NYJC 2022 H1 Economics 8823 P1 Answer

NANYANG JUNIOR COLLEGE 2022 JC2 Preliminary Examination H1 ECONOMICS Paper No: 8823/01 31 st August 2022 Time : 0800 – 1100 hrs Wednes day Duration : 3 hours INSTRUCTIONS TO CANDIDATES Do not flip the pages of this paper until you are told to do so. Write your name, class and name of your economics tutor in the space provided on the answer booklet. You are required to answer ALL questions. The number of marks is given in the brackets at the end of each part question. Write your answers on the answer booklet provided. If you use more than one answer booklet, slot the additional booklets into the first booklet. Please start each case study on a fresh page. You are advised to spend several minutes reading through the questions and data before you begin writing your answers. There are 7 printed pages including this cover page.

JC2 H1 Economics 8823/01 2 Question 1: Education for All Table 1: Singapore government’s expenditure per student (Singapore Dollars) 2017 2018 2019 2020 Primary 11,338 11,835 11,526 11,265 University 21,624 22, 186 22,022 21,538 Source: SingStat, accessed 9 July, 2022 Extract 1: Fees hike for preschools To cope with the rising need of preschool services due to the prevalence of dual -income families, and more grandparents working, the Singapore government has been expanding the number of government-supported preschool places . Despite its efforts, preschool fees continue to increase. About 330 childcare centres in Singapore will be raising their fees for full -day childcare for Singapore citizens next year, said the Early Childhood Development Agency (ECDA). From time to time, preschools adjust their fees to keep up with the rising operational costs. It is estimated that by 2020, 3,000 more teachers are needed to be in place. That is an 18 per cent increase in the current number of 17,000 teachers. Despite recruitment drives for the sector and steps to make the profession more attractive, it is still hard to recruit and retain preschool teachers. There are now calls for salaries of preschool teachers to be raised to address the challenges in recruitment. Source: Channel News Asia, 17 Sep 2019 Extract 2: More preschool subsidies as Singapore set to spend more on preschool education The early years are important for a child’s development. Quality preschool education will provide developmentally appropriate learning experiences for young children to develop holistically and nurture positive attitudes towards learning. It will also help the children develop foundational literacy and numeracy skills and build up confidence as well as self-management and social skills. This foundational development will enable children to have a smoother transition from preschool to formal education in primary schools, a fact that many parents are unaware of. Preschool education also benefits the soci ety as it propels them to move towards early academic standards. Pre -kindergarten programmes pay off in the long run by reducing the teen incarceration rate, lowering the crime rate, lessening welfare reliance and unemployment, and creating potential solutions for the future workforce. Furthermore, as inequality remains one of the most serious issues now facing Singapore, the government wants to tackle it early and believes that the best chance of addressing it is during a child's preschool years. Singapore’s annual spending of about S$1 billion on early childhood education will “more than double” over the next few years, as the Government looks to make preschools more affordable for parents here, said Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong on Sunday (Aug 18). This includes plans to increase the number of government-supported preschools to 80 per cent over time. At the moment, just over half of all preschool places are government-supported.

JC2 H1 Economics 8823/01 3 Citing a recent survey by the People's Action Party Women's Wing, Mr Lee said young parents remained concerned about the affordability of preschools. He added that he agreed with a point made by the MPs involved in the survey, in that “preschools should be like housing and healthcare” where there are good and affordable government-funded options for all Singaporeans. Preschool subsidies will also be enhanced, announced Mr Lee in his National Day Rally speech. At the moment, families are only eligible for additional means-tested subsidies if their monthly household incomes do not exceed S$7,500. To offer more help to those from the middle-income, this income ceiling will be raised to S$12,000 per month. This will extend the means-tested subsidies to 30,000 more households. There will also be an increase in the quantum of preschool subsidies across the board, said Mr Lee. In recent years, Mr Lee noted that a “major shift” has been made to improve preschool education here. “We want to start earlier in a child’s life because these years make a big difference to his development. A good preschool education can make a crucial difference” he explained. Source: Adapted from Channel News Asia, 18 Aug 2019 Extract 3: What can be learned from Ireland’s move to free tuition? Beginning in 1995, Ireland eliminated tuition fees for full -time university undergraduates with improving access for disadvantaged students as the principal motivation. Enrolments in Irish higher education have doubled since free tuition was introduced, fuelled both by one of the fastest growing populations in Europe and an increase in the college-going rate from one-third in the 1990s to more than one-half in recent years. The most remarkable Irish achievement since tuition fees were eliminated was the tripling in the attainment rate – the share of workers who hold a college degree. As a result, Ireland now has one of the highest attainment rates in the world and, so, is viewed as one of the great success stories in international higher education over the past quarter century. The Irish experience with free tuition has a number of lessons for the various countries that are actively exploring free college options. To be successful, tuition -free college demands sustained high levels of government investment to replace the tuition fees that students would have paid and to increase resources beyond that. Without such a sustained financial commitment, quality will suffe r, especially if enrolments grow rapidly. It is also clear from the Irish experience that eliminating tuition fees does not guarantee greater equity of access to college. Without additional measures, such as help with living expenses for impoverished stu dents and more counselling services, stratification will continue as students from wealthier families will enrol in larger proportions in the most selective institutions. Not charging tuition fees does not mean that students will not have to pay anything to go to college. When tuition fees were eliminated in the 1990s, Ireland’s modest registration fee seemed a reasonable way to ensure that some costs would still be paid by students. But the rapid growth in registration fees over time means that they have replaced a large chunk of what would have been tuition fees. Source: University World News, 25 Oct 2021

JC2 H1 Economics 8823/01 4 Extract 4: More government intervention risks being counterproductive How much should a government intervene in the economy? This is one of the main issues in economics and free market economists argue that government intervention should be strictly limited as government intervention tends to cause an inefficient allocation of resources. However, others argue there is a strong case for government intervent