December 29, 2020

The NUS Giving Webinar Series, “Understanding and Supporting Low-Income Families during COVID-19 and its Aftermath”, moderated by Professor Loy Hui Chieh (NUS Department of Philosophy) discussed the crippling effect of COVID-19 on low-income families in Singapore. Professor Jean Yeung (NUS Department of Sociology and CFPR) highlighted that the pandemic has increased the income disparity in society whereby some are struggling with the loss of jobs while others are earning and saving even more than before.

Low-income families were perplexed during the Circuit Breaker period as they were subjected to choosing between being vulnerable to infection in their workplaces or having no food on their tables if they opted to stay home and protect themselves from the virus. Due to the ambiguity faced by low-income families during the pandemic, Associate Professor Irene Ng (NUS Department of Social Work) underlined the need to ensure digital access to support them going forward.

Bridging the digital divide for low-income families via digital literary training and building strong networks to assist them is seen as a crucial step in enabling a positive future.

Read the article here.