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Your views: Review policies that are no longer valid

This article is more than 12 months old

The Government has always been very pragmatic about what is best for the country, and clear-minded about how to achieve the desired targets.

It should be just as proactive and bold in monitoring important policies and fundamental practices which have become obsolete, or worse, backfired.

The announcement by the Public Service Division to abolish differentiation between graduate and non-graduate employees is a positive development that is long overdue ("Civil servants no longer grouped by education level"; The Straits Times, Jan 5).

The elevated track for graduate civil servants was necessary 50 years ago, when Singapore needed to draw every possible talent into the civil service to create an effective and efficient government.

Also, it made sense to incentivise the then generally under-educated population to invest in education, so as to enable them to advance into sophisticated industries and high-value businesses.

OBJECTIVES

Both objectives have largely been met.

The practice of differentiation has given rise to negative effects, such as resentment among non-graduates and an unhealthy paper chase.

It is clear that no policy is permanently valid, and constant monitoring and review are critical.

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