How SkillsFuture Singapore provides access to skills training resources and more with AWS

SkillsFuture Singapore (SSG), a statutory board under the Ministry of Education (MOE), was formed in 2016 to promote a culture of lifelong learning in Singapore and strengthen the country’s ecosystem of industry-relevant training and adult education. SSG’s goal is to shape an innovative, productive workforce that can help the country realize its strategic, long-term ambitions. SSG provides access to high quality, industry-relevant training, and jobs and skills insights, such as those listed in the annual Skills Demand for the Future Economy report. To power their digital training portal and make sure every Singaporean has access to training resources, education opportunities, and more, SSG uses Amazon Web Services (AWS).

SkillsFuture Singapore provides citizens with training opportunities and more

In 2015, the Singapore government launched the SkillsFuture Movement—a national movement to provide Singapore’s citizens with opportunities to develop to their fullest potential regardless of where and how they started in life. The movement consists of multiple initiatives to support lifelong learning and skills development for various stakeholders like students, adult learners, employers, training providers, and more. Some of these initiatives include the SkillsFuture Credit, which aims to encourage individuals to take ownership of their skills development and lifelong learning. Introduced in 2015, all Singaporeans aged 25 and above can receive an opening SkillsFuture credit of S$500. To further encourage Singaporeans to take timely action to reskill and upskill to seize opportunities in the future economy, a one-off SkillsFuture credit of $500 was provided to every Singapore citizen aged 25 years and above as of December 31, 2020. To improve individuals’ access to mid-career transition programmes, a one-off SkillsFuture Credit of $500 was provided to every Singapore citizen aged 40 to 60 as of December 31, 2020.

How SkillsFuture Singapore uses AWS to scale and more

To improve the accessibility of these initiatives and the whole-of-government (WOG) funding like the SkillsFuture Credit, along with other important resources, SSG embarked on a digital transformation journey. SSG used AWS to create a national portal so all Singaporeans could use one digital access point to claim their SkillsFuture Credit, apply for claims to reimburse training costs, take supported online courses, and more. The portal also provides a simple means through which training providers can be paid with a verified learner’s government credit. By moving to AWS, SSG wanted to transform the customer experience; improve operational efficiency; introduce measures to prevent fraudulent grant applications; improve oversight of WOG funding support through a single national training grants portal; and facilitate data analysis to better allocate resources and shape training programs.

To build the portal, SSG deployed AWS serverless architectures, including AWS Lambda, to enable file processing and storage for high volume transactions that require file uploads from both learners and training providers as part of the claims submission processes. SSG used AWS CloudFormation to accelerate the setup of API gateways. Using infrastructure as code, AWS CloudFormation provided a unified template that can be deployed multiple times with the same settings on SSG’s enterprise architecture, making it simple for SSG to scale around the world so any Singaporean can benefit from the program, no matter where they’re located. SSG uses AWS Fargate to enable rapid application deployments and patches to reduce downtime.

In addition, SSG uses Amazon Quantum Ledger Database (Amazon QLDB) to support the commissioning of a national distributed ledger of smart contracts—the transaction protocols that digitally facilitate and verify agreements between training providers, individuals, and SSG. Amazon QLDB facilitates transactions for digital wallets used by SSG and makes sure that every credit and debit transaction is attributed to the correct learner and training provider stored in the ledger.

Providing all Singaporeans with seamless access to skills development resources

Using AWS, SSG provides a highly available and collaborative platform for learners, training providers, and enterprises regardless of where they are located. In 2021, about 660,000 individuals and 24,000 enterprises benefitted from SSG-supported programs. In SSG’s 2020/2021 Annual Report, about 87% of surveyed SSG users indicated that they were able to perform their work better after undergoing SSG-funded training. To support their users in their learning journey, SSG continues to build on providing access to a reliable training and learning infrastructure with 98% uptime to support its skills movement.

Reflecting on the deployment of SSG in AWS, Pang Poh Cheng, group director and chief information officer of the Business Technology Group at SSG, said, “Our mission is to enable individuals to fulfill their potential and spark a life-long passion for learning. Since embarking on this digital transformation journey with AWS, we’ve been able to deliver innovative services quickly and efficiently and continually push the limits of what’s possible without the legacy constraints of on-premises infrastructure.”

Learn more about how AWS supports public sector customers in Singapore and the Asia Pacific Region.

Read more about AWS in the Singapore public sector:

• Continuing the pace of government innovation with the cloud in Asia Pacific and Japan
• Announcing new report on digital skills training for the changing workforce in Asia Pacific and Japan
• Singapore’s IHiS scales vaccine operations with AWS to meet evolving on-the-ground requirements
• AWS and OSTIn sign Statement of Strategic Intent to expand Singapore’s emerging space and technology environment
• Singapore University of Social Sciences supports remote learning and examination with Amazon Connect
• Bridging the cloud skills gap across Asia Pacific and Japan with AWS
• People’s Association in Singapore improves upskilling experiences for communities
• Six Singapore institutes of higher learning bring AWS courses and resources into diploma programs

Subscribe to the AWS Public Sector Blog newsletter to get the latest in AWS tools, solutions, and innovations from the public sector delivered to your inbox, or contact us.

Please take a few minutes to share insights regarding your experience with the AWS Public Sector Blog in this survey, and we’ll use feedback from the survey to create more content aligned with the preferences of our readers.