Paternity leave for civil servants

Paternity leave for civil servants

SINGAPORE (AP): Fathers employed in the civil service will now get three days' paternity for each of their first three children as part of government efforts to encourage Singaporeans to have more babies.

"This in itself will encourage Singaporean women to have more children," Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong said at a National Day dinner late Sunday. National Day was Aug. 9.

The measure also "signals that the responsibility of parenthood does not lie only with the woman," Goh said. Currently, only men working in the private sector get paternity leave.

Last week, the government announced several measures aimed at reversing Singapore's declining birth rate.