SPEECH BY MR. THARMAN SHANMUGARATNAM, MINISTER FOR EDUCATION, AT THE MOTHER TONGUE NEWS WRITING COMPETITION ON SATURDAY, 27 AUGUST 2005, AT 2.30PM AT SPH NEWS CENTRE

SPEECH BY MR. THARMAN SHANMUGARATNAM, MINISTER FOR EDUCATION, AT THE MOTHER TONGUE NEWS WRITING COMPETITION ON SATURDAY, 27 AUGUST 2005, AT 2.30PM AT SPH NEWS CENTRE

Mr Guntor Sadali,

Editor, Berita Harian

Mr Noor Mohamad

Deputy Editor, Tamil Murasu

Principals, Teachers, Budding Journalists and Students

1. I am pleased to join all of you today at the inaugural Mother Tongue News Writing Competition jointly organised by Innova Junior College and Berita Harian and supported by Singapore Press Holdings.

2. This is most worthwhile and interesting event. In getting students to play the role of journalists, in their mother tongue language, it aims to promote bilingualism and deepen students’ interest in current affairs.

Importance of Mother Tongue Languages

3. The event focuses on a central piece of Singapore’s education system - bilingualism. Bilingualism confers on us a special advantage, both as an economy and as a people. The economic advantages are well known. But it is not just functional competency in a language that we aim to achieve. Bilingualism allows us to retain our distinctiveness as a people - our sense of identity and pride in who we are. Bilingualism will help us keep our competitive edge, as well as help us remain cohesive and confident as a society.

4. Yet we will lose our proficiency in the mother tongue languages if we do not excite and motivate each new generation of Singaporeans to learn the languages. To interest them in the language, it is not sufficient that the mother tongue languages are a requirement in our school curriculum and examinations system, or that we have incentives in our school system for students to do well in their mother tongue. We have to help students develop a love for the language.

5. Our approach therefore is to encourage students to learn the mother tongue so as to use the language, not just learn it for the purpose of their examinations. We have to enthuse all students in the mother tongues language, and develop among them the skills that will help them use the language often and spontaneously. It also means providing maximum opportunity, for students with the ability and interest, to go further - to master the language and develop a deeper feel and association with both the culture that underpins the language.

6. We completed the major review of the Chinese language curriculum last year, and are busy implementing its recommendations, in phases. The Malay Language and Tamil Language Curriculum and Pedagogy Review Committees are finalising details of their recommendations. The recommendations will broadly cover the areas of syllabus and instructional materials, pedagogy and teacher training as well as assessment and exams. The recommendations will also emphasise the need for the whole community to get involved in encouraging the use of mother tongue languages.

Conversational Languages

7. Next, let me talk briefly about students learning a local language other than their mother tongue. The ability to speak a third language is useful, and will help young Singaporeans of all races operate effectively in the region and beyond. Proficiency in non-native MTLs would also help nurture increased interaction among the ethnic communities, friendships between students and ties between neighbours, across race and religion. We have to find every way to interest our children in our various races and cultures, give them as many opportunities as possible to interact in school, and give them confidence to talk to people of other races outside the school.

8. Several schools are already providing lessons in Conversational Mandarin and Conversational Malay to their students. More than 40 schools, both primary and secondary schools and junior colleges, have started to conduct Conversational Malay as enrichment classes. The number of schools offering Conversational Malay will increase, as more than 200 other schools have expressed interest in starting such programmes.

9. The Ministry recently distributed a ‘Guide to Conversational Malay’ to all our schools to help them as they introduce such programmes. MOE is currently developing a resource booklet for Conversational Mandarin to help schools implement the enrichment programme for non-Chinese students. The guide will be made available later this year. Through the Conversational Mandarin programme, students will be engaged in interactive activities to learn useful communication skills.

10. Recently I met Miss Siti Maslinda, a Level Head and English and Literature teacher during my visit to Jurongville Secondary School. She felt it would be useful for teachers themselves to have opportunity to learning other mother-tongue languages for simple, conversational purposes. In her case, she was interested in learning conversational Mandarin. It was a most useful suggestion, and I encourage schools to provide this enrichment to their teachers if they have an interest in it. Learning another language can be part of a teacher’s personal development. It also sends a signal to students about the benefits of learning another language.

Third Languages

11. Apart from learning languages at the conversational level, the Ministry also encourages students with the interest and passion to study a third language. Last year the Ministry of Education lifted eligibility criteria for learning a non-native mother tongue language as a third language. From 2006, Sec One students will be able to offer another mother tongue language in addition to their native mother tongue, as long as they have the interest and inclination. Students can do this through the Malay (Special Programme) and Chinese (Special Programme).

12. In addition to classes at the MOE Language Centre, there are 11 secondary schools offering the Chinese (Special Programme). From 2006, an additional 10 schools will offer Malay (Special Programme).

Strengthening Multiracialism

13. We must do more to strengthen our multiracial bonds, through our schools and through the community. Our schools will have to maximize the opportunities that our students have, from the day they enter school, to interact with others from different backgrounds, in class and through their CCAs and adventure camps.

14. We have to do more to encourage such interactions, especially through our CCAs. We have to create more opportunities for our students to develop the sense of comfort with each other and close friendships that come from regular interaction, from going through the trials and joys of training together, and from winning and losing together.

15. Our racial, cultural and religious diversity will be a source of strength or weakness, depending on how we respond to it. If we groom young Singaporeans who can understand and connect with each other, not just tolerate each other, and who have the flexibility to connect with cultures abroad, our diversity will be a source of advantage. It will be a source of social strength, as well as economic competitiveness in a diverse world.

16. We have to work hard and work every day to strengthen the threads of friendship and daily interactions that keep our social fabric woven tightly, so that our multiracialism remains one of our key strengths, and so we continue to prosper as a country.

Role of Media and Community

17. The challenge of increasing enthusiasm for language education, and for multiracialism, should not be confined to teachers and students. It will require the active participation of parents, the media and community organisations. We have to work together to make Singapore even more vibrant, as a multiracial society at the crossroads of Asia and the world.

18. I am heartened to see that the media fraternity is actively involved in organising activities that complement teaching and learning in school. I commend Berita Harian and Singapore Press Holdings for their continued support and commitment to education. We look forward to a continuing partnership that will enhance language learning and contribute to Singapore’s multicultural vibrancy.