SPEECH BY MR THARMAN SHANMUGARATNAM, ACTING MINISTER FOR EDUCATION, AT THE LAUNCH OF IDEAS IN ACTION 2004 ON THURSDAY, 12 FEBRUARY 2004, AT 3 PM AT CONCOURSE HALL, SINGAPORE POLYTECHNIC

Mr Sanjiv Misra, Citigroup Country Officer, Singapore

Judges

Principals and teachers

Students

Ladies & gentlemen

Good afternoon.

                I am happy to be here today for the launch of Citigroup's Ideas in Action 2004. Although this project is barely two years old, it has rapidly gained popularity with our schools. It attracted about 140 projects from 90 schools in 2002, and last year drew about 160 projects from 110 schools. The quality of projects submitted has also increased. 50 projects were awarded grants in 2003, up from 31 projects in 2002. I'm sure that the participation rate from schools will be even higher this year.

Innovation in Schools Today 

2.           The projects that Ideas in Action attracts reflect a certain energy and buzz in our schools. More and more, students are going beyond the classroom to apply what they have learnt, and to learn in new ways. They are tuning in to the needs and challenges affecting the various sectors of the community around them. And they have shown, in the range of innovative solutions that they have proposed, a creative ferment in our schools.

3.           It is interesting that when students brainstormed and identified their own projects for last year's Ideas in Action, they frequently came up with projects of educational value. They were taking their own initiative to make learning interesting and fun for their peers.

4.           Last year, for instance, several project teams chose to reach out to fellow students or to other sectors of the community, to broaden their knowledge about a particular subject. Woodgrove Secondary developed a programme they called Vege-Cation, or Vegetable Education, courses for primary school students and senior citizens. Raffles Institution developed an online stock market game to give fellow students a taste of trading stocks and shares in the real world. And, following the SARS outbreak last year and the call for the public to exercise social responsibility, Raffles Girls' Primary came up with a colourful and entertaining card game, to teach young students the importance of being considerate and civic-minded.

5.           These were all fascinating projects, with useful outcomes. But just as important, the students learnt to grapple with the problems that inevitably crop up in the course of such projects, and found their own solutions along the way. Something more was picked up, and the process was as interesting as the product.

Readying Singapore for the Knowledge Economy 

6.           As we look towards the future, this resourcefulness and mental agility is critical. In the new economic environment that we have entered, success will be attained not through the learning that leads up to paper qualifications alone. Every individual will need the skills and attitudes to adapt well and to thrive in a constantly changing workplace. We need people who can come up with new and original ways of doing things, and who have the knack of anticipating what will come next, or responding quickly to the unanticipated. To achieve this, we have to develop amongst our young an agility of the mind - the ability to think in original ways, not just about what they have been taught, but to draw insights from seemingly different fields; and to deal with the ambiguity and fuzziness of the real world environment.

7.           That is why we are doing more to help our schools broaden the educational experiences of their students. We want to give them more opportunities to develop an aptitude for innovation. By providing time and resources for experimentation, trial and error, collaboration and learning outside the classroom, students enjoy a more holistic education. It is an education that puts them in touch with the dynamics and challenges of the real world.

Teachers' Role in Promoting the Spirit of Innovation 

8.           The success of our efforts to reorientate and refine our priorities in education rests on our teachers. We need them to model the right attitude and qualities, so that their students will be inspired to be bold, and to be unafraid of mistakes as they search for answers and solutions.

9.           One of the programmes we have introduced to spur our teachers on and give them exposure to experiences outside the school is the Teacher Work Attachment Programme. In fact, Citigroup was one of first organisations that MOE worked with, when we launched the programme last year. The response from our teachers has been encouraging. Those who participated in the first round of attachments felt they had gained useful opportunities to learn about new work environments, or new areas of specialisation. Above all, they recognised that by participating in the work attachment programme, they had to leave their "comfort zones" and plunge into new and unfamiliar environments. Some had been teachers in schools for 20 or 30 years. This was the very purpose of the programme: to give teachers first-hand experience of the flexibility and adaptability that their students will need in the changing workplace.

Ideas in Action 2004 

10.        I'm glad that Citigroup has plans this year to extend Ideas in Action to involve teachers more heavily, so that they can form their own teams or join their students in developing innovative and entrepreneurial projects. There are avenues within MOE for teachers to form these types of Innovation project teams; for example, the MOE Innovation Fund seeks to give MOE staff and teachers the funds, time, and recognition to try out new ideas to improve the schools and education service. But we welcome more of such initiatives from the private sector, so that we can give our teachers and students every opportunity to exercise their creativity and test out their ideas.

11.         I understand that for students, Citigroup will also infuse a greater element of reality into this year's Ideas in Action. They will make available a S$10,000 grant for commercial development of a project. Teams can use this funding, for example, to build an advanced prototype or to implement market research or customer trials.

12.         To apply for the grant, project teams will pitch their ideas in a presentation to a three-person panel of "venture capital angels". Students will have to develop a business plan, identify their target clients or audience, come up with marketing ideas, and implementation timelines and expenditure breakdowns. And they will have to think on their feet to impress the "venture capital angels" with their plans. All in all, Citigroup hopes to provide students the opportunity to grapple with the many real-world factors that can determine their project's success.

Conclusion 

13.         I would like to thank Citigroup for spearheading this project and the Learning Society for their support and involvement. Together, you have played an important role in advising the project teams and helping them along the way.

14.         To give young Singaporeans an edge in preparing for the future, we need more such collaborations between schools and industry and community partners. Together, we can make learning more interesting for our young people, as they test what they learn in school against real world tasks and challenges.

15.         In closing, I wish students and teachers all the best for the Ideas in Action 2004 programme. I hope that you will have a meaningful experience ahead and that it will encourage you to always look out for new and innovative ways of doing things.