SPEECH BY MR THARMAN SHANMUGARATNAM, MINISTER FOR EDUCATION AT MOE EXCEL DAY 2004 AT PIONEER JUNIOR COLLEGE ON SATURDAY, 11 SEPTEMBER 2004, 9 AM

Good morning colleagues,

INTRODUCTION
        It’s a real pleasure to be with all of you once again to celebrate MOE’s ExCEL Day 2004.  I would first like to extend my warmest congratulations to the officers who will be receiving the 175 ExCEL-related awards today.  Their endeavours, and the spirit behind them, are an inspiration to all of us in the education service.

2      This year’s theme celebrates this spirit of innovation and enterprise (I&E) in our schools.  The event also saw a major change in format.  The role of the panel of experts was not to select winners.  They focused on giving the teams qualitative feedback both on their application of WITs and innovation tools, and the results of their projects.  The Zonal WITs events featured concurrent sessions, so that more teams could participate.

3      It also allowed for the teams to receive feedback from the audience.  As a result of this change in approach, the presenting teams found creative ways to share their learnings, such as through skits, instead of the typical WITs format.  This focus on sharing instead of competition in WITS supports our growing and learning together.

OUR I&E JOURNEY
4      MOE’s thrust over the past year has been to foster innovation and enterprise across the education system.  A key objective today is to share with each other our own journeys in I&E, and to celebrate the successes and lessons from our efforts so far.

5      At the broadest level, I&E is about promoting a new culture of teaching and learning into schools.  We want to nurture the spirit of inquiry, and open minds – young Singaporeans who are willing to throw up new ideas, to take untried paths and to make mistakes along the journey.  We also want to nurture a strong sense of team spirit, a respect for every talent, and toughness of character amongst our students.

6      Teachers are key agents in bringing about these changes in the culture of our schools.  The point is simple.  As one teacher, Ms Kezia Ler of Tampines North Primary put it, “I&E starts from me.  I have to inculcate this culture to my pupils.”  Through our teachers’ own professional learning, their willingness to experiment and try out new ways of motivating and inspiring their students, they model and quietly impart a culture of innovation to our students.

7       That’s why we have been putting in place various programmes to help our teachers broaden their expertise and experience.  Some of these programmes will be featured in today’s event.  Our Teacher Work Attachment scheme expands teachers’ experiences beyond the school environment.  Some of the teachers who have gone on the scheme will be sharing their experiences with you at the I&E Service Station.  Ms Grace Tan from Bendemeer Secondary who was attached to the Defence Science Technology Agency in December last year shared that she found the exposure an eye-opener after 10 years in service.  It gave her a chance to reflect on the qualities her students need to contribute to a dynamic and forward-looking organisation – self-confidence, resilience, flexibility and a continuous desire to learn.

8      The InnoWITs Programme which was launched at last year’s ExCEL Day offers a process methodology for solving problems and for building up our capacity for innovation.  I’m glad that more schools are participating in the InnoWITs Programme this year, and that some of their projects will be showcased this morning.

9      Another scheme featured today allows our teachers to go beyond the prototyping and testing of ideas.  It allows them to put their inventions to the test of the market.  This scheme allows the teachers involved to work with a vendor to market their inventions and incidentally, receive a share of the royalties generated as encouragement for their effort.  The objective of the scheme is not of course the commercialisation of teachers’ ideas as such.  It is about encouraging teachers to think actively about the relevance that their ideas have outside their own schools - amongst other schools or even in the world outside our schools.  It also focuses them on problems outside the school that demand solutions.  The process they go through, from generating ideas and solutions to testing them out on the market, is a valuable learning experience for our teachers.  It is one of the ways that teachers can model a spirit of innovation to their students.

10     One example showcased today is the Creative Tile Genie.  Mrs Lim Shiow Huey from Anderson Secondary took advantage of students’ interest in games to increase word recognition and their interest in the language.  Mrs Lim applied for the MOE Innovation Fund (MIF) to create a prototype of the game.  Once she had tested it and found it to be an effective teaching tool, she submitted it for Innergy 2004 and won the Innopreneur Award.  When she shared Creative Tile Genie with other schools, they wanted to know how they could also acquire the game sets.  This year, through a vendor, she went on to refine and produce the game commercially so that more students can benefit from playing the game.  According to Mrs Lim, the experience of testing and refining her prototype was the most impactful stage of the process.  It required her to persevere in her experimentation to arrive at a final, market-worthy product that schools at large might find relevant.

11     As part of today’s ExCEL event, we will also see some of the best practices and efforts in schools’ instructional and co-curricular programmes aimed at nurturing the core attributes of I&E.  Temasek Primary will showcase their prototype of the C-Idioms Game which makes the learning of Chinese stimulating and enjoyable.

12     Canberra Primary’s SEED programme shows how an interactive learning approach using songs, poems and drama motivates young learners and enhances their self-esteem.  We will also see how Bendeemer Secondary’s ClassRUG (Class Racial Unity Group) committee led by students brings National Education discussions alive.

13     A new feature of this year’s Excel Day is the I&E Forum.  This is a platform created to feature invited local personalities, so that they can share their experiences and reflect on the events or motivations that took them down the roads they have gone in life.  Dr Wong Ting Hway, the 2003 Young Woman Achiever, has worked with various non-governmental organizations in areas of conflict, including the West Bank, Angola, Brazil and Nepal.  Her passion for her craft and her desire to reach those who have little access to doctors has taken her down paths that few would tread.

14     Many of us may know Ms Melanie Martens as the VP of CHIJ St Theresa’s Convent.  Melanie has more than 150 international caps to her credit in hockey.  (As a striker, Melanie scored the winning goal against the Malaysians in the 1993 SEA Games and brought home a Gold for Singapore.)  She is a dedicated educator, who still puts in 3-hour training sessions on top of her teaching commitments, goes the extra mile for her students.

15     Besides Ting Hway and Melanie, we are also very pleased to have with us other interesting individuals to share their experiences at the I&E forum.  They come from a diversity of backgrounds but all carry with them a sense of purpose and a habit of being undaunted by setbacks: Douglas Foo (Singapore Youth Award winner 2003 and owner of the patented portable sushi conveyor belt system), Mohamed Ismail (CEO of Singapore’s largest real estate company, PropNex Pte Ltd), Nanz Chong (who created the ONE.99shop & who continues to help aspiring entrepreneurs today) and Christine Laimer (who with her husband Henry, founded Food from the Heart1).  These individuals in various ways express the courage and passion that we want to uphold in our young.