3.                   Most celebrations in Singaporecome with competition, and winners.    I would like to extend my warmest congratulations to the officers who will be receiving the 72 ExCEL-related awards today.  Thank you for making a difference!

4.                   We chose the theme “Innovate Schools!” because schools are where the action begins in creating a spirit of innovation in Singapore.    Schools are where we dare our children to do things they have never done before, to expect that they will make mistakes, and to pick themselves up when they fall.   It is where we have to encourage children to do what they enjoy.   It is also where we have to encourage every child to question, and to think for themselves.

5.                   It is only when young Singaporeans live this spirit of innovation  -  a spirit of inquiry, of daring to do, and of joyfulness  -   that we can shape a future for Singapore in an innovation-driven world.   Where Singapore takes its place among the great cities of the world, pulsating to the flow of ideas and a diversity of talents.

6.                   I am really proud that our schools are embracing this spirit with great enthusiasm.   I see it in every school I visit.   I asked my colleagues to let me have a range of the ideas and experiments being put into action in schools so that I could share a few with you today.  They came back to me with a CD-ROM with 208 MB of information.   Let me highlight just three cases, a fraction of the many examples, small and big, of how teachers are helping our young develop a spirit of innovation.   And let’s not forget our school leaders, who are putting great effort into creating an environment that motivates teachers to make these leaps in every school.

7.                   For simplicity, let me call the 3 examples: weed, creed, speed.

8.                   First, the “weed” story.  The health-conscious among us would have heard of wheatgrass, widely available in the form of a green-coloured drink.  So have a group of five Pri 5 pupils from Maris Stella High.  With the support of their teachers, they embarked on a project to determine the ideal conditions for growing wheatgrass.  They experimented with different growing media   –   water, vermiculite or compost soil, and different sunlight conditions   –   direct sunlight or shade.

9.                   At the end of the project, the students created a wheatgrass growing kit that allows people to grow their own wheatgrass at home using hydroponics.  The kit can also be a teaching and learning resource to allow students to conduct further scientific enquiry on the growing of wheatgrass.   It’s not going to be in the PSLE, but the kids enjoyed what they were doing and put great effort into it.

10.               Next, the “creed” story, about how we could get every student to believe in his or her abilities, and have the confidence that they can use their abilities to make a difference to the communities.  At Shuqun Secondary School, a group of 6 teachers decided to start a programme to help their Secondary 2 students apply what they learn in schools to real life situations.  The students were assigned to groups to brainstorm and implement projects that they would like to work on.   They were from different courses in the school, mixed together in each group.   They were taken through a process that required them to explore, experiment, execute, experience and examine.

11.               The results were diverse.  And showed how a little creative effort can bring about benefits to different communities.  One group of students conducted a puppet show at 3 child care centres that brought lessons on good moral values to the young kids at the centres.  A second group organised an “Amazing Race” at Sentosa to raise funds for the school’s financial assistance programme.  A third group developed and implemented an awareness programme on environmental protection for their juniors, the Secondary 1 students.

12.               But beyond the specific projects which these Secondary 2 students came up with, there was another important outcome.   The students began to see quite clearly that they each had strengths, often different strengths, and that they could work together as a team to achieve more.  One student participant summarised things by saying, “I found that though some of my friends are better in planning, me and others are better in the making of badges.  We also needed good communication skills to get our juniors excited with the recycling project and also in the marketing of the badges.  The fund raising part showed us the importance of helping those who need help.”

13.               Third, the “speed” story.  We all know how excited young children are when given a chance to play at driving a car.  So teachers at Blangah Rise Primary School adapted a driving simulation software and packaged it with a control joystick to create a new teaching resource they called ‘Drive Around the World’.  The children could now drive from their school to a specific destination, and then work out the links between the amount of time taken and the average speed and the final distance travelled.   They were learning maths in a fun way.  Just like many other primary schools are bringing a certain joyfulness into everyday learning.

14.               I&E is a journey, not a destination.   If I had to highlight the single factor that will keep us going on this journey, it is passion.   We have to give space and time for our teachers and students to do things they are passionate about.   It’s not about doing this because it looks good in schools.   Passion is now more relevant than ever, in a world driven by innovation.   In the workplace, and especially in the whole range of high value activities that are driven by knowledge, ideas and new designs, passion is what differentiates the individual or team that breaks new ground from the average players.   It is what makes us want to search for new beginnings each time we reach dead ends.   And dead ends are common in any work at the boundaries of knowledge.