Overcrowding, broken furniture and bed bugs: Foreign students complain about S’pore hostels
October 25, 2013 Leave a comment
Overcrowding, broken furniture and bed bugs: Foreign students complain about S’pore hostels
Stomp
Thursday, Oct 24, 2013
A recent news report by a Taiwan media company highlighted the poor living conditions of foreign students who come to Singapore seeking work, and how this greatly differed from what they had been promised. In the video published by China Times which Stomp readers Derome and Steric alerted Stomp to, an 18-year-old Taiwanese student shares his experience about how he had come to Singapore to work and study English at the same time. Despite paying $280 for a room every month, he has to share the space with six to eight others. The tenants also have to take turns and wait to use a small bathroom.The only furniture in the room other than their bunk beds are a broken desk and a wardrobe so small that the student has to place his belongings in his luggage.
The student also mentioned old sheets and being bitten by bed bugs. The report stated that he was scratching his arms repeatedly throughout his interview.
He then added that he had been attracted by agency advertisements, which turned out to be different from the real thing. The agency website also failed to include photographs of the actual room he would be staying in.
It is also reported that students earn a monthly salary of about NT$30,000 ($S1,264), but are left with only NT$14,000 ($590) after the deduction agency fees and living expenses.
In a closing statement, the report said that one can only live in Singapore with a careful budget, and that those who have plans of working here should consider carefully so as to avoid being cheated.
About bambooinnovator
Bamboo Innovator 