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1) Yes it made me understand what the elderly is going through and what the elderly thinks. As teenagers we would not know what challenges the elderly face and we would not know how to help them. Through the research made I managed to find out the daily challenges the elderly faced and how the government actions are really helping the elderly.

2) Language was the main issue in our interview. Since our questions are in English we had to translate it to Malay, we were afraid that when we translated it the phrasing would change the meaning of the question and we might not get the right answers. The elderly also  did not understand some of the question so we had to further explain it in Malay and at times we could not write down what the elderly is saying as she was saying it too fast.

3) Yes it did. At first I was not to keen about all the policies. And since I am still young I do not take notice of the policies as it may not benefit me now but after i found out that the policies actually help people out I am curious on the other policies the government want to create since it is difficult to please everybody. I would also like to know if there will be other policies in the future and present that may benefit me.

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The issue of an ageing population are complex and cut across all sectors of the society. One key concern is that the sheer rise in the numbers and proportion of older persons could potentially put stress on families and eldercare services. Given the move towards smaller,dual income and nuclear families, the rising numbers of young people who live and work abroad, and more single elderly, it will be a challenge to sustain family care as the primary form of eldercare in Singapore.

Given these trends, older Singaporeans will have to take on more personal financial responsibility and rely less on their families for financial support, even though family support is commonly expected among current cohorts of senior citizens. The fiscal burden of population ageing could also increase as the government spends more to prepare the infrastructure to deal with an ageing population. Here,a key challenge will be to pursue forward-looking yet sustainable solutions.

The median age of the local workforce will rise as a result of the ageing process. the national initiatives to bring in foreign talent, promote lifelong learning and a performance-based wage system will minimize any potentially negative impact on workforce productivity and competitiveness. However, the employability and hence the financial security of older workers, particularly those who are less educated, will remain a concern.

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1) Yes, eldercare issues in Singapore is not something that we normally take into account in our  daily lives. As a teenager, we may oblivious to issues as such. Through this issue investigation, I am able to dwell deeper into the topic and understand how the ageing population is affecting Singapore greatly. Furthermore, I get to understand the concerns and views off different stakeholders, namely the elderly, community and the government.

2) Language barriers was our ultimate challenge. Having to translate the questions into their language may pose a risk of question phrasing. The question that we intended to ask may have not been communicated effectively with the elderly. Therefore, we decided to use minor sign language to further explain our question for the elderly. Secondly, the elderly spoke at a relatively fast speed, and we were not able to capture every word she says. Therefore, we set up a recording for us to refer to after the interview. With the recording, we could pause and rewind if necessary.

3) Yes definitely. This issue investigation has raised our awareness on this issue of ageing population.  This has made us more curious to find out more about this ageing issue, specifically on how our government handles this issue. Realizing that Singapore is not the only country facing this issue, it has made us much more intrigued and curious to compare the elderly policies in Singapore with the rest of the world.

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http://app.msf.gov.sg/portals/0/summary/research/Materials_IMCReport.pdf

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Interviewer : do you think that the subsides given to elderly is good ?interviewee: I feel that it is good because for my medical bills I am given a sufficient amount of subsidies and since I easily  go to the hospital, having the medishield subsidy is very useful for me so I am not troubling my children to have to pay so much for my medical bill.
Interviewer :  what other benefits are there? Intervierwee: I go grocery shopping a lot so when I want to pay for my groceries , I do not need to wait in line for so long since I am able to take the pioneer expressway where elderly are allowed to go first on specific days. This helps me because I have knee problems so it's faster and easier for me and I don't need to wait so long to pay for my groceries my knee also won't be hurting so much.
Interviewer: do you feel that the government is doing enough for the elderly ?
Interviewee: yes the government is doing enough but can be better.
Interviewer : how is the government doing enough ?
Interviewee: most elderly like me are given  enough support  financial wise. We have subsidies and CPF so it helps us have better and meaningful life cause we feel like we are apart of the society .
Interviewer: is there anything that can be done to support elderly better ?
Interviewee:  yes like we also need place to enjoy and have fresh air so like we need to have elderly friendly facilities  more
*Note this was rewritten from Malay to English

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The rapid increase in the proportion of older persons is due to three main factors.Firstly, the present post-war baby-boomers are in the 35-54 age range (Chart 1-1 above). By 2030, this bulge will have moved on  to the age range of 65 and over.

