SINGAPORE, Oct 27 — When 18-year-old Kavan Tay saw suggestions he and other youths had made about social mobility in the Forward Singapore (Forward SG) report, he was surprised and happy his voice had been heard.

“My school often invites different important people to talk about contemporary issues in Singapore but those sessions are more of a question and answer session as there’s one person talking to hundreds of students,” said the second-year Hwa Chong Institution student.

“But through the Forward SG exercise, I was able to take a deeper dive into understanding different issues from youths of different backgrounds and to chart out solutions,” he said.

“I’m curious to see how our different ideas will take shape in the next chapter of Singapore’s development. Because right now although we have plenty of ideas... they are still in the theory stage and have not been put into practice yet.”

Today, Deputy Prime Minister Lawrence Wong released an almost 180-page report, which lists recommendations and key policy shifts that Singapore will make based on the feedback of more than 200,000 Singaporeans.

About 54 per cent of those who took part in the 16-month-long Forward SG exercise were below the age of 39.

In response to queries, the Ministry of Communications and Information (MCI) said youths were involved in most of the 275 engagement sessions under Forward SG.

Suggestions on social mobility by Singaporean youths were also featured in the Forward SG report. They include:

  • Encouraging individuals to become community befrienders to help lower-income families and improve their access to support
  • Getting businesses, such as banks, to provide more financial products and services that incentivise lower-income families to build up their savings
  • Getting the Government to increase access to social support through digital means, such as enhancing the SupportGoWhere portal so users can apply for multiple schemes through a single consolidated application

Speaking to the media, Mr Wong said common topics raised by youths include jobs of the future, mental wellness and mental health, and environment and sustainability.

Education Minister Chan Chun Sing added that youth participation during Forward SG was very “encouraging”.

“For many of the conversations we have with them, (the youths) weren’t asking ‘what can you do for me’. They were asking ‘what can I do for you’ and ‘what can we do together’,” said Mr Chan.

“Our young people are not just looking for solutions. They want to be part of the solutions, and they have ideas. And that I think gives me great confidence that we have a bright future ahead of us.”

Youth suggestions on social mobility, sustainability and the arts

Tay learnt about the Forward SG exercise from a poster at his school. Seeing it as a good opportunity to speak to other like-minded youths, the teen signed up with a group of friends.

“Having friends there gives you a boost of confidence,” he admitted.

As someone passionate about volunteerism — Tay volunteered at a hospice regularly til recently as he prepares for his upcoming A-Level exams — he made various suggestions about helping low-wage workers.

“This was quite a difficult topic admittedly, because we are students and are not very knowledgeable about the working world although we do recognise stereotypes against low-wage workers,” he said.

Tay was also one of 20 students who worked closely with the Ministry of Social and Family Development (MSF) to come up with solutions for strengthening financial literacy among lower-income families during the Forward SG exercise.

“We actually faced a few obstacles at the start which came to light when we were given the opportunity to share our proposal to officers from the social service office,” he said.

“Our idea was to encourage them to save, but the staff were very experienced and questioned if it was feasible to tell lower-income households to save when they live on a day-to-day basis,” he said.

“So that got us really thinking and going back to the drawing board.”

This was how the team came up with the idea to create monetary incentives for lower-income families to encourage savings, such as dollar-to-dollar matching money put into savings accounts.

Tay hopes that such engagements with youth continue, and that schools provide more opportunity for students to discuss contemporary issues with their peers.

DPM Wong’s engagement with youths at a forum by CNA in November last year during the feedback exercise was also encouraging for Singapore Management University student Pranav Krishna Prasad.

The 23-year-old, who majors in strategic management and sustainability, found Mr Wong’s candid responses “refreshing”, particularly his comments that Singapore’s sustainability efforts are a work in progress.

“It’s refreshing because it shows that Singapore is moving in the right direction, that we know there’s more to be done,” said Krishna, who is also the founder of BuyLeft, which allows businesses to lease out parts of their office space to other businesses.

“With Singapore bridging the disconnect between the public and the government, this is really a great opportunity and it’s exciting to see what is next.”

As he hopes Singapore becomes a sustainability hub, Krishna suggested that Singapore be willing to test bed research around sustainability and adopt solutions that may not have been proven yet in other countries.

He also believes that the Singapore Green Plan 2030 — which charts Singapore’s targets for sustainable development by 2030 — could be accelerated. One of which is ramping up infrastructure for electric vehicles.

Anna Kwa, 21, a first-year psychology student at Nanyang Technological University, attended a dialogue, discussing topics on academic pressure and job prospects.

“The conversations about the future and job prospects reflected the genuine apprehensions shared by many participants... they mirror the broader sentiments of a generation navigating a rapidly evolving job market,” she said.

Kwa added that these conversations resonated with her as a student.

Beyond that, she hopes that more could be done to continue growing the local arts scene.

“The arts have a unique power to reflect, challenge, and inspire. To achieve this, I believe there needs to be a sustained effort in fostering a culture that values and invests in the arts,” she said.

“This includes continued support for artistic education, accessible spaces for creative expression, and initiatives that encourage collaboration between artists and the broader community.” — TODAY