Difficulty in accessing Government schemes or services requiring residential address for implementation

Name and Constituency of Member of Parliament

Dr Tan Wu Meng, Jurong GRC

Question

To ask the Minister for Education (a) how many Singaporean students and educational institution staff use a boarding school or educational institution as their registered NRIC address; and (b) what is being done to ensure such individuals continue to have access to Government schemes or services which may require a residential address for purposes of implementation.

Response

1. The Ministry of Education (MOE) does not have data on the number of Singaporean students and educational institution staff using a boarding school or educational institution as their registered address as they do not need to inform the Ministry when they choose to do so.
2. Once an individual reports a change in residential address with Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA), Government agencies who are part of the One-Stop Change of Address Reporting Service (OSCARS) initiative will use this registered address to correspond with the individual, including for the provision of Government schemes and services.
3. For entities that are not part of OSCARS, individuals would have to update their residential address with the entities directly. If educational institution staff or students have difficulty accessing schemes or services provided by such entities, they can directly approach the respective entities who would be best placed to advise on the matter.
4. For specific nation-wide schemes and services where it has been brought to MOE’s attention that individuals with registered residential address of a school hostel have been missed out, MOE will work with the school hostels to refer the matter to the appropriate entity for consideration.