort to self-harm when they are unable to cope with negative emotions.

Urging parents and teachers to spend more time with children, Mr Koh said: “It is most important to know the children so any changes in behaviour can be detected and help provided at the earliest point.”

Consultant psychologist Elizabeth Ho from The Resilienz Clinic added: “Take a vested interest in their interests, hobbies and dreams (not your dreams), not just how they are faring academically … Encourage them to get up when they have fallen, and take the time to listen to them.”

SINGAPORE — Bucking the trend of declining readership among newspapers, TODAY has increased its readership to 548,000 — up 19,000 from last year — as it retained its position as the second-most-read daily newspaper in Singapore, based on the latest Nielsen Singapore Media Index released yesterday.

The Nielsen report showed that combined readership of print and online newspapers reached close to 58.2 per cent of the population, down 3.6 percentage points from last year. Seven out of 10 daily newspapers — including The Straits Times, The New Paper and My Paper — saw their combined readership fall. TODAY, the Business Times and Tamil Murasu posted increases in their readership and reach.

The Nielsen report was based on a survey of 4,660 of Singaporeans aged 15 and above, conducted between July last year and June this year.

The reach of The Straits Times — which remains the most-read news daily here — fell by one percentage point to 29 per cent, with its readership dropping to about 1.23 million, a decline of 23,000 readers. The New Paper (TNP) saw a readership decline of 39,000 to 271,000 while My Paper’s readership fell to 190,000, losing 48,000 readers.

Last month, Singapore Press Holdings announced that it will be laying off employees and merging My Paper and TNP to form a revamped TNP, due to headwinds in the industry and difficult economic conditions.

TODAY extended its reach by 0.3 percentage point to 12.9 per cent. On an average daily basis, TODAY’s print edition and the digital version reach 11.4 per cent and 1.8 per cent, respectively, of the adult population. About three in four readers (73.9 per cent) earn a monthly household income of S$5,000 and above. More than two in five readers (45.3 per cent) are professionals, managers, executives and businessmen (PMEBs).

The Nielsen report said that printed newspapers remained the staple read for one in two adults (50.7 per cent), while digital newspapers were read by 14.9 per cent of Singaporean readers on an average daily basis.

Monthly Internet usage continued to grow — from 79.5 per cent last year to 83.3 per cent this year — with increases mainly from instant messaging, watching movies/television/videos and news or e-newspapers access. The report also showed that, every week, over nine in 10 (91.7 per cent) adults read local print newspapers or watched local television broadcasts.

Nielsen Singapore managing director (media) Annette Kunst said: “In spite of the increased Internet penetration in Singapore and the availability of a wide potpourri of online content globally, homegrown news and entertainment content remain a fundamental source of information to the Singapore audience as they provide a local perspective and flavour.”

She added: “As audiences continue to consume both offline and online content, local media owners stay connected with their integrated offerings.”