home 쐽 ● THE STRAITS TIMES WEDNESDAY, APRIL 1 2009 PAGE B5

Public transport
Kindness cheaper now
troopers COMMUTERS will save more on public trans-
port from today, as lower fares kicked in this
morning.
They will now pay two cents less on each bus
or train trip. And due to a more generous trans-

bring fer rebate, those who make transfers will save

more, starting at 14 cents for a journey with one
transfer.
To prepare for the new fares, thousands of
buses and hundreds of MRT fare gates went

it on
through a final round of checks last night.
Tests were also carried out overnight at MRT
computer control rooms to verify that the new
fares were in place. The final round of checks fol-
lows weeks of testing of the fare systems to en-
SBS Transit operations staff member Tan Kian Guan (left) and Land Transport Authority fare system engineer Ng Wee Hong sure that there are no glitches today.
checking on the systems software in SBS Transit buses to prepare for the new fares. ST PHOTO: MUGILAN RAJASEGERAN YEO GHIM LAY
Children, parents and local
personalities in drive to bring
home ‘be gracious’ message
BY RACHEL AU-YONG
DESPITE several years of trying, courtesy levels in
Singapore are not where they should be, so a new,
bigger push will be launched this weekend.
It will involve children from kindergarten up-
wards, as well as parents, and will rope in local per-
sonalities to help spread the word.
The theme for this year’s Singapore Kindness
Movement (SKM) drive is “Kindness – Bring It
On”, and organisers hope to bring the message to
schools, workplaces and communities in Singapore.
The campaign will be launched on Saturday,
with the deployment of “Kindness Troopers” –
more than 600 tertiary students who will roam the
country for three weekends and encourage people
to move to the back of buses and offer smiles to
strangers, among other things.
SKM will also reach out to 40,000 kindergarten
children and their parents, to get them to learn how
to behave graciously.
Meanwhile, the personalities – radio DJ 987FM
Shan Wee, MediaCorp actor Edmund Chen and na-
tional golfer Heng Su-Ann – will be enlisted as
“Voices of Kindness”.
They will champion kindness in areas they are
concerned about via roadshow events and print ad-
vertisements. They have also pledged to promote
the cause in their individual capacities.
For instance, Mr Wee, 27, hopes to inspire
youths to be more spontaneous when it comes to
performing acts of kindness.
Tongue firmly in cheek, he said: “People my age
might think the chivalrous thing like pulling out a
chair for a lady is old-fashioned.
“But we should definitely be reminded that this
is just a small step to being kind. In any case, the
women love it.”
Ms Heng and Mr Chen, meanwhile, will seek to
promote sportsmanship and kindness in the family,
respectively.
The nationwide thrust of this year’s campaign
marks a change from the past, when the SKM – a
government-funded charity – operated small-
scale, ad-hoc events with community partners,
such as the Singapore Hotel Association or the Min-
istry of Education.
The movement’s chairman, Mr Koh Poh Tiong,
said he believes Singaporeans just need to be
coaxed to behave courteously, and that reaching
out to more people is the route to success.
He said: “We do have a long way to go, but I’m
an optimist. I’ve got full faith in Singaporeans. I
think, generally, Singaporeans are a bit shy to be ex-
pressive.”
The Kindness Movement is now into its eighth
year. Its forerunner, the National Courtesy Cam-
paign, ran for 22 years.
Despite these efforts, however, Singaporeans say
they feel people here are less than gracious.
No less than Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong has
also pointed out Singaporeans’ lack of gracious-
ness.
rachelay@sph.com.sg

Social
workers to
be accredited
BY JESSICA JAGANATHAN
IN THE latest move to make the social service sec-
tor more attractive, a system to formally recognise
staff qualifications has been set up.
This means social workers will be seen more as
professionals rather than volunteers, which could
lead to more recognition and possibly, higher pay.
This, in turn, will give them more job satisfaction.
Announcing this yesterday, Minister for Commu-
nity Development, Youth and Sports Vivian
Balakrishnan said an accreditation board would be
set up by his ministry, the National Council of So-
cial Service and the Singapore Association of Social
Workers.
It will accredit social workers based on their rele-
vant qualifications, training and experience. It will
also handle complaints, review training and con-
duct public education. Accredited social workers
will have to renew their status every two years.
Speaking at the Social Workers’ Day celebrations
at the Grassroots’ Club in Ang Mo Kio, the minister
urged the nearly 400 social workers present to get
their qualifications formally recognised.
Recent steps taken to make social work more at-
tractive include the launch of a two-year bachelor’s
degree and a training allowance for voluntary wel-
fare organisations.
Social workers yesterday applauded the latest
move, saying it would address misconceptions that
they are not professionals, but merely volunteers.
Mrs Jenny Bong, executive director of Methodist
Welfare Services, said accrediting social workers
will ensure they receive relevant training as well.