SINGAPORE – A video being circulated on Facebook shows a group of kindergarten children bowing in front of a banner bearing the photograph of the late Mr Lee Kuan Yew.

According to Facebook user Tengu Fuming, the video was shot at a residential block where a kindergarten is located.

In the video, a group of small children can be seen bowing three times in front of the banner. At least four adults were with them at the time.

The caption accompanying the Facebook video indicated that teachers had taught the children to do so after telling them a story about him.

But the user was sceptical about the lesson, writing in the post: “Do the children understand?”

The 39-second video has been shared 1,574 times, and viewed 85,942 times in less than 24 hours.

ljessica@sph.com.sg

Thousands visit Lee Kuan Yew memorial exhibition at National Museum

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The Straits Times, The New Paper, National Museum Of Singapore

语言是开启世界大门的钥匙，双语政策是我国教育体制的基石。学习语文更重要的是从语文蕴含的文化中培养正确价值观。

教育部代部长（学校）黄志明昨晚出席华侨中学97周年庆暨董事会就职仪式时，强调双语政策的重要。这是他就任教育部职务后首次以主宾身份出席母校华中的校庆。

他在谈到双语教育时以华语致词说：”学习一种语文不仅仅是掌握运用语文的能力，更重要的是从语文蕴含的文化中培养正确的价值观。中华文化里的精髓，就是强调这种人文素养，比如自强不息、饮水思源、爱国爱民。语言是开启世界大门的钥匙，我希望华中学生善用你们掌握双语的优势，回馈社会、为民服务，让新加坡的未来更加温馨与和谐。”

他列举几名校友包括水源科技公司凯发（Hyflux）总裁林爱莲（华初校友）、线上游戏平台Garena创办人叶刚、软件起步公司Zopim创办人郑人杰等开创事业的创新精神，强调学校须培养学生应对未来挑战的能力。华中的企业精神领袖培育计划就是一个例子，让学生有机会向校友汲取职场经验。

他指出，无人能预知未来的工作或哪些领域将蓬勃发展。现在就连机器人阿尔法围棋（AlphaGo）也能击败围棋大师。学生必须培养创新的能力，才能为新加坡增值。

黄志明也感谢母校给予的教诲。他说，不曾忘记”自强不息，学以致用，饮水思源”。从创校的陈嘉庚到今日的校董会，大家秉持着回馈社会、培育下一代的理念。他为此鼓励学生回馈社区，关怀他人。

配合校庆，超过3000名华中学生昨天参与多项社区服务，其中一项是西北社区发展理事会的”西北省电计划”，活动目的是在提倡环保的同时，也为有需要的家庭提供电费回扣。华中学生还拜访了武吉班让和义顺东的居民，收集旧报纸并传达环保与节约能源的意识。

华侨中学育人高级咨询顾问林传嘉（38岁）受访时说，学生们在向居民讲解节约能源信息的同时，也是回馈社区的方式，借此体现华中创办人陈嘉庚服务社会的精神。

此外，华中学生也为华社自助理事会的600户受惠家庭收集粮食，以及为新加坡回教研究会（PERTAPIS）受益者进行打扫工作，改善居住环境。

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政府将制定全国网络安全策略，通过教育、科研和推动企业发展等，引导新加坡未来的网络安全发展。

新加坡网络安全局（Cyber Security Agency of Singapore，简称CSA）局长许智贤上周接受本报专访时透露，去年4月1日投入运作的网安局下来一年的重大任务是筹备”全国网络安全策略”（National Cyber Security Strategy）。

他说：”网安局成立以来，一直与不同伙伴合作，积极了解网安领域的发展，以及我国面对的挑战和威胁等。我们希望把有关网安的教育、科研和业界发展等集合成一项全国策略，引导国家下来的网安发展。策略也涵盖新加坡与其他国家在网安课题上的关系，因为网安威胁不仅跨领域，也跨国界。”

由通讯及新闻部长雅国博士领导的网安局负责统筹各政府部门的网络安全事宜。

除了这个全国策略，以及继续通过培训、公共教育和举办网安演习等提高公众意识，网安局也将草拟网络安全法案。雅国在该部门今年1月发表的政府施政方针附录中指出，信息基础设施的网络安全极为重要，政府将在明年向国会提呈这项法案，以赋予网安局更大的执法权限。相关详情于下个月公布。

