MOE Speech - SPEECH BY MR THARMAN SHANMUGARATNAM, SENIOR MINISTER OF STATE FOR MINISTRY OF TRADE AND INDUSTRY & EDUCATION AT TIRUKKURAL VIZHA 2003 AT THE SINGAPORE CONFERENCE HALL

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SPEECH BY MR THARMAN SHANMUGARATNAM, SENIOR MINISTER OF STATE FOR MINISTRY OF TRADE AND INDUSTRY & EDUCATION AT TIRUKKURAL VIZHA 2003 AT THE SINGAPORE CONFERENCE HALL ON SATURDAY, 12 JULY 2003, AT 6.00 PM

Mr Harikrishnan, President Tamil Language and Cultural Society

Distinguished guests,

Ladies and gentlemen

Students

1.           Good evening. I am delighted to join you for the annual Tirukkural Vizha.

2.           The Tirukkural is one of Indian civilisation's most enduring contributions to the world community. Composed more than 2000 years ago, its relevance transcends time, ethnicity, religion and geography. I would like to commend the TLCS for being in the forefront of organising this event for the past 18 years, so as to promote an appreciation of the wisdom and relevance of the Tirukkural by all, and especially the young.

3.           On the surface, it may seem that our world looks nothing like that in which the Tirukkural was written 2,000 years ago. But the fundamentals of human nature have changed little. We are still creatures of survival, adapting to changing circumstances and devising new ways of sustaining ourselves, as individuals and as groups. We are also moral creatures, aware that there is more to life than competing and edging the next man out. We want to push the boundaries of achievement, not just to enjoy life's comforts, but so that we can enhance the lives of others, and leave something behind to enrich future generations.

4.           The values and principles espoused in the Tirukkural, like the other classical codes of human conduct, therefore remain fully relevant for us today. Indeed, they have become more important in a world where little remains predictable. They provide a centre, in a world where little else is constant.

The Educational Challenge - Next Steps

5.           There are numerous lessons to be drawn from the Tirukkural as we position ourselves in the Indian community to meet the needs of the future. Our key challenge is to improve the educational performance of our young, so as to take the community to new heights and allow it to contribute fully to Singapore's next leap in development. Education is the source of lasting success, whether for nations, societies or individuals. As one of the Kurals puts it, "one's learning alone is one's indestructible and outstanding wealth. Nothing else posseses this special value." (Kural: 400)

6.           Indian students have shown good progress over the years. Last year, 68 per cent of the Indian Primary One cohort was admitted to our post-secondary institutions, an improvement from just 39 per cent in 1990. There has also been steady improvement in the performance of Indian pupils in key subjects like Mathematics. At the PSLE, the percentage of Indian pupils passing¹ Maths has increased from 54% in 1990 to 70% in 2002. This is a 16 percentage point increase, more double the 7 percentage point improvement in the national average (from 76% to 83%). Likewise the percentage of Indian 'O' level pupils who passed Maths increased from 66% in 1990 to 76% in 2002, a 10 percentage point improvement compared to a 4 percentage point gain in the national average (84% to 88%).

7.           The MT performance of Indian pupils who take Tamil continues to be good. Last year, 98% of Indian students who sat for Tamil as MT at the PSLE passed. 12% of them scored an A* in Tamil at the PSLE examinations.

8.           There remain challenges, however. While the broad picture of Indian educational performance shows improvement, there remain problems. There remains a section of the community that has seen little improvement. The children are poorly motivated, and their parents either uninterested or not knowing how to help them.

9.           We can also do better at the other end of the spectrum. We need more Indian students who achieve excellence. As a community, we must never be satisfied with producing good averages. We must keep throwing up youngsters who stand out from the rest, with outstanding abilities in the arts or sciences, in research or in other endeavours. We need individuals who can inspire, and show the way for the rest. Young men and women like Narayanan Letchumanan, who has been awarded an SAF scholarship and is now studying at Carnegie Mellon; Sentheel Kumar Pani Salvam who pursued Electrical Engineering at Stanford University on a PSC Overseas Merit Scholarship; Thevendran Senkodan who studied at MIT on a PSC Overseas Merit Scholarship; and Asha Shekaran who received an A*STAR National Science Scholarship this year.

