New social capital index for Singapore in 2027

Minister for Health and Coordinating Minister for Social Policies Ong Ye Kung closed off the event with an off-the-record fireside chat on social mobility and inequality in Singapore.

In a statement, Access Singapore shared three recommendations to advance social mobility. It called for more career exposure programmes and mentorship initiatives for young people, more opportunities and second-chance pathways for people who experience setbacks in life, and strengthening Singapore’s social mobility data infrastructure so organisations can assess and learn from existing efforts here.

Investment banking firm Morgan Stanley announced a three-year partnership with Access Singapore at the summit to start a new youth development programme to support around 300 junior college students from disadvantaged backgrounds.

The students will receive career exposure, mentorship, and guidance on workplace readiness and confidence building.

Jalan Besar GRC MP Shawn Loh said on May 26 that Singapore cannot and should not accept class entrenchment as a foregone conclusion.

In an opening speech at the summit, he said: “This is not a political statement to me, it is a moral imperative. Even if you do not agree, there are pragmatic reasons to lean against the trend.

“From an economic perspective, if children do not believe that they can change their station in life, you have a lower sense of agency, a lower level of motivation to apply themselves, and our economy reduces dynamism.”

Mr Loh, a former director at the Finance Ministry, said Singapore can do better to raise the basic level of public services available to every child.

In February, during the Budget debate, he had proposed that basic childcare, infant care and student care be free.

Speaking on May 26, Mr Loh said making basic after-school care free will ensure all children have access to a nurturing school environment for longer.

“In fact, no government school should assume that children have access to private tuition. We should provide Ministry of Education teachers with enough resources, so that no teacher feels like they need to tell parents to send their children to private tuition.”

Mr Loh said Singapore must also continually review if well-intentioned policies have inadvertently become sources of class entrenchment.

“Social capital should be more democratised.”

For example, policies to base primary school admissions on alumni networks may have outlived their purpose, he said.

Policies for more holistic assessments, including extracurricular achievements, have the unintended effects of advantaging children of parents with the means to fund enrichment activities, he added.

Beyond education, Singapore also needs to start looking more seriously at how it treats intergenerational wealth, Mr Loh said.

“Inheritance taxes are common policy even in many developed countries, and it’s certainly an important option that we should study.

“However, in a world where both people and capital are mobile, and given Singapore’s status is tough for both talent and financial assets, we need to be more careful about how we implement any policy to that effect.”

Mr Loh said that for now, taxes on e-moveable assets, like investment properties, can continue to be made more progressive.

“Of course, the Government cannot do this alone. And it is not realistic to expect national policies to be perfect for everyone,” he said, adding that collaborating with partners like Access and other organisations in the social space is key.

“Your work helps to inform how we can collectively, as a society, better uplift those from disadvantaged backgrounds.”