改变个人企业对网安观念

我国迈向智慧国之际，政府机构推出越来越多电子服务，这意味着网安局的工作越发重要。雅国在施政方针附录中说，政府将逐步增加网安方面的长期拨款，这笔开支将占政府资讯科技预算的至少8％。

许智贤说，除了投入资金和开发及使用新技术，最关键的是改变企业和个人对网安的观念。

“网络安全人人有责。我们从小就知道，要出家门就要关窗关门，带上钥匙。这在网络世界也一样，是自己的责任。新加坡治安良好或是导致国人安全意识较弱的原因，但我们必须清楚知道，一上网其实就等于与全球挂钩，这个大环境未必和我国一样安全。”

网安事件减少

并非全都归功网安局

前年，总理公署和总统府等多个网站被黑客入侵并窜改内容，千余名用户的身份证号码连同电子政府密码（SingPass）也可能外泄。商业机构如卡拉OK连锁店KBox，也发生超过31万名会员的个人资料遭外泄的事件。

相比之下，这类涉及网安的事件去年似乎减少不少。但许智贤坦言，这不全然是网安局的功劳。

“的确，我们多管齐下提升公众对网安的意识，但前年发生的事件也一再提醒人们多注意网安，这相信才是主因。”

他以一部下行的电动扶梯比喻说：”我们每采取一个防御网络威胁的措施就往上爬一步，但威胁越来越复杂，人们使用的科技产品也越来越多样化，这部电动扶梯就不间断地下行，速度也不时加快。若我们停滞不前，就必然被拉下来，只能不断努力去应对。”

本报去年报道，网安局运作初期有60名员工。许智贤透露，网安局未满一周年已有超过100名员工，今年内计划增至150人。

他说：”我们非常积极展开招聘活动，包括一些刚从理工学院和大学毕业的学生。从其他公司转投网安局的则包括放弃较高工资工作的人。这除了因网安局提供有趣刺激的职业，也因他们认同网安局在捍卫国家网安领域的这份使命。”

网安局和资讯通信发展管理局下来也将推出”网安协理员与技师计划”，在两年内培训至少180名网安专业人员。相关计划近期内公布。

网安局也与高等教育学府合作，开发网安教材，以便日后培训更多网安专才。

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Two years after they got married, Ms Lily Lim (not her real name), and her husband decided it was time to start a family.

They expected to conceive naturally in no time and were taken aback by their repeated failed attempts over the next three years.

Even so, their determination to have a baby never wavered as they tried everything from “very frequent sex” to two failed rounds of intrauterine insemination, as well as surgery to remove a fibroid in Ms Lim’s uterus.

“Relatives would ask me when I was going to have a baby. So, we went overseas during Chinese New Year to avoid them,” she said.

“I know they meant well but people didn’t know we had been trying hard. We desperately wanted a child of our own.”

Last year, they decided to try in-vitro fertilisation (IVF), a process in which her eggs were retrieved and combined with her husband’s sperm in a laboratory. The fertilised egg was then implanted in her uterus. They welcomed their baby boy four days ago.

Like the Lims, more couples here are turning to IVF and other assisted reproductive technologies (ART) to conceive a child.

And like them, more and more couples are starting their families later in life, when they are done with higher education and starting their careers, have chosen their mates and feel more settled in life.

Preliminary data from the Health Ministry (MOH) shows that 6,044 assisted reproduction cycles were done in Singapore last year, making it the second year that the demand has crossed the 6,000 mark.

In 2013, some 5,519 cycles were done, and in 2012, the figure was below 5,000.

“The increase in the number of couples seeking treatment may be due to improving pregnancy rates, better awareness and increased affordability,” said Dr Sadhana Nadarajah, director of the KKIVF Centre at KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital.

Its successful pregnancy rate has risen to about 40 per cent to 44 per cent per cycle while the take-home- baby rate is about 30 per cent, up from 35 per cent and 27 per cent respectively five years ago, she said.

Unfortunately, the reality is that a woman aged below 36 stands a higher chance of getting pregnant, and the average age of a woman seeking help has either remained steady or risen.

Associate Professor Yong Tze Tein, a senior consultant at Singapore General Hospital’s Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, puts this average age at 35 or 36 years old today.

Like other developed countries elsewhere, Singapore is experiencing falling birth rates as women, who are better educated and have professional careers, choose to have children later in life.

At the private Virtus Fertility Centre, the average age of women seeking help is 37.

“With couples focusing on their careers, the right time for starting a family is often delayed today until partners are in their mid-30s when fertility has started to decline,” said its director, Dr Roland Chieng.

