Financial Assistance

Guidelines on MOE & DHS Financial Assistance Scheme and Opportunity Fund

1. MOE provides financial assistance to needy Singaporean students from Government and Government-aided schools. The aim is to ensure that education remains affordable and no child will be denied an education due to a lack of financial support. MOE has therefore implemented the following:

a. Enhanced the MOE Financial Assistance Scheme (FAS) – please refer to Annex 1 for more details.

b. Raised the qualifying household income criterion for the Edusave Merit Bursary – please refer to Annex 2 for details.

c. Set up “Opportunity Fund” in schools.

2. In line with the above objective, Dunman High School (DHS) has revised the eligibility criteria for the DHS Financial Assistance and established a set of guidelines to disburse the Opportunity Fund to needy students.

3. The DHS FAS is a financial scheme that complements the MOE FAS. It seeks to further support needy students by (i) providing financial assistance in areas not covered by the MOE FAS, and (ii) helping those who miss the criteria for MOE FAS.

More details on the DHS FAS can be found in Annex 3.

4. The Opportunity Fund is directed towards providing needy students with more opportunities to enrich their educational experiences and build firmer foundations for learning.

The DHS Opportunity Fund will be used to help needy students in three areas:

a. Access to ICT: It will help needy students to own personal computers so as to support independent and self-paced learning, as well as facilitate engagement in project work. Students can apply for Opportunity Fund to subsidise their purchase of personal computers.

b. Subsidy for DHS Enrichment Programmes: Needy students can tap on the fund to subsidise the fees of selected Enrichment Programmes organised by the school. These programmes are usually designed to develop stronger problem-solving skills, nurture social and emotional competencies and hone communication skills. These programmes will help to instil in students a greater sense of self-esteem and social awareness, which will provide a firmer foundation for learning.

c. Subsidy for Overseas Learning Journeys: To prepare our students for a more globalised world, we have created more opportunities for them to be exposed to the different cultures of the world through visits, immersion and exchange programmes with schools overseas. Such programmes are mostly optional (except for the immersion trips under the Bicultural Studies Programme) and Opportunity Fund can be used to subsidise needy students in meeting the expenses of such programmes.

5. The eligibility criteria for the Opportunity Fund are listed in Annex 4. Only students who are Singapore citizens are eligible for the fund. The Opportunity fund is disbursed largely on a co-payment basis.