Review Use and Transfer of Untapped Edusave Account Monies

Mr Azmoon Ahmad asked the Minister for Education (a) whether the Edusave Account can be used to pay for school fees where the student's family income is below the poverty threshold; and (b) whether the unutilised amount in the Edusave Account can be transferred to the individual's SkillsFuture fund after finishing school.

The Senior Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Education (Assoc Prof Dr Muhammad Faishal Ibrahim) (for the Minister for Education): Mr Speaker, the purpose of the Edusave Account is to support the development and upgrading of Singaporeans. Hence, the funds in the Account can be used by Singaporean students aged 7 to 16 to pay for enrichment programmes organised by the MOE-funded schools, or to defray any additional fees beyond school fees and standard miscellaneous fees.

Unutilised monies in the Edusave Account will be transferred to the Post-Secondary Education Account in the year the child turns 17 years old or is no longer studying in an MOE-funded school, whichever happens later. The monies can be tapped on to defray the cost of post-Secondary education or approved SkillsFuture courses.

To help students from low-income families with schooling expenses, we have the MOE financial assistance scheme (FAS). Under the scheme, school fees and standard miscellaneous fees in Government and Government-Aided Schools will be waived.

For Primary and Secondary students, the scheme provides for free textbooks and uniforms, and subsidised transport and school meals. For Pre-University students, an annual bursary is provided. Similar assistance is extended to students from low-income families under the Independent School Bursary (ISB) scheme.

Therefore, there has not been a need for students to tap on Edusave monies to pay their school fees and standard miscellaneous fees. We will continue to review the eligibility criteria for the FAS regularly. The latest review was at Budget 2018, just recently, where we extended the scheme to cover more students.

Mr Azmoon Ahmad (Nominated Member): I have one supplementary question. Can the Senior Parliamentary Secretary share with us how many students were under the Financial Assistance Scheme in 2017?

Assoc Prof Dr Muhammad Faishal Ibrahim: I do not have the figures right now. If the Member would like to, he can file another Parliamentary Question. Nevertheless, I assure the Member that we want to help as many students as possible. We are committed to providing quality and affordable education to all Singaporeans, regardless of their financial circumstances.