PM Lawrence Wong's National Day Rally speech in a nutshell
In Prime Minister Lawrence Wong's maiden National Day Rally speech on Aug 18, he introduced the following updates:
family
1. For babies born from April 1, 2025, married fathers will be given four weeks mandatory paternity leave. All mothers will get the 16 weeks mandatory maternity leave. Both parents will get six weeks of shared parental leave to be split equally between them (division of leave can be adjusted, subject to agreement by all parties including the employers). The shared parental leave will increase to 10 weeks for babies born from April 1, 2026.
2. More pre-schools will be set up and the fees at government-supported pre-schools will be lowered.
3. A new scheme, slated to be announced in next year's Budget, will provide more support for families with three or more children.
housing
1. The Enhanced CPF Housing Grant for lower-income couples will be increased. National Development Minister Desmond Lee to share the details at a later date.
2. The keys to the first Community Care Apartments, Harmony Village @ Bukit Batok, will be handed over to residents later this year.
3. All parents and their children, regardless of their marital status, will get priority access to BTO flats.
education
1. The Gifted Education Programme in primary schools will be replaced with a new system that empowers the primary schools to identify their own high-ability learners and have their own programmes to stretch these students in their areas of strength and interest. Education Minister Chan Chun Sing to share the details at a later date.
2. Kallang will be the sports central with a new indoor arena that has a capacity of 18,000 – bigger than the 35-year-old Singapore Indoor Stadium, better facilities for Team Singapore athletes and home to Singapore Sports School.
economy
1. From next year, under the SkillsFuture Level-Up programme, Singaporeans 40 years old and above will get up to $3,000 monthly allowance for two years if they take time off work to study or train full-time. Some allowance will also be extended to working adults who study part-time.
2. A new SkillsFuture Jobseeker Support scheme will focus on helping lower- and middle-income workers who get retrenched, giving them a monthly allowance of up to $6,000 for six months. Manpower Minister Tan See Leng to share the details at a later date.
Get The New Paper on your phone with the free TNP app. Download from the Apple App Store or Google Play Store now