Speeches
Speech by Dr Ng Eng Hen, Minister for Education and Second Minister for Defence, at the NIE Teachers’ Investiture Ceremony at 2.30pm on 8 & 9 July 2008 and at 10.00am on 10 July 2008 at the Nanyang Auditorium, Nanyang Technological University
Colleagues,
Distinguished Guests,
Ladies and gentlemen
Good Afternoon.
It gives me much pleasure to be here today to share your joy, together with you, your parents and lecturers on your graduation day. Let me extend my heartiest congratulations to all 504 graduands of the Bachelor of Arts (Education), Bachelor of Science (Education) and Postgraduate Diploma in Education (Primary) programmes. Let me also wish all of you a very warm welcome to the MOE family, as you start your journey together with 1,670 other fellow new teachers. An exciting career awaits you, and I hope that each of you will fulfill your full potential and realize your aspirations in this honorable vocation as a teacher, educator and nurturer that you have chosen.
This ceremony is a milestone in your life. It marks a triumph after putting in the hard work to get here. Savor this well-deserved moment because you have earned it. Celebrate this achievement with your loved ones. But today also signifies a new beginning of a different journey for you. That moment will be marked by the Teacher’s Pledge, which each here will make. As you utter each word, imagine yourself being transported into a new realm.
Many of you would have watched the screen version of the Narnia Chronicles by C.S. Lewis. In both movies, there is that magical moment—whether through the back of a wardrobe or a train station—where the protagonists are transported into a different realm. Suddenly, children in one world become Kings and Queens in the next. Plucked from a humdrum, mundane existence, they battle primal forces of good and evil, where lives, and indeed fates of societies depend on their every word and deed. I have a question for you. Which is the real and imaginary World for all of us? Are we children or Kings and Queens in reality? Are we doomed to a mundane existence by our perceived realities or do we shape an exciting World around us by what we choose to perceive?
Making Teaching A Choice Career
As you begin your life as a teacher, students will be a regular part of your lives. Get used to it. They will occupy your waking moments, and I’m told by veteran teachers, will be on your minds even when you are away from the classrooms or dreaming! Does this fill you with a sense of dread or a feeling of excitement and challenge? Whichever reality you choose, these students will depend on you to guide, nurture and develop them.
You will not be alone in this quest to be an influential and effective teacher. Your pre-service training in NIE is just the first step in your journey. The family of MOE which you are now a part of, is committed to support you throughout your teaching career. We want you to be well recognized and rewarded for your hard work, given opportunities to grow professionally, and to enjoy a conducive and nurturing working environment where you can give your best to your students.
The GROW 2.0 package, launched in December last year, underscores this commitment. Under the GROW 2.0 package, we have enhanced teachers’ pay to match market benchmarks and introduced more programmes to help teachers achieve a better work-life balance. We do this because we believe a satisfied teacher is a good one.
We have also provided more opportunities for teachers to develop themselves further. This includes a new study grant scheme and increased study loan quantums to help those who want to pursue undergraduate and postgraduate studies. Teachers can also now apply for Masters and Doctoral Study Leave after their first two years of teaching.
Teachers are already making good use of these schemes in exciting and unexpected ways that have enriched their own lives as well as their students and fellow colleagues. Let me share two examples.
Mrs Irene Seah, a Home Economics teacher from Ping Yi Secondary School, took up a short stint in a small café under the professional development leave scheme. She wanted to gain experience in running a business in the food and beverage industry and practise her culinary and customer service skills. MOE agreed. Irene brought this commercial F&B experience back to school to share with her students, who now run the Palm Cove Café, a joint venture between Ping Yi Cooperative and the school’s parents support group.
Mdm Nor Aishah Binte Ariffin, a Malay Language Teacher from Fajar Secondary School took up a Teacher Work Attachment to a educational multi-media company. She wanted to upgrade her IT expertise to make the teaching of Malay Language more interesting. In that company, she worked on blogs and e-books as educational tools. On her return to her school, Nor Aishah shared what she had learnt with her fellow Malay Language teachers and went on to develop a set of IT-based lesson plans for her students.
