SPEECH BY MR THARMAN SHANMUGARATNAM, ACTING MINISTER FOR EDUCATION, AT THE NATIONAL DAY OBSERVANCE CEREMONY OF THE MINISTRY OF EDUCATION, ON FRIDAY, 6TH AUGUST 2004 AT 9.30 AM

Dr Ng Eng Hen
Acting Minister for Manpower and Minister of State for Education

Mr Hawazi Daipi, Parliamentary Secretary

General Lim Chuan Poh, Permanent Secretary

Miss Seah Jiak Choo, Director-General of Education

Deputy Secretaries, Directors and Colleagues

Good morning.

                                            DARE TO SUCCEED

1      On Monday we celebrate 39 years of independence.  When nationhood was thrust upon us, we had to fight for survival.  Few expected us to succeed, or even survive.

2      In less than 40 years, Singapore has built a vibrant economy and a strong, united people.  We have a skilled workforce and a world-class infrastructure.  We have safe streets, well-designed schools for every child, homes for every family and a sophisticated and respected defence capability.  Most of all, we have a people who call themselves Singaporeans, and do so with great pride.

3      We have come this far not by stroke of luck or fortune, but because we willed ourselves to succeed.  No one handed us success.  Everything we have, we have created through our own efforts as citizens.

4      We defied expectations, and transformed Singapore.  The generation that led and took Singapore through the 60s and 70s faced much greater difficulties compared to the challenges we face today.  But they were determined to work hard, to take untried paths, and to tie their futures together as Singaporeans.

5      They dared to do, and dared to succeed.  This is the spirit that we must carry with us into the future.  It is the Singaporean DNA that we must pass from one generation to the next.

6      The future we face is a challenging and exciting one.  A new Asia is in the making.  Young people all over China, India and Southeast Asia are defining new aspirations for themselves, and working hard to achieve their dreams.  And across Asia, new opportunities are opening up, with great rewards for those who are willing to venture and to seize them.

7      We are much better prepared for the challenges and opportunities we face today than we were in 1965.  Today, we are a centre for high value manufacturing and research.  We are a leading transport and IT hub in Asia, and have a sophisticated financial centre.  We have the confidence of international investors, unlike in 1965 when few would take the risk of investing in Singapore.  And our students have high standards of scholastic achievement - by many international assessments, among the highest in the world.  Even our school choirs excel and bring pride to Singapore in the international stage.

8      But our real strength, the strength behind all our achievements, will always lie in our attitudes, as individuals and as a people.  We have to think new ideas, and dare to do, like we did in the 60s.  We have to take changes in our stride  -  as the song says, weather the sunshine and storms at our heart.  We have to look for opportunities in every valley, and look for new mountains when we have scaled old ones.  And we must extend a hand to each other as fellow citizens, through thick and thin.

EVERY STUDENT A TALENT
9      We have to nurture these attitudes in our schools, from young.  We must help every student scale his own peak.  Every student has a talent and an ability to contribute to others, regardless of which stream or school he is in.  We have to help every student find his strengths, not focus on his deficits, and bring out the best in him.  That’s our mission.

10     We must encourage our students to question as they learn, and to speak their minds.  New ideas come from asking questions, and venturing an alternative answer, not just mastering what is already known.  We must also encourage young Singaporeans to do something different.  The most worthwhile rewards in life, and the most fulfilling, have always come from doing something quite differently from the way it has been done before.  And in trying something new or different, we must be unafraid of making mistakes.  If we want to achieve something, we have to be prepared to take knocks and to experience failure - in competition, on the performing stage or playing field, and in all our future endeavours.

A QUALITY EDUCATION
11      A quality education is about all the experiences our students go through, not just what they learn for their examinations.  It is about how our students work and play with each other, and engage with the community around them.  Our schools will help our young make the most of the years they have together, interacting, roughing it out together, and making friendships.  The challenges they overcome together, the long hours they spend training together, and the fun times and anxieties they share as they grow up together, will be the experiences that they cherish for life.  They are also the experiences of youth that quietly bind us together as Singaporeans.  They are the experiences that tie us together as a people, regardless of race, religion and social background.

12     These experiences are not incidental to education.  They are at the core of the total education that our schools want to provide.  I urge parents to support schools in their efforts to provide this total education, to join in and cheer on these efforts as volunteers or coaches, and to encourage our children to make the most of the opportunities they get in school.  We should all accept the knocks and scrapes that our children take as they grow and learn.  And we should let our children do what they enjoy, and to savour their adventure together.

13     The next generation will make its own future, and Singapore’s future.  It is their sense of conviction, and their daring to do, that will keep Singapore going.  I encourage our students to think about their own role in Singapore’s future.  What kind of Singapore do you want to live in?  What can you do, through your own initiative and actions and with your friends, to make that Singapore?  What must you do to make the future you wish for yourself, your family and for Singapore, a reality?

STAYING CLOSE TO THE GROUND
14     As educationists and planners in MOE, anything that we do – or don’t do – has tremendous impact on our schools.  We must work together as one.  A quality education means quality delivered and experienced on the ground - in each classroom and school.

15     We will therefore keep pushing authority to the ground.  We will let schools make the decisions that shape quality.  We will give teachers more space to innovate, to interact with their students, and to develop themselves.  t is the energy and imagination of our teachers, and their ability to touch the hearts of their students, that determines the quality of education.  We have to let them take charge of their teaching.

16     And just as we expect our students to be innovative, we have to listen to students themselves and take their ideas seriously.  Including their ideas on how to run the school, and what they wish for in education.

17     We have to be constantly open to suggestions, look for new ways of doing things, and be willing to occasionally make a break with the past.  That is how we will stay ahead in education.

CONCLUSION
18     National Day is a time to celebrate who we are and how far we have come.  It is a day to express our hopes and aspirations for our future as individuals, as schools, and as a nation.  It is when we look forward to the bright future that we will make together.

19     I wish you all a happy and meaningful National Day.