Budget 2012 Challenge Finals -- Pre-University and Undergraduate Students Take On Role of Budget Officers

14 March 2012 – Eight teams of pre-university and undergraduate students competed in the Finals of Budget Challenge 2012  today to present their proposed policy initiatives for Singapore.

2. Over 100 teams took part in the pre-university category and undergraduate category of Budget Challenge 2012 , proposing initiatives on four topics – Energy, Healthcare, Housing, and Transport. The eight shortlisted proposals were selected based on their feasibility and creativity, reasonableness of cost estimates and quality of recommendation.

3. The Finals today saw the finalists assuming the role of MOF Budget officers presenting the best way to allocate $600 million for worthy initiatives. More details of the Finals’ format can be found in Annex A (5 KB).

4."Budget Challenge 2012 aims to expose students to the trade-offs faced by policy makers, and challenge them to critically evaluate the principles behind public policies in Singapore. It is encouraging that we saw more than 100 teams taking part this year. Overall, the submitted proposals were very insightful and well thought-out," said Mr Peter Ong, Permanent Secretary (Finance), Ministry of Finance.

5. The winner of Category 1 is The Group consisting of members from Anglo Chinese School (Independent) and Raffles Institution (Junior College) while the winner of Category 2 is DWIT, made up of undergraduates from Nanyang Technological University and National University of Singapore.  The proposals presented at the Finals can be viewed at the Singapore Budget 2012 website.

6.  “It is an honour to be able to win the Budget Challenge 2012. The Budget Challenge has been an enriching experience for the team as we were constantly being reminded of the cut-and-thrust of policy-making. It has been encouraging to see the dynamism which every other team exudes as that keeps our team going as well,” said Mr Gedeon Lim, a participant from the winning team.

7. In addition to Budget Challenge 2012, MOF also organised the Budget Quiz 2012 which concluded on 29 Feb 2012. Over 3600 entries were received. Through the Budget Challenge 2012 and the Budget Quiz 2012, MOF hopes to reach out to more Singaporeans and increase awareness of the challenges and considerations that the Government faces in managing and allocating our finite resources. Details on the Budget Challenge 2012 and the Budget Quiz 2012 are available on the Budget 2012 website.

Note to editors: Please refer to Annex B (104 KB) for more details on the shortlisted teams.

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Issued by Ministry of Finance
Singapore
14 March 2012