9 December 1999

SPEECH BY DR ALINE WONG, SENIOR MINISTER OF STATE (EDUCATION), AT THE LAUNCH OF THE BUDDING WRITERS PROJECT AT MPH STAMFORD ON THURSDAY, 9 DECEMBER 1999 AT 4.30 PM

I am very pleased to be with you today to launch MPH Education’s ‘Budding Writers Project’ which aims to promote works by children for children. The inaugural book, entitled My Pets/Tiger and Friends, was written and illustrated by students of Raffles Girls’ Secondary School for a preschool audience.

2 The aim of Singapore’s education system is to develop well-rounded students. We want to provide our students with opportunities to be exposed to a myriad of learning experiences both in and out of the classroom. At the same time, we recognise that to be successful, our education system needs to actively seek, engage and integrate the efforts of school, home and community to develop our children to their fullest capacity and potential. I am heartened to note that MPH Education has contributed in its capacity as part of the larger community to this process with the ‘Budding Writers Project’.

3 Our schools encourage students to write and publish their works. In many schools, students’ writings are published through school publications such as magazines, newsletters, and commemorative anthologies. These are distributed to all in the school, and in some cases, to other schools. Student involvement is also enhanced through participation in the editorial boards of school publication committees. As technology improves, students have increasingly used desktop publishing tools to widen the avenues available to them as they hone their writing skills and explore more creative ways of self-expression.

4 That said, it is also true that for many students, their experience of literary creation is limited merely to writing and the writing processes within the boundaries of the school. The stories that they have penned and illustrated are bound and possibly displayed at school exhibitions, never to meet the light of an external audience. Students rarely come into contact with publishers and are not acquainted or involved in publishing processes such as colour separation or offset printing. Their work is rarely known, or shown, outside the school.

5 With the launch of the `Budding Writers Project’, however, MPH Education is opening the eyes and minds of the participating writers and illustrators to the processes that are involved in the printing of a book. During their visits to the colour separation section of the printing houses, the students experiment with layout, colour, modes of presentation and learn more about the workings of the publication industry and the many innovative methods of IT-enhanced production.

6 The launch of this Project also comes at a very appropriate time. For even as it provides our students with creative and commercial avenues to channel their self-expression, the project itself embraces the Christmas season’s spirit of giving and sharing. To complement the generous financial support rendered by several of MPH Education’s industry partners in the publication and charitable distribution of the book, the writers will be sharing their stories to delight their listeners at forthcoming story-telling sessions.

7 Through this project, our students have been given the opportunity to see a publication through from its initial conception on the drawing board to the final production with its glossy finishes and eventual delivery to the audience. I am sure that, with this experience, their writing will take on a completely new dimension.

8 In conclusion, I would like to thank MPH Education, its partners and all those who have participated in the `Budding Writers Project‘ for your contributions to the holistic education of our students. This project upholds the development of a vibrant arts and publishing scene in Singapore through the propagation of greater collaboration between students, readers and sponsors. I look forward to seeing many more stories that will be published under this Project. To all budding writers, I wish you a fruitful and deeply satisfying experience and the blossoming of your creative literary skills.