This is the conclusion of an OECD investigation that worries the authorities. Programs are being studied to reinforce educational levels. Concern about the competitiveness of the country’s system, with repercussions on employment, qualified labor, salary consistency and worker well-being.
Singapore () – A study published in December by the Program for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) confirmed the decline in knowledge and forms of illiteracy among Singaporeans after leaving school. A situation that is due in part to the temporal distance of the acquisition of new knowledge, but also to the lack of updating of skills applicable to the world of work.
As regards the city-state, the study contains updated data from a survey of 5,000 citizens and permanent residents between the ages of 16 and 65, relating to formal education beyond the age of 15 since the end of compulsory education, as well as the ability to adapt to new needs. The sharp decline in knowledge beyond the age of 35 and the tendency to constantly worsen thereafter does not only affect Singapore, presenting itself as a global phenomenon; However, the realization that the knowledge of the local elderly population is lower than the average of the OECD countries (the most developed) calls on the authorities to look for reasons and initiatives to remedy the situation. In a highly productive and increasingly aging society, which nevertheless continues to have (or pretends to have) the high level of preparation and knowledge as one of its fundamental data, the substantial coincidence of the indicated trends with data already present and debated has made set off alarms. And with it a process of listening to civil society to gather opinions and proposals.
Several MPs raised questions following the study’s release, seeking answers from the Ministry of Education on how to ensure a necessary level of education and preparation for Singaporeans at different ages. And, at the same time, what could be the repercussions of the situation revealed in terms of access to work for those over 35 years of age.
A situation that calls into question, as the responsible minister Chan Chun Sing pointed out, the intensive use of technology applied to information processes that increasingly dispenses with the need for complex writing in favor of shorter and more immediate communication in social media: “As cognitive outsourcing becomes more prevalent with AI, there is a risk of erosion of deeper thinking and reflections,” he said.
The risks of this atrophy are evident, even more so in a reality like the local one that requires high skills, quick adaptation times and productivity. The risks, Minister Chan stressed, are not only those of less knowledge and less ability to express them in the social context. The consequences, in fact, could be serious for the competitiveness of the country-system by increasing the employment rate, reducing the number of companies willing to invest in qualified labor, reducing the coherence of wages and, therefore, well-being. of the workers.
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