Jail for lying about address for child's admission to popular school in Singapore

SINGAPORE: The week-long jail sentence handed out to the mother who lied about her address to enrol her daughter in a popular primary school could increase awareness of the consequences of such behaviour, said the Ministry of Education (MOE) on Friday (Nov 14).

Parents whom CNA spoke to also said the case may discourage those tempted to game the system, although it may not completely eliminate such behaviour.

On Thursday, the 42-year-old woman was sentenced to one week's jail for lying about her address during the 2023 Primary 1 registration exercise. CNA

What is a prude? According to Merriam Webster, a person who is excessively or priggishly attentive to propriety or decorum. What is a crime? What is a crime that requires jail sentence?

In prudist Singapore, a parent that wants the best for his/her child, forges the address to be nearer to a popular school to get better chances of admission is considered serious enough to be jailed for one week. I reserved my comments on this.

'In 2015, a man was initially sentenced to two weeks' jail for providing false information about his residential address in the P1 registration exercise. This was reduced to a S$5,000 fine after his appeal to the High Court.

In 2007, a former lawyer was sentenced to 11 months' jail for forging and lying about his residential address to get his daughter into a reputable school in Bukit Timah....The prosecution had sought a fine, but the judge found that a jail term was warranted due to the aggravating nature of this case, including her calculated deception and "selfish motives".' CNA

Is this the reason for the jail sentence? 'According to the ministry, reports of such cases averaged about one a year from 2008 to 2018, but rose to nine a year from 2020 to 2024, with no cases reported in 2019.'

A crime is a crime? Why are some offences called seizable offence and some are not? Is lying about address, to game the system for a child to get into a popular school a seizable offence? How many scions of powerful and rich Americans got admitted to top universities in the US by influence or by bribing? How did D graders like Donald Trump and George Bush Jr got into Ivy League universities? Oops, not bribing, just big donations or going through the back door and no one says it is against the law? Oops, we are not Americans although we took pride is shouting Rule of Law, Rules Based Order.

What do you think?

Are forging academic qualifications and credentials serious enough to warrant a jail sentence? There are thousands of such cheating cases, many undisclosed, not caught. And the victims of these crimes are the Singaporeans who lost their jobs to the foreign cheats.

 

Should the govt think it is important enough to make jail compulsory to deter such crimes?

What about foreign trash coming to Singapore to beat up Singaporeans? Not serious enough to jail them?