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Chan Chun Sing | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| 陈振声 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 Chan in 2024 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Minister for Education | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Assumed office 15 May 2021 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Prime Minister | Lee Hsien Loong Lawrence Wong | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Second Minister | Maliki Osman | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Preceded by | Lawrence Wong | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Minister-in-charge of Public Service | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Assumed office 1 May 2018 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Preceded by | Teo Chee Hean | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Personal details | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | (1969-10-09)9 October 1969 (age 55)[1] Singapore | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Political party | People's Action Party | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Alma mater | Christ's College, Cambridge (MA) MIT Sloan School of Management (MBA) US Army Command and General Staff College | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Signature |  | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Military service | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Branch/service |  Singapore Army | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Years of service | 1987–2011 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Rank | Major-General | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Commands | Chief of Army Chief of Staff – Joint Staff ChiefInfantry Officer Commander,9th Division Head, Joint Plans and Transformation Department Commander, 10th Singapore Infantry Brigade Army Attaché inJakarta Commanding Officer, 2nd Battalion,Singapore Infantry Regiment | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Chan Chun Sing (Chinese:陈振声;Jyutping:Can4 Zan3 Sing1;pinyin:Chén Zhènshēng; born 9 October 1969)[1] is a Singaporean politician and formermajor-general who has been serving asMinister for Education since 2021 and Minister-in-charge of Public Service since 2018.[2] A member of the governingPeople's Action Party (PAP), he has been theMember of Parliament (MP) representing theBuona Vista division ofTanjong Pagar GRC since 2011.
A recipient of thePresident's Scholarship andSingapore Armed Forces Overseas Scholarship, Chan started his career in theSingapore Army under theSingapore Armed Forces in 1987 and held various staff and command positions, and attained the rankMajor-General. He served asChief of Army between 2010 and 2011. He left theSingapore Armed Forces to contest in the2011 general election.
During the2011 general election, he contested as part of a five-member PAP team inTanjong Pagar GRC and won, he was elected as aMember of Parliament.
Before becoming the Minister of Education, he served asMinister for Trade and Industry from 2018 to 2021,Minister in the Prime Minister's Office between 2015 and 2018,Senior Minister of State for Defence between 2012 and 2013,Minister for Social and Family Development between 2012 and 2015, andMinister of State for Information, Communications and the Arts between 2011 and 2012. He also served as theparty whip between 2015 and 2019.
Chan grew up in a single-parent household.[3] His mother, Kwong Kait Fong, was a machine operator and he has a sister, Chan Siew Yin.[4] He lived in a three-roomHDB flat inMacPherson with his mother, grandparents, aunt and sister until he was 30 years old.[5] Chan is married with a daughter and two sons.[6] He is fluent in three of the four official languages of Singapore namelyEnglish,Mandarin andMalay, in addition to his native ethnic Chinese dialect ofCantonese. He is also a fan ofEverton F.C.[7]
Chan attendedRaffles Institution andRaffles Junior College. Being one of the four top scorers from Raffles Junior College in theA-Level examination in 1987,[4][3] Chan was awarded thePresident's Scholarship andSingapore Armed Forces Overseas Scholarship in 1988.[8] He graduated fromChrist's College, Cambridge with a bachelor’s degree ineconomics.
He was subsequently awarded the Lee Kuan Yew Scholarship to pursue aMaster of Business Administration degree under theSloan Fellows programme at theMIT Sloan School of Management, which he completed in 2005.[9]
Chan enlisted into theSingapore Army in 1987, and attained the rankMajor-General before entering politics in 2011. He has held several appointments and this include: Commanding Officer, 2nd Battalion,Singapore Infantry Regiment between 1998 and 2000;Army Attaché inJakarta between 2001 and 2003; Commander, 10th Singapore Infantry Brigade between 2003 and 2004; Head, Joint Plans and Transformation Department between 2005 and 2007; Commander,9th Division and ChiefInfantry Officer between 2007 and 2009;[10] and Chief of Staff – Joint Staff between 2009 and 2010.
