Real World Issue – What and Why?

What is Poverty? One of the definitions about poverty would be the inability to provide for basic needs such as food and shelter. Poverty also equates to the continuous problems such as lack of education, being unhealthy, inability to make rational decisions and criminal offences.

Why Poverty? Poverty, being one of the world’s top 10 most serious problems, does not seem to be a problem in Singapore. However, Singapore being a country with high costs of living and great income gap, it is hard to assure that people with lower income are not struggling in poverty, and it is an issue that affects a lot of people until today. According to the 2015 statistics from Ministry of Social and Family Affairs (MSF), there were up to 29,511 families who were relying on ComCare assistance as they were not able to make ends meet. Hence, poverty does not affect only the elderly, it affects generally all age groups even the youths and working adults.

Poverty being a continuous cycle will then result in many other problems, such as lack of education, poor health, irrational decisions and criminal offences – shoplifting, robbery, illegal activities.

Lack of education. When a family is struggling to meet their basic needs, education is hardly in their list of top considerations. Although the Compulsory Education Act has been passed in 2000 where all children are to complete six years of primary education before they turn 15, education from Secondary School onwards becomes optional. In order to break the family’s poverty cycle, one needs to be at least educated to be able to look for a job which then allows them to provide for their family. However, under such situation, the lack of resources urges children to stop studying and go out to work. But at that age, they can only work part-time or at places which does not provide income stability and much career progression. They might then not be able to move out of poverty and continue to be trapped in the cycle which goes on and on.

Irrational decisions. According to a news article, it Is proven that poverty indeed causes people to make poor decisions as their main concern is to solve the problems they are facing at that moment which they then neglected other problems of the future. In the news “How poverty tends to trap people into making poor decisions” (Paulo, 2018), the interviewee, Mdm Yeo, is a divorcee with four children. When she first receive the financial assistance from the Social Service Office, she went to the provision shop to buy 40 cartons of drinks (~$400), as her children has always been requesting for it every time they pass by the shop. Thus, experts Have mentioned that poverty is not just about not meeting basic needs but also implications such as irrational decisions due to financial stress and the desire of getting something.

Criminal offences. It is not rare to hear about cases of shoplifting and illegal activities due to financial needs. At times when people are desperate for money, incidents like these arises as these are ways of getting money or the things they want quick. Recently, I saw a video about an elderly who steals in front of other customers just so that she can be jailed, as she does not want to go to the Elderly Care Home due to the poor financial condition of the family. In addition, I have heard of a real-life case where people conduct illegal activities to earn quick money. This then made me reflect on what poverty could do to each individual or family, and that there is really a need to help these people lead a better life.

Admin. (2017, April 22). admin. Retrieved November 15, 2019, from http://statestimesreview.com/2017/04/22/ministry-poverty-in-singapore-reached-worst-ever-jumped-43-45-in-3-years/.

Paulo, D. A. (2018, November 25). How poverty tends to trap people into making poor decisions. Channel News Asia. Retrieved from https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/cnainsider/poverty-tends-trap-people-poor-decisions-singapore-class-divide-10965206

Project, B. (2019, November 4). Top 10 Facts About Poverty in Singapore. Retrieved November 15, 2019, from https://borgenproject.org/top-10-facts-about-poverty-in-singapore/.