Candidates who have the aptitude to work with children can apply early for full-time early childhood education courses offered by Ngee Ann (NP) and Temasek (TP) polytechnics.

They are offering more than 300 places in three such diploma programmes, in an Early Admissions Exercise (EAE) starting tomorrow.

The EAE, which began this year, allows students to secure a place in a diploma course of their choice even before they sit the O-level exams. It caters to students with abilities and interests in a specific course, as well as those with talent in other areas such as sports and community service.

Up to 12.5 per cent of the polytechnic intake can be admitted through this scheme, which replaces the Direct Polytechnic Admissions (DPA) exercise, and folds in the Joint Polytechnic Special Admissions Exercise (JPSAE).

To meet the demand for trained pre-school teachers, the polytechnics have been expanding their full-time early childhood education courses – taking in a record 590 students this year, a 74 per cent increase from last year.

Of these, 265 were admitted through the DPA or JPSAE. They plan to take up to 680 next year.

NP offers the Diploma in Early Childhood Education and the Diploma in Child Psychology and Early Education. TP offers the Diploma in Early Childhood Studies.

NP principal Clarence Ti said in a joint statement yesterday the polytechnics “hope to see more students who have the aptitude and interest in early childhood education be given priority in gaining admission to courses in this field” through the EAE.

Mr Ang Teck Hua, director of TP’s Centre for Child Study, said: “In our selection process, applicants would have an opportunity to observe unobtrusively the working environment of TP’s laboratory preschool.”

This gives applicants a better appreciation of what the early childhood profession entails, he added.

Instead of one-to-one interviews, assessment of applicants will be based on their participation in group interviews and activities to gauge how suitable they are for working with children.

EAE applications will close next Wednesday and shortlisted candidates will be required to go for interviews from July 4 to Aug 16.

The Early Childhood Development Agency (ECDA) is also supporting successful EAE applicants, who will automatically be offered a Training Award (TA).

Prior to last year, students had to apply separately for the award, which is worth up to $40,000 for a three-year course, and includes full sponsorship of tuition and an $800 monthly allowance.

ECDA has set aside more than $10 million over the next three years to sponsor the award, which can be taken up by students in any of their three years of study.

Each year of sponsorship comes with a corresponding year of service to the early childhood sector.

Mr Eugene Leong, ECDA’s chief executive officer, said: “The early childhood sector has seen rapid expansion in recent years. This presents many rewarding and meaningful opportunities for students to play a direct role in giving every child a good start in life.

“ECDA is happy to collaborate with our polytechnics to support our TA recipients and help them prepare for successful careers as early childhood professionals.”

This article was first published on Jun 21, 2016.
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Facing a manpower shortage, a former chief operating officer of a well-established bar and dining chain hatched a plan to hire foreign workers who were subject to a quota by pretending they were employment pass hires which are not subject to a quota.

In June 2012, Parmjit Kaur, 49, told employment agents for Harry’s International to look for foreign workers, who would be offered a monthly pay of $3,100. However, these workers would have to return more than half of their salaries as “reimbursements” for transportation and meal expenses.

Kaur, who was also a Harry’s director, wanted to bring the workers in on employment passes supposedly to circumvent the quota for work permit holders, who are lower-skilled and draw less salary.

Yesterday, Kaur was fined $40,000 after she pleaded guilty to five charges under the Employment of Foreign Manpower Act.

She admitted to 15 other counts of the same charge and these were considered in sentencing.

A district court heard that Kaur had first asked an assistant human resource manager to declare in the company’s employment pass applications that the foreign employees would be given a fixed monthly salary of $3,000.

This was, at the time, the minimum salary requirement for employment pass holders, who are foreign professionals, managers and executives. Approval was not granted for the applications, so Kaur instructed that a higher sum of $3,100 be declared.

Between April and September 2013, Harry’s falsely declared to the Controller of Work Passes that 20 foreign workers would be hired as restaurant chefs de partie at a fixed salary of $3,100 each.

Employment passes were issued to 20 Indian nationals.

The workers’ pay was credited into their bank accounts on the first day of every month, but they had to return $1,600 to Harry’s finance department the next day.

Meals and transportation were provided for only some workers and, even when provided, did not add up to $1,600.

In October 2013, a Ministry of Manpower employment inspector discovered the offences after receiving a tip-off.

Kaur, who was charged in November last year, could have been fined $20,000 and jailed for two years on each charge.

Harry’s International is wholly owned by F&B Asia Ventures. Kaur is no longer with the company.

