President S R Nathan opened the 11th session of Parliament on 18 May 2009 with an Address that spelt out the priorities for Singapore for the remainder term of the present government in this challenging environment.

The issue on sexuality education programme in schools has attracted an intense debate across REACH’s various feedback channels over the past few weeks. Many Singaporeans had urged the Ministry of Education (MOE) to review sexuality education in schools since it would have an impact on our young students.

In line with the Inter-Ministerial Committee for Sustainable Development’s (IMCSD’s) call for ideas and suggestions from the public on how to achieve greater sustainability in the areas of resource management, pollution control and the quality of our physical environment, REACH received several feedback from the public. REACH’s Policy Study Workgroup (PSW) for Physical & Environmental Sustainability also submitted a policy recommendation report to the IMCSD in December 2008. The report can be found at this link.

Following the announcement that MOE had set up a Primary Education Review and Implementation (PERI) Committee in Oct 2008 to study ways to enhance the quality of primary education, REACH received over 100 feedback on the proposed recommendations via REACH’s discussion forum, email, Facebook and an e-Townhall webchat.

Feedback via email: Due to the ban on dialect drama serials and dialect songs, we see a dramatic drop in viewership and listenership for TV stations, radio stations and cinemas. In view that the Speak Mandarin compaign was already a success, why can't we allow dialect drama serials or movies to be telecast on TV or at cinemas, and allow radio stations to play dialect songs?