Edusave for madrasahs: “long-standing issue” but a welcome development nevertheless

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Edusave

The Government started the scheme in 1993 by setting up the Edusave Endowment Fund with an initial contribution of $1 billion. The capital sum reached the targeted $5 billion by 1997. This fund is invested and the interest earned is disbursed as grants and awards to schools and students to pay for enrichment programmes and fund additional resources.

After the National Day Rally announcement, any Singaporean child who is studying full-time in a government, government-aided or independent school, junior college, centralised institute, Institute of Technical Education or special education school, or enrolled in madrasahs, privately-funded schools, as well as children who are home-schooled or residing overseas, can benefit from Edusave. 

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From “a baby every seven minutes” to “silver tsunami”

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Singapore is counted among the fastest-ageing countries in the world. This “silver tsunami” is being compounded by the drastically falling birth rates here. The total fertility rate (TFR) was only 1.2 in 2011 as against the replacement level needed TFR of 2.1. Even 2012 - the Year of the Dragon, which is considered the most auspicious of Chinese zodiac for having babies, saw only 33,205 new babies born to Singapore citizens, improving the TFR only marginally to 1.29. In fact, the city-state has witnessed low birth rates consistently for over three decades now. Starting at 6.56 in 1957, TFR declined to 4.62 in 1965, 3.07 in 1970, 1.82 in 1980, and 1.60 in 2000. 1976 was the year when TFR fell below the replacement level for the first time.

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