This article was first published on Jun 21, 2016.
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Some wild boars that inhabit the area around the Lorong Halus Jetty in Pasir Ris have been getting fed by members of the public, and raising concerns among others.

A video and photos of one woman feeding the animals were posted on a Facebook group for cycling enthusiasts on Sunday.

The video, posted by a user on the Facebook group Love Cycling SG, shows about 10 boars of different sizes at a muddy, barren patch of land. A woman is also seen nearby, emptying out the contents of several plastic bags, which the boars then eat.

The user was cycling past the jetty when he saw the woman and the animals. He later saw the woman remove the plastic bags after feeding the animals.

Several people praised the woman’s actions, with one person calling it a “lovely and heartwarming sight”.

Others, however, expressed concern that feeding the boars might cause them to come into closer contact with humans in their search for food. A wild boar reportedly chased and injured a boy in Punggol last month. The Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority of Singapore (AVA) on June 1 said it has received 27 complaints about wild boars so far this year.

Feeding the boars might indeed cause them to associate humans with food, said Ms Anbarasi Boopal, deputy chief executive at the Animal Concerns Research and Education Society (Acres).

“Feeding should be stopped… If not, they might approach humans in the future, and people may report them as a nuisance, resulting in them being culled,” she told The Straits Times.

Wild animals can also be unpredictable, so it is best to look at them from a distance, added Ms Boopal. “They will have enough food in their habitat to survive,” she said.

A national serviceman, who gave his name as Aziwan, 20, said he has fed the boars at the jetty for nearly three years, and they typically do not come around after 6pm or 7pm, evening newspaper Shin Min Daily News reported yesterday.

“These wild boars are all very gentle, they won’t attack people. And there is a fence surrounding the area, as long as people don’t cross it, it should be safe,” he said.

About 30 people were seen by Shin Min feeding the boars in the span of an hour, including some who drove to the jetty with their children.

According to an advisory on the AVA website, people should not try to feed wild boars and should keep a safe distance from them.

“Wild boars are unpredictable animals and can be dangerous. Their teeth can inflict serious injuries. Female wild boars, especially, are dangerous when protecting their young,” said the advisory.

The public is also advised to not provoke wild boars by taking photographs with the flash turned on.

Click on thumbnail to view photos. Source: 

Reuters, The Straits Times, Facebook screengrabs, Law Ing Sind, Wildlife Reserves Singapore, Marcus Chua

This article was first published on June 21, 2016.
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Just last week, Singapore’s two most established universities were ranked first and third in a ranking of Asian universities.

This week, they have seized the top two spots in another list of Asia’s best universities.

The National University of Singapore (NUS) took first place, while Nanyang Technological University (NTU) was placed second with Peking University in the London- based Times Higher Education Magazine rankings for Asia.

The University of Hong Kong took the fourth position, while China’s Tsinghua University was ranked fifth, in the rankings that are being released this morning.

Last year, NUS came in second, while NTU was placed 10th.

Times Higher Education rankings editor Phil Baty said: “Singapore has sealed its place as one of Asia’s top university nations.”

He said: “This ranking cements Singapore as a prime case study of how to challenge elite Western institutions and become a rising university star.”

NUS president Tan Chorh Chuan said he was delighted at NUS’ good showing but said the university will need to be even more strategic and adaptive in the coming years, given the massification of higher education and the shifting nature of jobs.

Commenting on the two latest rankings, NTU president Bertil Andersson said both lists show that NTU has moved swiftly in recent years to innovate in teaching and produce research with a far-reaching global impact.

He added that the Times ranking shows that Singapore is now the top city in Asia for higher education.

The Times ranking uses 13 key performance indicators to reflect a university’s strengths in five areas: teaching, research, citation, industry income and global outlook.

The indicators used are the same as those used in the magazine’s World University Rankings, but with a difference in the weighting given to various indicators.

Times Higher Education said that following consultation with universities across Asia, it decided to place less emphasis on reputation elements but emphasise industry income and research income, as well as productivity, in terms of publications. Mr Baty said NUS did well in all the measures but its strength in research really stands out.

NTU, he said, is no doubt one of “the most exciting – and closely watched – universities in the world”.

In the rankings released last week, London-based education consultancy Quacquarelli Symonds placed NUS first and NTU third.

Singapore Management University entered the rankings for the first time in 60th place.

University league tables have proliferated in recent years and university officials say parents and students are increasingly referring to them. In some countries, governments use them to make funding decisions.

This article was first published on June 21, 2016.
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