Tourism Management Institute of Singapore

WHILE some of his peers are taking it easy in their retirement, this senior citizen has no plans to slow down any time soon.

Lee Yew Lee, 60, who works in sales and marketing at travel agency New Zealand Specialist, is intent on keeping himself busy.

Yew Lee is also a grassroots leader in the Radin Mas Constituency, and has been awarded a Public Service Medal.

And now, he is back in school.

He had stopped studying at Sec 3 because his family could not afford the fees.

Last October, he completed the Workforce Skills Qualifications Certificate in tour and travel services at the Tourism Management Institute of Singapore. He then signed up for a three-month medical tourism course.

But why is he studying about the very industry he has been in for 20 years?

Yew Lee replied: "It's simple, I wanted to learn more and see how I could use this knowledge and incorporate it into my career."

It has helped that the fees have been reasonable.

With the subsidy provided by the Singapore Workforce Development Agency, he pays only $680 of the $4,280 for his current course.

It's money well spent, he said, as he has picked up valuable tips on the travel market and how to deal with customers.

Thanks to the support of his boss, Yew Lee gets time off once a week to attend classes at the institute's Clemenceau Avenue campus.

And though it means juggling his job, his family and his studies, Yew Lee said it is worth it.

He lives with his wife, 58, a baby-sitter, his daughter, 27, and two sons, aged 34 and 31, in a four-room HDB flat in Bukit Purmei.

He said: "God willing, I would like to work and learn for as long as I'm able-bodied. It's not the money that counts... I love my job."

While Yew Lee is the oldest in his class and the youngest student is only 18, he said the age gap doesn't bother him.

He said: "We share a lot, exchange our experiences and after class, we regularly go for coffee or a meal."