2. Improve the quality of preschool education for ages 5 to 6 (K1s & K2s) – We will increase MOE Kindergartens from 15 to 50 in the next 5 years. This will enable MOE to influence and uplift the quality of the whole sector.

3. Upgrade the preschool profession to attract good teachers – We will set up a new National Institute of Early Childhood Development (NIEC), which will be like NIE for preschool teachers and carers. It will provide the full range of diploma and certificate programmes for preschool professionals.

We are emphasising preschools to achieve a broader social purpose. Access to affordable, quality preschools will help level the playing field for young children. If we get this right, we will foster social mobility, and sustain a fair and just society.

Government is investing heavily in young children. Since 2012, we have doubled our spending on the preschool sector. We will double spending again over the next 5 years, to $1.7B in 2022.

STAY HEALTHY - DIABETES

Singaporeans have one of the highest average life expectancies in the world - 82 years. But we experience on average 8 years of ill health in old age. This is a long time to be in ill health.

A big reason for this is diabetes. Unfortunately, compared to other developed countries, we are almost world champions, just behind the US.

Overall, 1 in 9 Singaporeans have diabetes. For people over 60, it becomes 1 in 3. Broken down by race, among the Chinese, 2.5 in 10 over 60 will have it; among the Malays, half; and for the Indians, 6 in 10!

In the early stages, diabetes is an ‘invisible disease’, with hardly any symptoms. But over time, it can become very serious, especially if not treated. It can damage all your organs, cause you to lose limbs, and for the men, make you impotent!

Diabetes prevalence for Singaporeans age 60 and above, broken down by race.

Suggestions to combat diabetes [1/4]:

Go for regular medical check-ups.
Take advantage of health checks at community events or subsidised screenings under the Ministry of Health’s Screen for Life Programme (http://bit.ly/2qGnUTy).

Suggestions to combat diabetes [2/4]:

Exercise more!
It helps with blood sugar and blood pressure, brings down your weight, and makes you feel better.

PA organises all sorts of activities every weekend. Or just walk a little bit more every day!

Suggestions to combat diabetes [3/4]:

Eat less & eat healthily.
20 years ago, we ate about 2,100 calories a day, which is about right. Now, it’s gone up to 2,600 a day. So obesity has gone up.

We are also eating less healthily. More families are eating out due to busy lifestyles. The key is to be disciplined & make the right choices. Make small changes, like replacing white rice with brown.

Suggestions to combat diabetes [4/4]:

Cut down on soft drinks.
Just one can of soft drink can contain 8 cubes of sugar – much more than you need for 1 day.

Our children are most at risk because soft drinks are part of their lifestyle. We are seeing more diabetes cases among young people and children.

We are scouting around for solutions but nobody has found the ideal one yet.

As a first step, we have gotten soft drink producers to reduce the sugar in all their drinks sold in Singapore. This will help, but the best is to drink plain water.

LIVE SMART – SMART NATION

Smart Nation is about Singapore taking full advantage of IT. Using it to create new jobs and business opportunities, to make our economy more productive, and to make our lives more convenient.

We have a natural advantage to do this: We’re compact and connected, digitally literate, and our schools are teaching IT.

We have the right ingredients, but we lag behind other cities in several areas, like electronic payments, which China has gone the furthest with.

In Singapore, we have too many different e-payment schemes and systems that many find inconvenient, and are costly for businesses. As a result, most of us still prefer cash and cheques.

The Monetary Authority Of Singapore has been working hard at integrating the different e-payment systems into one. MAS and our banks have also rolled out a new service called PayNow (https://abs.org.sg/consumer-banking/pay-now). It links your mobile number to your bank account, so you can pay and receive money using your mobile banking app.

Another area where IT can help is public safety and security. Many cities already have comprehensive CCTV and sensor networks. They can integrate the inputs from all the sources, analyse, and make sense of the information.

In Singapore we started building our own network of sensors some time ago. The Police installed CCTVs at HDB void decks and lift landings. Other agencies have different sensors, such as PUB’s sensors to detect water levels in drains. Hotels, shopping centres and office buildings also have their own CCTV systems.

But we have not brought all the different systems together. We are building an integrated national sensor network, one that will be able to combine inputs from different sources. We are learning to analyse this combined data, e.g. using AI to automatically flag when something unusual is happening.

We are working on smaller Smart Nation projects too, like paying for parking. We are still tearing parking coupons today – a 40-year-old solution!

Dozens of other cities have parking apps. Why don’t we? I pushed HDB and URA to go digital. Glad that with GovTech’s help, we have now developed an app for street parking called parking.sg, which we will launch by October.

To do Smart Nation projects, big or small, we need engineers, programmers, data analysts, technicians. There is a worldwide shortage of such skills, so we must urgently build up our talent pool.

The Government is offering scholarships and sponsorships for engineering, and the SkillsFuture and Professional Conversion Programmes will help Singaporeans build up and upgrade such skills.

This is one direct way a Smart Nation will create new jobs and opportunities for our people.

Smart Nation is for young & old, & we are making every effort to bring everyone along.

If you know IT, share your knowledge, like Mr Tariam Singh, a volunteer Silver Infocomm Wellness Ambassador.