New diploma scheme for full-time servicemen

By Miranda Yeo, The Straits Times, 5 May 2012

FULL-TIME servicemen with the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) now get a second chance to enhance their education and qualifications.

A new customised course will allow them to graduate with diploma qualifications - in two years, as it takes into account their work experience and professional training.

Warrant officers, specialists and military domain experts with O levels or a National Institute of Higher Education certificate (Nitec) are the main targets for the course, which will be fully sponsored by the SAF.

Lieutenant-Colonel Chua Gim Hong, the head of programmes at the SAF Education Office, noted yesterday that SAF servicemen take on a wide range of operational and functional roles.

'The certificates they acquire through work are recognised and allow us to create this additional academic upgrading pathway,' he added.

Yesterday, Nanyang Polytechnic and the SAF signed a memorandum of understanding to formalise their collaboration. The relationship between them goes back to 1995.

The Chief of Defence Force Lieutenant-General Neo Kian Hong represented the SAF in the ceremony.

He stressed that the 3rd Generation SAF, as a 'full-spectrum force', must have well-educated servicemen who possess 'the mental agility and traits of strong adaptability to deal with the complexities of the environment they are expected to operate in'.

As the educational profile of national servicemen is rising, regular servicemen who lead, train and interact with them have expressed a desire to upgrade as well, said Lt-Col Chua.

Servicemen on the course start with a six-month bridging programme, before moving on to a diploma in business and management studies. Relevant engineering fields will be included by the end of next year.

The programme comes as welcome news for servicemen.

Staff Sergeant Mohd Asyraf, 27, said he will cherish this opportunity. 'I need to be serious this time. I want to level up with the current batch of national servicemen I lead,' said the polytechnic dropout.

He is one of 27 graduands from the first batch of servicemen who underwent the bridging programme. All of them will receive their regular salaries during their schooling years.

For First Warrant Officer Chua Wee Giap, 40, it has been 20 years since he last pored over a textbook. But he is unfazed: 'Because of my experience on the job, I've become more mature and prepared for the academic challenge.'