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SPEECH BY RADM TEO CHEE HEAN, MINISTER FOR EDUCATION AND SECOND MINISTER FOR DEFENCE, AT RAFFLES INSTITUTION'S 180TH FOUNDER'S DAY ON TUESDAY 3 JUN 2003 AT 1600 HOURS AT SUNTEC CITY CONVENTION CENTRE

 

Professor Tan Ser Kiat, Chairman, Board of Governors

Mr Wong Siew Hoong, Headmaster

Distinguished guests,

Parents, teachers and students

Ladies and gentlemen

 

INTRODUCTION

1           It gives me great pleasure to join you this evening to celebrate Raffles Institution's 180th Founder's Day and to officiate at your school's award presentation ceremony.

2           Raffles Institution (RI) has a rich history and tradition spanning close to two centuries. It gives you a strong foundation and ethos. Your founder, Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles, was deeply committed to the cause of education. His bold vision and pioneering spirit when faced with opportunity and his determination to succeed laid the foundations not only for the school but for many facets of the Singapore we know today. To this day, Raffles Institution continues to inculcate in its students the same attributes its founder possessed. This philosophy of striving for greater heights has enriched RI's contributions to education in Singapore through the years.

EDUCATIONAL INNOVATION 

3           Raffles Institution has demonstrated this spirit of innovation in a number of ways. On the academic front, it played a part in the beginnings of post-secondary education in Singapore by contributing to the development of the Cambridge Examinations and the Queen's Scholarship. On the co-curricular front, the first-ever army cadet corps started in RI in 1901, thereby laying the foundations for the National Cadet Corps movement in Singapore.

4           RI has continued with this tradition of pioneering educational innovation in recent times. It was one of two secondary schools that offered gifted education in 1984. The school also set up boarding facilities in 1995 to support parents responding to the government's call to go global.

5           In the field of Information Technology, I note that RI has put in place a robust IT infrastructure, including wireless IT technology, to transform the school campus into a big computer laboratory to facilitate teaching and learning. This IT infrastructure enables you to experiment with a virtual school programme every year.

FUTURE CHALLENGES 

6           Let us encourage and harness this spirit of educational innovation as we take on the exciting new world of the 21st century. The immense challenges we face call for every nation to be creative, innovative, flexible and nimble in responding to a world where interactions and transactions transcend physical boundaries. In such a world, Singapore, as an open society, is vulnerable to change and the unexpected. We cannot always predict what lies ahead and the unexpected will test our resolve as a nation.

7           As the remaking of Singapore continues, we need a greater innovative spirit to face an unpredictable future. The effort to nurture this spirit of creativity and innovation must start with our education system, our schools and our students. We must build within our system a predilection for new and inspiring approaches to education. Our schools must be prepared to look at best and alternative practices and to change to improve. We have to model to our young and help them to understand what it means to be creative and innovative and what it takes to prepare for the future.

8           I am pleased that RI has continued to adapt to changing circumstances in an innovative way. Your move to introduce the Raffles Programme as an Integrated Programme in 2004, jointly with Raffles Girls' School and Raffles Junior College, is a positive step towards embracing innovation and holistic education. I have no doubt that the Raffles Programme will have a profound effect on subsequent generations of Rafflesians and nurture more diverse Singapore talents.

CORE VALUES 

9           While espousing innovation, we must also cherish time-honoured values that are integral to our society and which have taken us to where we are. When change is balanced with rootedness, innovation can co-exist with tradition. RI embodies this balance well, with its strong attachment to history and tradition and its commitment to innovation.

10         I am pleased that the school continues to uphold its core value of meritocracy and that no student will be deprived of a place as long as he meets RI's criteria for entry. It is important that students from all walks of life studying in our schools not only compete on an equal footing in seeking educational opportunities but also learn to live with and respect each other's race, religion and socio-economic background. Our schools nurture this bond carefully and sensitively for our continued survival as a nation and I am pleased that RI has this as a core tenet. The fabric of our nation as a multi-cultural and multi-racial society must be zealously guarded and preserved even as we innovate and adjust to the challenges of a fast-changing world.

11         Singapore's success will also depend on the sense of belonging and rootedness of our talents as they take up the opportunities that abound in a more globalised world. As the future generation that will drive Singapore, your commitment to the success of our island-state will be critical in shaping the destiny of our country. It is only when Singaporeans are committed to Singapore, in deed as well as in word, with the most able showing the way by example, that we will continue to survive, and succeed. Past generations of Rafflesians have shown the way. Future generations must do so too.

CONCLUSION 

12         I am confident that Raffles Institution will continue to innovate and be among leaders as you meet the challenges ahead in the tradition and spirit of your founder.

13         I would like to extend my heartiest congratulations to all prize recipients today and to the staff members who will be awarded their respective service awards. My compliments to the teachers also, whose tireless nurturing and guidance would have played a significant part in realising the achievements that we are celebrating today. I am also pleased that special recognition is accorded your partners for their contributions to the school's educational programme.

14         I congratulate Raffles' Institution on your 180th Founder's Day and wish the school every success in the years ahead. That success will be measured by the seeds you sow for the success of our nation - the way your founder intended it to be.

15         Thank you.