Strengthening the Early Experiences

10.         Our efforts and interventions to uplift Indian performance will have to begin with the early years in a child's life, when learning habits and aptitudes are shaped. Every child should be given the opportunity to develop his curiosity, to question what he does not know and to find the answers to his questions. The early experiences in the home are the most critical. So it is quite unfortunate that we have some parents who pay little attention to their children's development, both intellectually and emotionally.

11.         Though not every family will have the resources to give their children a headstart, the resources are being made available in the community. SINDA for instance, has recently introduced two new programmes, Project Life and a Pre School Bursary scheme to help families to send their children to childcare. Project Life in particular has the potential to make a difference to low-income families. It matches a volunteer mentor to a low-income family from the time a child is a year old till he enters Primary One. (The mentor's role will be to help guide the parents in providing an environment at home that nurtures the child.)

Getting Indian Students to Aim Higher

12.         The second area for improvement lies in what we can do for students who are already in school. We must help every student progress to his fullest potential. We have to address not just the student's understanding of his school curriculum, but his soft skills and his tenacity. Indian students often falter not because they lack the ability, but because they lack the confidence to aspire to greater heights, and the staying power.

13.         We must encourage and counsel our students closely, and help them to recognise the benefits of working hard in school, and aiming high. Their education will impact on the jobs they will hold in time, and the opportunities that will come their way. As one of the Kurals says, "Perseverance creates prosperity, and the lack of it produces poverty"(Kural: 616). How well our young apply themselves in school and in tertiary education, and when they enter the workplace, will also determine how society looks upon them - whether they are viewed as a complacent lot, satisfied for having completed their secondary school education, or as valuable citizens, willing to put in their best for Singapore. There is a bit of a vicious cycle here. Weak aspirations amongst a section of the Indian Singaporean community will continue to feed into the general perception of them as underperforming relative to other Singaporeans, which feeds again into a loss of confidence and ambition within the community. We have to break this cycle.

Building a Strong Network of Community Organisations

14.         Our Community Organisations play a key role in mobilising Indian Singaporeans to deal with these challenges. It is one of the distinctive strengths of the Indian community that despite its relatively small size, it has had numerous organisations that have emerged spontaneously over the years to deal with areas of concern like education, language, social services, culture and the arts. To make the most of this strength, we must build a cohesive network, linking our various organisations together and enabling the unique value of each group to be harnessed by the others. To stay relevant and maximise their role in the community's future, the Indian Community Organisations must address the following issues:

a)           First, leadership. We must continue to attract our youth to come forward to serve in Community Organisations. I see more young people coming forward to put in their bit at Community functions and to serve as volunteers. One way to encourage this trend is to put in place a system that will allow youths to take on leadership responsibilities of their own in our Community Organisations. I am happy to note the TLCS for instance has formed a youth wing. These mechanisms will define a clear role for the youths.

b)           Second, we must constantly ensure that our organisational missions remain relevant to the community and to Singapore society at large. We should not resist re-inventing our organisations, or renewing their focus and mission to meet newn circumstances and take on new challenges. Occasionally, organisations will even need to merge with each other to consolidate resources and stay effective.

c)           Third, to optimise resources in a small community, we must work together and network together. The level of co-operation among Indian Community Organisations has certainly increased greatly over the years. This year for instance, 7 organisations came together to give away 1000 bursaries to needy Indian students. We can achieve much more by working together for the common good. We can paint our own strokes, with different brushes and colours, but we should endeavour to do so on the same canvas and within the same frame, not on different canvases.

d)           Fourth, Indian Organisations must do their part for the wider Singapore Community. While many Indian Singaporean individuals contribute generously with their time and resources, more of our organisations should consider taking part in national initiatives like the President's Charity drive and activities organised by the CDCs. Whenever possible, we must also organise activities that we can invite all Singaporeans to participate in. The TLCS, for example, could organising events that showcase the significance of the Tirukkural to the rest of the Singapore community.

Conclusion

15.         In closing, I would like to commend the Tamil Language and Cultural Society for its perseverance and good work in organising this event. I hope that you will be inspired once again by the wisdom of the Tirukkural, and its relevance to the challenges we face as a community, and as a nation. I wish you all a pleasant evening.

Thank you.

¹This refers to pupils who scored A* to C grades.