Mother-of-two Jaslyn Go began working during the school holidays from the age of 12, travelling from her home in Bukit Merah to a Paya Lebar garment factory to earn S$5 a day.
She began working part-time from Secondary Two at McDonald’s, but juggling work and studies took its toll. She ventured into the working world after her O-Levels, doing sales and marketing mainly in the automobile industry.
Ms Go said yesterday that she has also personally experienced challenges facing small and medium enterprises, running a construction company with her husband since 2004 that now hires 30 people and has an annual turnover of S$2 million.
Her children are aged 12 and 10, and Ms Go said she feels strongly that education policies should encourage children to enjoy the process of learning.
“Do we actually want our kids to grow up in this kind of stressful environment (today)?” she said.
There is now also an overemphasis on paper qualifications, she feels. “In my generation, we are still able to make it without the paper chase. Unfortunately, I can’t say the same for the younger generations,” she wrote in her biography published on the SDP’s website.
Her son will be taking his Primary School Leaving Examination this year and she is counting on her supportive husband to look after the children in her absence.
Ms Go joined the Singapore Democratic Party in 2007, drawn by concerns over the cost of living, she said.
“I felt strongly about it as a new mother. I was worried for my children, how they were going to … pay for a decent house and having to compete for places in schools, and (for) job opportunities,” she said.
Jaslyn Go Hui Leng, 43
Sales director of a construction company co-founded with her husband
Fact file:
• Has a certificate in early childhood education and a diploma in sales and marketing
• Began working part-time from the age of 14 to help her family financially
• Oversees sales, does training and develops profit targets at the construction company set up with her husband in 2004, that now has 30 staff and annual turnover of S$2 million
She said:
“Attitude in life surpasses academic qualifications … The twists that life throw at you can be turned into valuable lessons, they are experiences that books can’t teach you. They certainly brought me to where I am today.”
Source: www.straitstimes.com
