By: Frank Doe

After reports that our students from private tertiary institutions like the Singapore Institute of Management are falling behind in jobs security, the government is looking at a shakeup to raise the quality of private education.

Inevitably this will also lead to higher costs. But the government is missing the forest for the trees.

While it is commendable to raise standards for continuous improvements, the nub of the issues remains the acceptance of migrants from third world countries with third world qualifications to complete with our people.

Third world qualifications comes cheap and dirty.

For example, a degree from universities in the Philippines, the standard of competencies cannot even match that of our “A-level” students and yet they are here by the hordes taking up the PMET jobs that the locals are deprived off.

The decade old mantra of skills upgrading, re-skilling, skills mismatch ring hollow and must be perceived as an attempt at putting the blame back on the citizens.

So long as the government continues to flood this place with third world PMETs on EPs for a political agenda and not selectively de-populate, the problems of local unemployment and under-employment will never be fixed.