At his maiden National Day Rally speech on Aug 18, Prime Minister Lawrence Wong announced that government-paid parental leave (GPPL) in Singapore would be increased from five months to around 7½ months. As someone who lives and breathes all manner of data pertaining to families in Singapore, this policy announcement and the subsequent reactions have left me both jubilant and troubled.
Research into child development emphasises the importance of parental involvement in the first 24 months of a child’s life.
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Kalpana Vignehsa is a senior research fellow at the Institute of Policy Studies, National University of Singapore.
Top photo from Pixabay.