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Source:
www.mindef.gov.sg |
Speech by Second Minister for Defence Dr Ng Eng
Hen at Committee of Supply Debate |
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NSF Deferment |
Let me first touch on deferment and explain
the basis for deferments that we have previously allowed and the recent
changes that have been put into place... |
Despite the legislated enlistment age and
operational requirements, MINDEF had exercised flexibility in the past
by allowing some groups of students to complete their studies before
serving their NSF. |
MINDEF had granted deferment to those who
could start their full-time course of study before the age of 18 for
local courses and before 17½ for overseas courses, and this was assuming
that such courses would not last more than 3 or 4 years. |
Similarly, pre-enlistees are granted
deferment for ¡®A¡¯ levels and polytechnic diploma courses if they are
below 19 years old as at 1 January of the year of commencement of the
course. |
Such exceptions were workable if the majority of
NS-liable males entered into a few institutions with fixed starting terms. We
could predict quite reliably the proportion and number of students that would be
deferred. |
But educational opportunities have
expanded exponentially in the past few years. We now have a
proliferation of institutions with a variety of modules in
Singapore. |
New compressed integrated courses have
also been introduced, so that students could theoretically start
anytime within the year. The opportunities to study abroad and at
different times of the year have also increased as Singaporeans have
become more affluent. Many more Singaporeans would be able to start
universities or other courses before ages 17½ abroad or 18 locally. |
It is no therefore no longer tenable to
grant deferments based on past criteria. |
MINDEF has therefore decided to get back
to basics, rationalise our deferment policy based on operational
needs and the primary goals of National Service¡ªthis is a starting
principle and a fundamental one. |
In rationalising our policy, it was
understood that NS is a sacrifice which may mean that Singaporeans
would have to defer their university studies till after they have
completed National Service. |
We applied the key principles of
universality and equity to ensure that everyone within the same
cohort would receive more or less the same treatment in allowing
them to attain their educational qualifications. |
Therefore, MINDEF will only grant
deferment for pre-enlistees to gain their basic educational
qualifications of ¡®A¡¯ levels, polytechnic diploma, or below. |
This is reasonable as most of our 18
year old NS enlistees would either have completed their basic
qualification programme or are about to complete it. |
As university degrees are
considered higher educational qualifications, deferments for
university studies will no longer be allowed.
This new policy for deferments has been in place from the end of
last year. |
Now, the vast majority of our enlistees
will not affected by this rationalisation. Our past records show
that under the old previous deferment policy, less than 100 a year
were granted deferment for university studies in the past¡ªthis is a
special 100. Moving on, this will no longer be allowed. |
For those affected, what it means is
that they have to serve NS like the rest of their peers before going
for their university studies. This is the norm, even for those who
do their pre-university studies overseas. More than 75% of those
granted deferment for pre-university studies in the past returned to
serve their NS before proceeding to university. |
As part of our rationalisation, ITE
students will now be able to proceed to undertake a polytechnic
diploma course ¨C a basic educational qualification ¨C before
enlisting for NS. |
Even then, we will only allow such
deferments if they are below 20 years old as at 1 January of the
year of commencement of the course. |
Now I know there are many NSFs with ITE
qualifications who are already currently serving in the SAF. We will
allow early disruption to all those who have completed their BMT to
pursue their polytechnic diploma in Apr 2006 or Apr 2007, provided
that they qualify for the deferment under the new policy. |
NSF Disruption |
Now let me talk about disruption. Mr
Leong, Dr Ong and Dr Loo called for greater flexibility in granting
disruption from full-time NS for tertiary studies. Dr Loo asked,
some of the members have asked that disruption from full-time NS to
be granted to all scholarship holders. |
Let me qualify that disruptions not only
affect the training and operational readiness of the individual; it
also impacts the unit as a whole ¨C because the army fights as a
unit. It will compromise unit standards and its operational
readiness. This is especially so because the duration of NS has been
reduced to 2 years. |
MINDEF therefore allows disruption only
in selected cases and based on the three principles. First it must
be subject to the operational readiness of their units not being
compromised. |
For equity, we will allow disruptions
for those who are enlisted for NS in later intake batches, so that
they are able to start university in the same year as their peers or
of the same school cohort, who were enlisted earlier. Now, let
me give you a few examples so you can understand what I am saying. |
For example, NSFs belonging to the same
¡®A¡¯ level or Polytechnic cohort are typically enlisted over two
intakes¡ªwe can¡¯t bring them all because of the flow ¨C so they are
split over two intakes due to capacity constraints at the training
schools. ¡®A¡¯ level holders are typically enlisted in the December
and March intakes¡ªthere are basically two intakes, while Diploma
holders are typically enlisted in the June and September intakes. |
In each of these cases, MINDEF will
allow disruption of up to 2 months to those who were called up in
the later intake so that they could enter university in the same
year as those who were enlisted in the earlier intake¡ªthe principle
of equity. |
Allow me to illustrate this with an
example because it can get quite confusing. An ¡®A¡¯ level NSF
enlisted in December 2005, will complete his 2-year NSF liability in
December 2007 and be able to commence his university studies, if he
wanted to, say in February 2008, if he starts in an Australian
university. But his classmate who was enlisted in April 2006 will
only complete his NS liability in April 2008. |
In other words, the classmate who was
enlisted late and his peers can now start university in February
2008. For such cases due to different call up dates, MINDEF may
grant a 2-month disruption to pursue his university studies. |
However, MINDEF does not allow
disruption to those who are trying to start an overseas course or a
local course one academic year ahead of their male peers within the
same cohort... |
Using the same example, we would not
allow disruptions for an ¡®A¡¯ level NSF enlisted in December 2005 to
start university in September 2007. That would be unfair to his
peers of his cohort in Singapore who can only commence their studies
in 2008. It is in fact untenable. Because of the expanded choice of
universities both here and locally, almost all students could find a
place to start at some university earlier and apply for disruption. |
As for disruption for scholarship
holders, only PSC scholars have been given special consideration for
disruption after serving 6 to 10 months of NS to do their university
studies, before returning to complete the remainder of their
full-time NS. |
Now annually, only about 30 are granted
such early disruptions. This is not extended to other scholarship
holders as early disruption has significant impact and needs to be
minimised. Such special consideration is only given to PSC
scholarship holders as it is an important conduit for bringing key
talent into the Public Service. |
Full Text of Speech |
Source:
www.mindef.gov.sg News
Release 6 Mar 2006 |
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