Education Subsidies for Permanent Residents

Dr Lim Wee Kiak asked the Minister for Education what is the total amount of Government subsidy given to a Permanent Resident student who completes his/her primary to tertiary education in our public education system.

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Mr Heng Swee Keat: The priority of our education system is to provide a quality education for students who are Singapore Citizens (SC). However, Permanent Residents (PR) who enrol in our education system add diversity to the student population and provide our children exposure to different cultures from a young age. More importantly, we should welcome PR children in our education system, so that they are well integrated into our society.

Across our publicly-funded education system, from primary school to university, the Government provides the highest subsidies for SC, followed by PR and International Students (IS). Accordingly, IS pays the highest fees, followed by PR, then SC, to reflect the privileges of citizenship.

For school fees, which were increased sharply for non-citizens recently, PR in primary and secondary schools pay annual fees of around $600 to $850, which works out to a cost recovery ratio (CRR) of 9%. In comparison, citizens pay annual fees of around $130 and $250, at a CRR of 2%. For tertiary education, the CRR for citizens is set at 25% and 15% for university and polytechnic respectively. PR who receive tuition grant also pay subsidised fees, but with CRR set at higher rates of around 30% for university and 25% for polytechnic. At the same time, they need to sign a bond to work in Singapore for three years.

The Government also provides further help to students who are SC through financial assistance schemes, such as Edusave Accounts and the MOE and CDC/CCC bursary schemes. These schemes are not open to PR.