By MP for Aljunied GRC, Muhamad Faisal Bin Abdul Manap
[Delivered in Committee of Supply on 12 March 2013]
Madam, the issue of granting similar transport concessions to polytechnic students vis-à-vis those currently enjoyed by their counterparts in the junior colleges and the Institute of Technical Education (ITE) is not a new one. In fact, it has been an issue of concern to past and present members of this House. It is a perennial issue going as far back to 2001 when Mr. Yeo Cheow Tong was Transport Minister.
Certainly, many polytechnic students look forward to the day when the transport concessions granted to them can be harmonized to the level that is currently enjoyed by their peers in JCs and ITEs. Thus far, there has been nothing but disappointment.
Madam Speaker, as more and more of our students makes polytechnic education a natural choice of study after their O levels, the government must ensure that their choice in education should not become an inequitable one when it comes to transport fares and in light of a yawning income gap, which affects many of the parents of polytechnic students. It must also be noted that the dividends paid out by the two transport operators to their shareholders per share has been increasing over the years. A better and more inclusive Singapore would take heed of the concerns of polytechnic students and seek to actively address them.
With this in mind and the context firmly established, I would like to call upon the Ministry, the Public Transport Council, Transitlink and the two transport operators to finally grant similar concessions currently enjoyed by JCs and ITEs students to their polytechnic counterparts.