Chan excelled as a student at theUnited States Army Command and General Staff College in 1998, and was the first foreign student to be conferred the Distinguished Master Strategist Award in the same year.[11]
On 26 March 2010, Chan was appointedChief of Army. He stepped down from his post and left the Singapore Armed Forces on 25 March 2011 in order to contest in the2011 general election.[12]
Chan made his political debut in the2011 general election as part of the five-memberPeople's Action Party (PAP) team led byLee Kuan Yew contesting inTanjong Pagar GRC. He represented theBuona Vista ward, which was previously held byLim Swee Say.[13][14] The PAP team won by an uncontested walkover as none of the opposition parties contested Tanjong Pagar GRC.[15] During the election campaign, Chan used theHokkien phrase "kee chiu" ("hands up") at a rally to engage the crowd, and the term became a nickname for him.[16]
Following the 2011 general election, Chan was appointedActing Minister for Community Development, Youth and Sports, andMinister of State for Communications and the Arts. Chan, then 42, was one of the youngest ministers to be appointed to theCabinet.
On 31 July 2012, Chan relinquished his portfolio in the Ministry of Information, Communications and the Arts and was appointedSenior Minister of State for Defence. Following a restructuring of government ministries in November 2012, he began heading the newly createdMinistry of Social and Family Development as Acting Minister.[17] He was promoted to full Minister in September 2013,[18] and concurrently served as Second Minister for Defence.
On 23 January 2015, Chan joined theNational Trades Union Congress (NTUC) on a part-time basis; He was appointed as NTUC's deputy secretary-general on 27 January 2015 and joined NTUC full-time from April 2015.[19]
On 1 October 2015, following the2015 general election, Chan was appointed Deputy Chairman of thePeople's Association,[20] a role which he held till 2021 before relinquishing it toEdwin Tong. In the same year, Chan was put in charge of leading the PAP team in Tanjong Pagar GRC afterLee Kuan Yew died in March 2015.
On 23 November 2018, Chan succeededTharman Shanmugaratnam as the PAP's Second Assistant Secretary-General (alongsideHeng Swee Keat).[21] In the lead-up to the2020 general election, Chan was widely seen as one of the three leading candidates (alongside Heng andOng Ye Kung) to succeedLee Hsien Loong asPrime Minister of Singapore.[22][23][24]
Chan has announced three key priorities for his Ministry in the Committee of Supply debate 2014.[25][26] These priorities are: (i) to maintain the currency and adequacy of Singapore's social support policies, (ii) to deliver integrated social services and (iii) to develop manpower for the social service sector.
Chan launched the first of 23 Social Service Offices to bring social assistance touch points closer to the populace.[27]
The tender evaluation process was revised for commercial childcare centres. The joint effort byEarly Childhood Development Agency andHousing Development Board aimed to keep rental costs in HDB estates manageable, and in turn keep childcare programmes affordable.[28]
More infrastructure support to benefit non-Anchor Operators (AOP) setting up preschools in high demand areas and workplaces. Non-AOPs who provide quality and affordable programmes can tap on a Teaching & Learning Resources Grant of up to S$4,000 per year for materials and equipment.[29]
During a Parliament session in 2017, responding to a raised question, he replied that there will be no change to an existing policy, that single mothers will continue to get only eight of the 16 weeks paid maternity leave that married mothers are entitled to, and will still not be entitled to claim a child relief tax incentive.[30]
Chan held the position ofMinister in the Prime Minister's Office (minister without portfolio) from 9 April 2015 to 30 April 2018.[31] He was also Secretary General of theNational Trades Union Congress (NTUC) from 4 May 2015 to 30 April 2018.