Second, Singaporeans are living longer than before because of improvements in health and nutrition. Life expectancy has been increasing over time - in 1980, life expectancy at birth was 70 years for males and 75 years for females (Chart 1-4). Today, it is 75 years for males and almost 80 years for females and this is expected to rise further.

Thirdly, our birth rates are declining. Our total fertility rate (TFR) has declined from 1.87 live births per woman in 1990 to about 1.50 in 1998. This is partly caused by more young people not marrying or marrying but having fewer or no children. This is an upstream problem, which if successfully addressed, could help slow the rapidity of population ageing. Unfortunately, experience elsewhere has shown that higher the social and economic advancements of the country, the lower the TFR. Low fertility has been a persistent problem since the late 70s in industrialized countries.

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1) Honestly I feel that researching on the topic helps as it gives me a better picture of what the topic on elderly is really about. It shows me that it's not just about the ageing population, there's more to it than ageing population. There's more and more elderly around so its shows that Singapore has to be able to support this elderly. Since there's more elderly that mean there may be lesser youngsters to look after them. It's not just about suppoting the elderly it's more about showing them that they too are a valuable aspect of Singapore citizens. That's why the government are trying to support them as best as they could with example affordable  healthcare by giving this elderly medisave, medishield and medifund. The research was very useful in helping me better understand all this subsidies the government are giving to the elderly and why .
2) I was interviewing my grandmother. She doesn't speak and understand English that well so I had to speak to her with our native language which is Malay. Yes, speaking to her in Malay is easier for the both of us. However, she sometimes might use Malay words that I'm not sure of. That challenge wasn't as difficult as I thought it would be since I had to only search the meaning from the internet. Unfortunately , the challenge didn't stop there. I had to rewrite it in English. That was very troublesome and difficult for me but I had to do it as I have Chinese friends in my group who might not understand it. I wanted everyone to understand the interview so I tried my best to translate it in English . I got help from my other teammates though so it was easier and faster to translate it to English.
3) To be honest, I wasn't that interested with issues and government policies in Singapore so I didn't really care that much. However after the group project I realised that this issues and policies are actually important and as a Singaporean we have to at least know some of the issues and solution the government have given to solve this issues. So I have to say this project really opened my eyes to the importance of the ageing population and some of the problems the elderly might face.
Lastly , I would say that the project really was enjoyable and a good learning experience

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1. Yes, it did made me understand the topic better. Before investigating this issue, I knew nothing about the elderly, like their feelings, opinions, mindsets towards certain issues. I did know the issue of ageing in Singapore as I had done an English essay on the ageing problems, but still did not quite understand about it. However, through some researches that I've done, I managed to learn more about the ageing problems faced and also what can be done to help the elderly.

2. Doing the interview was quite a tough job to be honest. It was because of the language barrier between me and the elderly I was interviewing. Despite the language barrier, I still tried my best to explain and describe the questions to the elderly so that she could understand. It somehow worked for some questions. I also could not understand what she was saying as well but I managed to find out what she meant through her gestures, actions, etc. Overall, I got to hear what her opinions are and it was a meaningful and fun experience for me.

3. Yes, I think this group project did increase our interest about issues and government policies in Singapore. We would like to explore and find out more about the policies and other issues as long as it can make us gain more knowledge and help the society, including the elder generation.

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1)Yes I understand the issue better through research.For example before this I might not know a lot of things about the elderly and I'm clueless about the issue thus through research I manage to gain new informations.
2)For me doing the interview was not that easy as the person I had to interview could not understand what I was mostly saying.However through deeper explanation to the elderly I interviewed I manage to receive responses from her.I also get  different perspective when I interview the elderlys.
3)I think my group has slightly increased my interest about issues and government policies in Singapore.I want to know more government policies as it is beneficial and not only those for elderly I would like to know more about the other parts of the policies.I am know also more keen about the issues out there as there are many things that I may get.

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The fact that our population is ageing rapidly can be seen in Chart 1-1 & 1-2. The pyramid is becoming a population rectangle as the post-war baby-boom generation ages over time.