29 June 2002

SPEECH BY MR HAWAZI DAIPI, PARLIAMENTARY SECRETARY (EDUCATION), AT CHUNG CHENG HIGH SCHOOL'S 63RD ANNIVERSARY AND PRIZE-GIVING CEREMONY ON SATURDAY,
29 JUNE 2002 AT 4:15 PM AT CHUNG CHENG HIGH SCHOOL (MAIN)

I am pleased to be here this afternoon to celebrate with you on your school's sixty-third anniversary. Chung Cheng High School has been not just a school, but an institution in the eastern part of Singapore for the better part of a century. It has had a long and rich history, nurturing its own traditions and chalking up many achievements in both academic and non-academic fields. No less prominent a figure than our World War Two hero Lim Bo Seng was Chung Cheng's first Supervisor, and your alumni have gone on to hold high office in government and become successful in the business world. As students, teachers, parents and friends of the school, you have much to be proud of today.

2. I am heartened to note that plans are underway to relocate the branch school to larger premises in Yishun by 2004. I am confident that the branch school with its state-of-the-art facilities and resources will be able to provide quality education in line with the school's mission to develop the potential of the students in all personal and academic aspects.

3. As we cherish the past and celebrate the achievements of the present, I want to turn your eyes to the future and exhort you to rise to the challenges of the brave new world that lies before us. I would like to present to you two key challenges - two areas of opportunity and development that, if understood and harnessed, can dramatically transform the face and character of the Singapore that our students will grow up to inherit.

4. The first challenge is an economic one. For our nation to move forward in today's knowledge-based economy, it has become all the more important for us to develop the quality of our people and especially our capacity for innovation. Now many of us have misconceptions about innovation. Innovation is seldom the result of a moment of inspiration or a divine spark which suddenly hits a genius. Neither is innovation achieved by highly intelligent people working alone in some dark rooms in an HDB estate. In fact, innovation requires systematic, rigorous effort, a spirit of dogged endeavour in trial and error, and a social and organisational infrastructure which supports risk-taking.

5. Schools can lead the way in developing this infrastructure and opening the minds of our young people to a spirit of experimentation and the courage to do things differently. The 1937 Nobel Laureate in Medicine said, "Discovery consists of seeing what everybody has seen, and thinking what nobody has thought."¹ To facilitate this process of discovery and development, schools will have to give students more latitude to expand their imagination and horizons. There must be more room for them to question, explore and experiment on their own initiative, to fail and try, and fail and try again.

6. While we continue to place a high premium on success, we also recognise that there are many different paths to success and that Singapore's future economic well-being does not lie only in the tried and tested routes. That is why the Ministry of Education has opened up different sectors of the education system, to create space for students and teachers to innovate together. Beyond textbooks and tests, we want to tap our young people's potential and nurture in them qualities that will help them to find their niche in the knowledge-based economy. Then they will be equipped, when they leave school, to be active and innovative catalysts for Singapore's economic development.

7. Creating the right environment for innovation will require new mindsets and perhaps a transformation of our society as well. We will need to accustom ourselves to constant change and constant variety. Yet the reorientation of the education system towards creativity and innovation will come to naught if we neglect the basic foundation of our society: our pledge to be "one united people, regardless of race, language or religion." This is the second key challenge that I would like to highlight today. As the world is a-whirl with change, how do we draw together Singaporeans from all walks of life to build a community, a consensus - a home?

8. Becoming a cohesive society does not happen overnight. Other multiracial countries with longer histories than ours still grapple daily with the difficulties and frictions that arise when people of different ethnicities, religions or beliefs live and work together. It is no mean feat for us in Singapore, living closely together on a small island, to cultivate a high degree of awareness, appreciation and tolerance for other races. We must therefore consciously and concertedly reach out to other races to build meaningful relationships that run deeper than skin colour, to develop an understanding of other cultures that is not limited to what they speak, eat or wear.

9. Social cohesion and racial harmony must continue to be the cornerstones of our society in these turbulent times. The terrorist attacks in the US last year stirred many people around the world into thinking seriously about geopolitical issues, and our society has been no exception to this trend, for while we are Singapore citizens first, we are also members of the global community. The particular challenges of the post-September 11 world extend to us, just as we stand to benefit from the particular opportunities of the global knowledge-based economy. But we must carefully manage these challenges as citizens of a multiracial and multireligious nation. Despite the heightened racial and religious sensitivities, we must go forward to further enhance racial and religious harmony in our community, and this too can be spearheaded by our schools.

10. I am happy to note that there are creative programmes at Chung Cheng High School to promote racial harmony among students and encourage them to reflect on current affairs issues that may have a pivotal impact on their lives. I understand that the schools have used newspaper cuttings and online forums to engage students in discussions on terrorism and racial harmony. They have also involved students in the South East CDC's Racial Harmony Ambassadors Programme and Chung Cheng's own student exchange programme with Springfield Secondary School.

11. These are all excellent opportunities for young people to interact and learn about each other in a friendly and casual environment, and I hope that your students have been enriched and encouraged by these relationships. Our school years are the years when we often develop some of the strongest and longest-lasting friendships in our lives, and I hope that the bonds that have been formed through these school programmes will extend beyond their student years.

12. I have drawn attention to only these two challenges today, but they are formidable ones that leave plenty for our students to consider, as future leaders of our society. In conclusion, on this anniversary celebration, I wish Chung Cheng all the best in your endeavours to produce young adults ready to take on the world of the twenty-first century. I also congratulate all the prize-winners today on their achievements and hope that you will continue to cultivate a passion for learning, and I commend all parents for their unstinting support and encouragement.

¹ Albert von Szent-Gyorgyi(1893-1986), Nobel Laureate in Medicine in 1937. As quoted in Irving Good (ed.),
The Scientist Speculates (1962).