I encourage you to make the most of these opportunities to develop yourselves.
Increasing Range of Teacher Education Programmes
We will continue to expand these avenues for professional development. NIE will be introducing new programmes over the next two years to help teachers upgrade. From this year, NIE is offering a part-time Bachelor of Education (BEd) programme that is specially customized for non-graduate primary school teachers. This programme is designed for in-service teachers who already have some classroom teaching experience. Teachers with excellent overall performance in the BEd programme will be awarded a honours degree.
There will also be more options for graduate teachers. You can also look forward to a new Masters programme, the MTeach, which is currently in development and is expected to have its first intake in 2010. The BEd and MTeach programme will develop better teachers and leaders in our schools and improve the quality of our teaching force.
Enhancing Career Management
MOE also recognizes that there are different talents, abilities and aspirations amongst you. We have developed different pathways to cater to this. MyCareerPortal explains and illustrates these pathways and has been newly launched on the MOE Intranet. We have put real-life examples of educators who have taken different pathways in that portal. I hope that the experiences of School Leaders, Senior Specialists and Master Teachers will be helpful in your decision making and choice of career paths.
Outstanding role models
Teachers bear great responsibility, but with it comes that special privilege to influence lives. Very few careers have this impact. I would like to take this occasion to commend three teachers who have made a difference in their students’ lives. They will be receiving the Outstanding Youth in Education Awards (OYEA) from the National Youth Council today.
One of the recepients, Luke Melvin Cher, from Mayflower Primary School, used his talent in music and aesthetics to teach all his P5 pupils to play the guitar. Through this, their self esteem grew and they became better motivated in their studies.
Another, Chua Hwee Pheng, from Pasir Ris Crest Secondary School, led her students on an overseas Community Involvement Project in Cambodia to build playgrounds for less privileged children.
The final recipient of the award, Quek Swee Nee, from Bukit View Primary School, introduced creative and non-traditional sports such as Crazy Cup Stacking, Hip Hop and Wushu alongside traditional CCAs. He strongly believes that he can use CCAs to develop every child holistically.
My congratulations to the awardees. They exemplify what can be achieved by putting your unique talents to good use. They saw possibilities and themselves as Kings and Queens, on whom the fates of those around them depended. Each one of you has the power to make a difference to your students.
Conclusion
I would like to conclude with a simple wish for all of you. I wish that each of you can make a life-changing difference to at least one student in your career as a teacher. Some may say that this is not a big wish, but I hope that in time to come, you will also experience the same kind of encounter as Master Teacher Regina Davamoni. Two years ago, Regina was contacted by an ex-student. The ex-student had been trying to trace her for years and invited her to his 29th birthday party. When she met him, he held her hand tightly and asked if she remembered him. Frankly, Regina did not.
Her ex-student revealed that he had had a difficult time in school after doing badly in Secondary 2 and being posted to the Normal Stream. A talk Regina had with him changed his outlook on life and he had been grateful ever since. Curious, she asked what difference that talk had made, and his plain answer was, “You gave me hope.”
This ex-student held her words close to him for over 15 years while striving towards his O levels, and then his diploma. Even now, as he is juggling his degree course with a demanding job, he keeps himself motivated by recalling her encouraging words and her belief in his ability to succeed. Having counselled so many students over the years, Regina could not remember what she said or whom she said it to. She might have even wondered at times if her words would make a difference. As teachers, the small things you do, which you may not even be aware of, can mean all the world to a student who is on the cusp of a life-changing moment.
In closing, let me once again congratulate you and your fellow graduands taking part in this investiture. As you embark on the next phase of your journey, accept my heartfelt wishes for a meaningful and fulfilling career ahead.