Poverty line not needed: “Kueh lapis” yet so many needy students not helped?

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An honorable member of the Coffee Shop Has Just Posted the Following:

“Very sad” education statistics?

To illustrate the failings of our “kueh lapis” approach to social assistance, I would like to highlight some statistics on education.

I have chosen the education statistics to hone in my contention, because in a sense, the problems of inadequate financial assistance in education for needy children are arguably not as visible in our daily lives. In contrast, for example, for healthcare – we can see people who can’t pay for healthcare; for homelessness – we can see the homeless, the homeless shelters; for poverty – we can see old people selling tissue papers, picking up empty drink cans, cardboard boxes; etc.

1)Independent schools?

Why is it that the percentage of students on subsidies in the independent schools was only about 7.8 per cent of the estimated total student population in the independent schools (2,700 divided by 34,769).

35% of households meet the subsidy criteria?

According to the Department of Statistics, the average monthly household income from work in 2012 was $6,183 at the 31st to 40th percentage.

Since the subsidy qualification criteria is up to household income of $6,000, does it mean that the percentage in the resident households population that may qualify for the subsidy is around the 35th percentile – that is about 35 per cent of all resident households.

- http://leongszehian.com/?p=6705


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