Women may be overestimating their chances of getting pregnant in their mid-30s, according to a survey of 1,009 women commissioned by the centre last December.

Nearly 45 per cent of the respondents believed the odds of naturally conceiving a child in a given month are 50 per cent, when the actual likelihood of conception is 15 per cent to 20 per cent, said Dr Chieng.

Some people go through multiple cycles to conceive. More than 80 per cent of the patients at Virtus Fertility Centre have been through several unsuccessful IVF attempts with other centres in Singapore or abroad, sometimes spending tens of thousands of dollars – if they are among the lucky ones who can afford it.

In a recognition of the trend towards late marriages, MOH has increased the funding that couples can receive to defray the cost of using ART. Since the start of 2013, eligible couples seeking ART treatment in public hospitals can receive up to 75 per cent in co-funding from the Government for a maximum of three fresh and three frozen cycles.

Fresh cycles involve the transfer of fresh embryos into women, while frozen cycles involve the transfer of frozen-thawed embryos. An IVF cycle can cost about $10,000 to $14,000 in the public hospitals.

MOH said it co-funded 3,512 assisted reproduction cycles last year, up from 3,173 cycles in 2014 and 2,749 cycles in 2013.

For Ms Lim, the cost was high as she sought treatment at a private centre. “We don’t dare to look at the bills! I think we’ve paid more than $20,000, including consultation fees and medications.”

Fortunately for her, she succeeded after just one cycle.

Aside from helping them pay for treatment, however, there is more the Government can do to boost the success rate of couples getting pregnant, said doctors.

That would be to allow pre-implantation genetic screening (PGS) and social egg freezing. PGS can be used to check the chromosomes of an embryo for chromosomal abnormalities, so that affected embryos are not transferred to the womb.

Social egg freezing is when a woman chooses to have her eggs harvested, frozen and stored for later use because she is not ready to have a baby yet, for instance.

Quite a number of couples – particularly those who are older, have suffered multiple miscarriages or have gone through a few failed rounds of IVF – go overseas for PGS, said Dr Loh Seong Feei, medical director of Thomson Fertility Centre.

This is because for older couples, the lower IVF success rates may be due to chromosomal abnormalities in the embryos, he said.

“The rate of chromosomal abnormality in embryos following IVF is about 50 per cent in women under the age of 30 and over 80 per cent in women over 40,” said Dr Lim Min Yu, consultant at the Clinic for Human Reproduction at National University Hospital Women’s Centre.

And over 60 per cent of spontaneous miscarriage cases are caused by chromosomal abnormalities in the foetus, he said.

PGS is available in several countries, including Britain, the United States, Australia and Malaysia.

Here, only pre-implantation genetic diagnosis may be used by couples with known inheritable genetic disorders such as thalassaemia, to prevent the inherited condition from being passed on to the child. As for egg freezing, only women who have to undergo treatment that may damage their eggs, such as chemotherapy, are allowed to have them frozen.

MOH has previously said it was reviewing PGS. In a parliamentary reply in late 2014, Health Minister Gan Kim Yong said it had rejected requests for PGS because the effectiveness of PGS in improving the chance of live births for women with fertility problems, such as advanced maternal age, recurrent miscarriages and recurrent IVF failures, was unclear.

There was also the risk of it being used to select embryos for non-medical reasons, such as sex selection for social reasons, he said.

However, doctors believe that PGS is a useful test. “Studies performed have demonstrated that pregnancy and live birth rates are higher following PGS, compared to no PGS,” said Dr Lim.

Dr Ann Tan, medical director of Mount Elizabeth Fertility Centre, added: “The gender can be blinded by the laboratories so that there can be no biases.”

Dr Tan believed that as people’s healthy lifespan increases, more couples would be happy to have a child in their 40s. “And if this was planned earlier through assisted techniques, I see that we would have more children through assisted techniques,” she said.

Singapore has a fertility rate of below 1.4, well below the 2.1 replacement level, and is trying hard to raise it.

Just last week, Senior Minister of State Josephine Teo, who oversees population matters, visited South Korea and Denmark – developed economies with low birth rates – to study how these countries encourage marriage and parenthood.

At the end of the day, couples will need to be aware that fertility declines with age.

“When I decided to start a family, I was 34. I thought I was still young, and that getting pregnant was easy,” said Ms Lim. “I saw people around me and celebrities having kids in their late 30s. So I had this impression that if they could do it, so could I.”

This article was first published on March 22, 2016.
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