On 24 April 2018, it was announced that Chan would succeedLim Hng Kiang andS. Iswaran as theMinister for Trade and Industry, and would relinquish his NTUC chief portfolio toNg Chee Meng, effective from 1 May 2018.[32] He also took over responsibility for the Public Service Division on the same day as well.[33]
An audio leak from a closed-door meeting between Singapore Chinese Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SCCCI) members and minister Chan Chun Sing on 18 February 2020 revealed that Chan had used the derogatoryHokkien term "sia suay" (meaning causing embarrassment or disgrace) to describe Singaporeans who were panic buying.[34]
In late May 2020, Chan gave a video interview in which he sought to explain why Singapore was heavily reliant on foreign trade. He cited face masks as an example of a product which Singapore could not produce itself, explaining that "[we] don't have too many sheep in Singapore to produce cotton".[35] Online commentators were quick to point out that cotton is produced by cotton plants rather than from sheep. On 1 June 2020, Chan published a Facebook post apologising for his gaffe and clarified: "To any one (especially young children) watching the video – cotton definitely doesn't come from sheep, it comes from cotton plants!".[36][37]
Another audio leak happened two days before the2020 general election. In early July 2020,The Online Citizen published an article along with an audio clip of a speech made by Chan. In the audio clip, Chan mentioned the PAP's results during elections and the restricting space access north ofSeletar Airport. Chan later wrote onFacebook that the speech took place in 2019 at a closed-door conversation held after Malaysia imposing a restricted flying zone north of Seletar Airport. He claimed that the audio clip was leaked and circulated for "ill-intent".[38][39][40] Following the General Election, Chan retained his portfolio. Following aCabinet reshuffle on 15 May 2021, Chan was succeeded byGan Kim Yong as Minister for Trade and Industry.
Following aCabinet reshuffle on 15 May 2021, Chan succeededLawrence Wong asMinister for Education.[41] On 19 July 2021, Chan visitedRiver Valley High School, Singapore in response to anattack conducted by a student earlier during the day.[42] A week later, Chan gave a Ministerial Statement in response to the attack. Chan also announced the removal of Common Last Topics from the GCE N, O and A-Levels, and some topics from the final year examinations "to help ease stress" as well as a proposed buddy system to be implemented in schools later on.[43][44][45]
On 5 August 2024, it was announced that the Ministry of Education would be removing the application, Mobile Guardian, from all students’ Personal Learning Devices (PLDs) which were installed with the app as a precaution following an incident on 4 August where 13 000 students from 26 schools had their devices wiped remotely by a perpetrator as part of a cybersecurity breach into Mobile Guardian.[46][47] Subsequently, MOE terminated their contract with Mobile Guardian on 9 September.[48] This follows a data breach incident in April where data of students and parents from 127 schools were compromised.[49][50] As well as a human error in configuration on Mobile Guardian’s end which led to a second cybersecurity incident in end July. Chan subsequently gave a statement in Parliament regarding all 3 incidents during a Parliament Sitting on 9 September.[51]
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Minister for Community Development, Youth and Sports Acting 21 May 2011 – 31 October 2012 | Succeeded by Redesignated asActing Minister for Social and Family Development |
| Preceded by Himself asActing Minister for Community Development, Youth and Sports | Minister for Social and Family Development 1 September 2013 – 3 May 2015 Acting: 1 November 2012 – 31 August 2013 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Minister in the Prime Minister's Office 4 May 2015 – 30 April 2018 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Minister for Trade and Industry 1 May 2018 – 14 May 2021 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Minister for Education 15 May 2021 – present | Incumbent |
| Parliament of Singapore | ||
| Preceded byas MP forHolland–Bukit Timah GRC (Buona Vista) | Member of Parliament forTanjong Pagar GRC (Buona Vista) 2011–present | Incumbent |
| Party political offices | ||
| Preceded by | Chairman ofYoung PAP 2008–2017 | Succeeded by |
| Trade union offices | ||
| Preceded by | Secretary-General of theNational Trades Union Congress 2015–2018 | Succeeded by |
 Current members of theCabinet of Singapore | |
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| Prime Minister | |
| Deputy Prime Minister(s) | |
| Senior Minister(s) | |
| Cabinet Minister(s) | |
Effective from 15 May 2024 | |
| International | |
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| National | |
