Many students who graduate from schools today will still be working in 50 years' time. We must try to foresee their needs in the next century, when technology will change faster than ever. Lifelong learning, flexibility and creativity will be crucial. We must anticipate the problems of an aging population, and tackle them early while they are still tractable. The number of senior citizens is growing rapidly.
Many families already face the problems of looking after aged parents or relatives.
Many more will do so. This involves many issues - housing, transport, health, welfare. It involves multiple agencies - the Ministries of Health and Community Development, HDB, CPF Board, NTUC, the National Council of Social Services, to name a few. Their actions must be coordinated and practical plans worked out to alleviate the problem. We owe this to the older generation who built today's Singapore.