Desperate times call for desperate measures, says a friend of mine. Singapore’s senior minister Goh Chok Tong seems to agree.
The Financial Times in fact reports that the southeast Asian state is ready to tap into its cash reserves in order to fund investment into the economy. Singapore’s economy is expeced to go down by 3% this year.
However, the artcle also reports that the government is also prepared to tighten laws making public protests a criminal act in a bid to curb efforts of a major Singapore opposition party.
This is shameful. You do not invest in the economy while dvesting people of their freedom of expression.
It is time civil society and states speak out in favour of democracy in Singapore.
Look at these children singing in the video. They are singing about love and values in English – a global language. But, until less than three years ago, the language of violence dominated their daily lives.
These children in fact come from Nepal, a Southeast Asian country which until 2006 was still in the throes of a deadly civil war.
The education record of the country is far below average. In 2003, only 38% of public school students passed their school leaving certificates.
But now, Nepal is investing in education in a bid to improve the long-term performance of its economy. In order to achieve its goals, the government has obtained the financial and logistical help of various organisations, inlcuding the World Bank.
These projects have already helped more children gain access to education in a caste-ridden society.
These success of these projects, another video from the World Bank claims, was made possible through a system of community school management, where the shcool is directly managed by its surrounding community.
However, these projects also need money. And money only comes from the developed states. With the rise of the global financial crisis, the goal of global enrollment in primary education was seriously put at risk.
I hope that developed states, including states like ours, see sense to the situation and commit themselves for the development of education worldwide.
A report published by the National Research Council urges Obama to remove export and vis restrictions which make it harder for academics, scientists and businessen to travel to the United States and thus stimulate its economy, the AFP says.
“To reform visa controls and grant US businesses access to the most talented scientists, the report recommends streamlining and including “skills-based preferential processing” in the visa application process to facilitate entry into the country for foreign researchers and students.
Foreign student visas should also be extended so that recent graduates can properly search for work with US-based employers, the report recommended.”
This is a golden opportunity for Malta to strengthen relations with the world’s largest economy after it joined the US Visa Waiver Programme on 22nd December 2008.
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