Academic says MOE is increasing school fees to prompt more PRs to take up citizenship

The Ministry of Education announced today (11 Oct) that it will raise school fees for non-Singaporeans from January 2017. The increase will take effect from January next year. School fees will increase by $20 to $60 per month for permanent resident students and by $20 to $150 per month for international student. School fees for students who are Singapore Citizens will remain unchanged. The changes are as follows.
While most Singaporeans have appreciated the differentiation, foreigners who responded to the Straits Times story of the fee increase published in its Facebook were apprehensive.

Jim Cks from Malaysia:
Steve Tran Dai Phu from Vietnam:
Pinky Kim also from Vietnam:

Hartono Ng from Indonesia:
Asha Subramaniam from India:

Dr Derek da Cunha, a Singaporean academic in the field of the social sciences assumes that the differentiation is being made sharper to prompt more PRs to take up citizenship.

Commenting on a Facebook post of the ST report he said: “The Government has already stated that it plans to have up to 25,000 new citizens a year. It wants more applications from PRs so that its choices — i.e., getting a pool of good applicants — are not limited. Politically, the planning parameters appear to be to look forward to two elections from now. This is purely an assumption on my part.”