Conversation with Hon. Minister Desmond Lee, Minister for Education of Singapore

Technology can be a boon, but if not managed responsibly, it can be a bane.

That formed a large part of my conversation with Hon. Minister Desmond Lee, Minister for Education of Singapore as my team and visited his office at the MoE headquarters.

We shared our views on schools being a safe space for our young people, and that safety and mental health are two vital pillars to provide a platform for students to excel.

I'm glad that we both believe strongly on the vital linkage between quality of education and dignified jobs for both our peoples. And that education does not begin and end in the classroom, but - due to rapid technological change - is a lifelong process.

We dived deep into the idea that technical and vocational education is a modern ticket to success for our students, largely due to both our nations wanting to see Southeast Asia move up the manufacturing value chain into advanced sectors.

Both Selangor and Singapore do not have access to vast amounts of land - Singapore more so than Selangor - and that is the reason we see our people as our strength to build upon.

If organized strategically, TVET can be the silver bullet to arm the next generation, and I thank Minister Desmond Lee the time and opportunity to meet with his team running ITE College West.

I wish Minister Desmond Lee the absolute best, and I'm looking forward to welcoming him in Selangor soon for deeper cooperation, to share the work our team has been doing in areas like early childhood education and providing free tuition to over 165,000 lesser fortunate students resulting in better grades in SPM.

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