Speech by Senior Minister of State, Ministry of Education and Ministry of Trade & Industry, Mr Peter Chen at the Second Joint Polytechnic Mathematics Conference (25 May 2001)

SPEECH BY MR PETER CHEN, SENIOR MINISTER OF STATE FOR EDUCATION AND TRADE & INDUSTRY AT THE SECOND JOINT POLYTECHNIC MATHEMATICS CONFERENCE ON FRIDAY, 25 MAY 2001 AT 9.00 AM AT MLT1, SINGAPORE POLYTECHNIC

1. I am delighted to be here at the Second Joint Polytechnic Mathematics Conference.

2. Since the first conference held three years ago, we have seen technical education in Singapore developing at a phenomenal pace. The Government aims to make education in Singapore, including technical education of world class standards. We have matched our words with our action as evidenced by the large investments in both the polytechnics and the ITE. These are investments that we believe will bring us returns many fold. Indeed they are necessary if we are to remain in the game and if we-want-to-continually-develop-and-prosper.

3. The key to our future survival and prosperity lies in science and technology. A sound foundation in technical education is therefore an important component. The polytechnics have always played a crucial role in providing technical education to a large part of our workforce. Today, the polytechnics take some 40% of each cohort of students. As Singapore transforms into a knowledge-based economy, the polytechnics will need to remain nimble and responsive in order to provide the manpower with the relevant knowledge and skills.

4. Our polytechnics have shown themselves to be highly responsive and innovative, constantly reviewing their course offerings and introducing courses in new areas. This is to equip our students with the necessary skills and to inculcate in them the right work attitude for the new economy. Mathematics and science however remain the fundamental disciplines on which a new repertoire of skills is built.

5. Mathematics is fundamental to all polytechnic courses. It is a key to both understanding and innovation for our engineering course and some areas of studies in Information Technology. Hence the absence of a sound foundation in Mathematics will be the Achilles heel. You have a large intake of students with a wide spectrum of abilities and inclinations. The challenge before you is daunting. You are constantly challenged to make your teaching both relevant and interesting to your students. The very fact that you have this conference today tells me that you have risen to this challenge.

6. What you face is not an easy task. To teach, for example, an Engineering class of bright and eager students who had opted Engineering as their first choice, is not as much a challenge as what most of you face. What many of you face is the task of motivating students who may not have been sufficiently prepared for an engineering course where the demand on Mathematics is high. I understand what a challenge this poses. But I can only tell you that this is not a problem unique to Singapore.

7. In my recent trip overseas, I visited several universities that teach Engineering. They all face this problem of Engineering students who are inadequately prepared with a good Maths foundation. I asked almost every institution how they cope with this. Nothing I have heard tells me that a magic solution has been found. I think that our polytechnics have an even greater challenge than any of those universities I visited. Therein lies my hope. It is a phenomenon that the greater the problem, the better the solution. I hope to see our polytechnics come up with solutions that could even be a model to others.

8. There may be moments when you as a teacher despair at the impossible task ahead of you. What makes a good teacher is the unshakeable faith that everyone of the students has the potential to succeed. It is up to us to bring that potential to the surface and transform it into practical reality. The greatest reward any teacher can have is to see understanding written on the face of his student.

9. Over and above addressing specific student profiles, teachers need to keep abreast of developments in information and other technologies and exploit them optimally for teaching. I am proud to say that our polytechnics are among the pioneers in the infusion of IT into mathematics education. We are fortunate in Singapore to be equipped with the necessary infrastructure, backed by a progressive national policy and strategy for education.

10. The promotion of thinking skills is a major education strategy initiated 4 years ago. The teaching of Mathematics gives us an important and natural opportunity to develop the various thinking skills of the students. Thinking skills cannot be taught or nurtured in a vacuum. You use your area of specialisation as the environment to encourage thinking skills, but the dynamics and synergies that can be derived must come from experiences that require collaboration with your colleagues in other disciplines. Innovation and the best ideas come invariably from such cross fertilisation.

11. As educators, you are only too well aware of the importance of sharing your knowledge, innovations and good practices. Professional sharing and reflection will generate more creative ideas and new knowledge. It is in this spirit of sharing and learning that this event is held.

12. In today's conference, we will have valuable inputs from two distinguished speakers from NUS. You will also hear about the teaching practices of your colleagues in the other polytechnics, and it is for you to choose or adapt some of these for yourselves. Everyone of you here today is both a teacher and a student.