19 July 2002

SPEECH BY RADM (NS) TEO CHEE HEAN, MINISTER FOR EDUCATION AND SECOND MINISTER FOR DEFENCE AT THE OFFICIAL OPENING OF HOUGANG PRIMARY SCHOOL, 1 HOUGANG ST 93 ON FRIDAY 19 JUL 2002 @ 6.40 PM

1. I am delighted to be here this evening to celebrate with you the official opening of Hougang Primary School.

2. Hougang Primary School is a school with less than three years of history in the neighbourhood of Hougang New Town. Nevertheless, the school has identified herself very quickly with the community and has played host to a number of community events. These include the Lantern Festival as well as the graduation ceremony of the pupils from the Community Foundation Kindergartens. In addition, the school's CCA groups like the Chinese and Malay Dance have been performing regularly at community events. More recently, the school has also participated in the fund-raising-cum-record-breaking effort for the Guinness Book of Records for Line Dancing organized by the NTUC at the Singapore Expo.

3. Through the involvement in community events, Hougang Primary has demonstrated the essence of active citizenship - one of the five pillars of the Singapore 21 Vision.

4. The 21st Century marks the era of rapid changes. Singaporeans must be strong to withstand these changes and to thrive on them. More importantly, we must be caring and cohesive to grow as one united people. Active Citizenship means taking an active part, as a citizen, in making Singapore a better place to live in because every one of us has a stake in our nation.

5. I believe the pupils who are actively involved in the community activities will have a greater appreciation for Singapore's multi-racial and multi-religious society. They will learn to respect others, grow to identify with the interest of Singapore and be inspired to do more for the country. This ability to work harmoniously and effectively with people of different races and culture would position them better to function as adults in the working world.

6. Our pupils need to learn that Singapore's only resource is her people. This is why every Singaporean matters and is valued. Each of us can contribute to make Singapore a successful country. We should therefore be the best that we can be in our areas of responsibility.

7. Our schools can provide the necessary environment to ensure that every pupil has the opportunity to develop his potential to the fullest. The environment provided by the schools should stimulate the creativity and innovative spirit in pupils. It should also encourage the pupils to explore, experience and experiment.

8. Hougang Primary provides such opportunities for her pupils. The school has developed Life Sciences as one of its niches. For this, the school has set up a Centre for Life Sciences, aptly known as the X-Cell Zone. I understand that at the X-Cell Zone, pupils are fascinated by the great variety of eco-systems such as a fernery, an eco-garden, marine aquarium and an amphibian habitat. They have the opportunity to observe the animal and plant life in the eco-systems as well as study their interdependence. Pupils can also conduct experiments at the Discovery Corner and the hydroponics corner. These facilities have allowed the school to incorporate the teaching and learning of Science in the Primary One and Two curriculum.

9. We have been providing better physical resources for learning the life sciences. Primary schools now have two science rooms to carry out activity-based lessons. Some schools have also set up discovery learning centres and specialised laboratories like Hougang Primary's X-Cell Zone. At the cluster level, schools within a cluster have worked together to set up Centres for Science and Technology - which serve as training and development centres for science teachers in the cluster, as well as science hubs for students in the cluster to carry out more sophisticated science research.

10. While we are aligning our local resources to provide more exposure in the life sciences to our teachers and students, we will continually explore what more can be done, and learn from what others have done. The US is a hotbed of learning opportunities in this area.

11. I visited the Dolan DNA Learning Center at the Cold Spring Harbour Laboratory in 2000. I was fascinated by the kinds of programmes run by DNALC. DNALC is a leader in public genetics education. It is also the world's first science museum and educational facility promoting DNA literacy. The Centre has the ability to distil the latest developments in Life Sciences into simple concepts that school teachers and students can understand. The staff design teaching packages and experiments and train teachers to use them. Last year alone, 21,000 students took part in DNALC laboratory activities, conducting experiments such as DNA extraction, bacterial transformation and human polymorphisms. The Centre has been very successful in enthusing both teachers and students in the life sciences. We can embed the knowledge and expertise of DNALC into our system to inform how we deliver our mainstream curriculum and enthuse our students in the life sciences.

12. DNALC has been conducting training for our teachers since 2001, both in Singapore as well as in USA. To date, about 130 teachers have taken part in the programme. Our teachers have found the training to be useful - it has helped them innovate and keep up to date with developments in scientific knowledge. They have been using their newly acquired teaching skills to enthuse their students.

13. The Ministry of Education has decided to enter into an agreement to develop a long-term collaborative relationship with the DNA Learning Centre. This long term relationship will also allow us to benefit from DNALC's link with Cold Spring Harbour Laboratory, its parent organisation. The Cold Spring Harbour Laboratory is a world-renowned research and educational institution. James Watson who shared the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1962 for the co-discovery of the DNA structure was the Director of CSHL for 25 years and continues as its president.

14. With such credentials, the CSHL and, by extension, the DNALC is a research gem. MOE has therefore decided to formalise the collaboration with DNALC through the signing of an Agreement. The Agreement will see collaboration in the areas of curriculum, resources, infrastructure, teaching approaches and activities needed to enthuse our students in the life sciences.

15. Under the agreement, 80 teachers per year will be trained in Singapore and another 12 teachers per year will undergo attachment/training at DNALC. We will also collaborate with DNALC to design a rich repository of Internet and other learning resources. Above all, we are going to set up 2 life science education centres, based on the DNALC concept, at the national level - one at Science Centre to serve students, and another at NIE to support teachers. Like DNALC, these centers will be experiential laboratories rather than museums displaying phenomena. The centres are targeted to commence operations in January 2003.

16. MOE will also be able to leverage on CSHL to facilitate up to 2 visits per year to Singapore by eminent scientists from the USA. We can involve these scientists in sharing sessions with teachers and students to stimulate their interest.

17. There is clear value-add in the collaboration for both our teachers and students. The combination of our strengths in the physical sciences with our emphasis on the life sciences will create more new opportunities in education, research, and industry.

18. Our education system aims to give our pupils the best we can give. It encourages our students to be inquiring and to want to learn. And this goes beyond the academic. We believe in giving students a holistic education that balances the academic with non-academic pursuits.

19. The various initiatives by the school underscore the school's strong desire and aspiration for her pupils to excel and to do so with character. The pupils have been guided by and are expected to commit to the school's 7 core values, namely, 'Compassion', 'Courage', 'Integrity', 'Loyalty', 'Perseverance', 'Responsibilities' and 'Wisdom'. These sound values and good programmes mean that the pupils of Hougang Primary School will have a firm foundation for future success as good citizens of Singapore.

20. I would like to wish Hougang Primary School every success in the coming years. It now gives me great pleasure to declare Hougang Primary School open.