Speeches
Speech by Mr Masagos Zulkifli bin Masagos Mohamad, Senior Parliamentary Secretary for Ministry of Education and Ministry of Home Affairs, at the Launch of Young Minds’ Club, on Saturday, 26 July 2008, at 9.30am at the Arts House
Mr Esa Masood, President, Mendaki Club
Madam Zuraidah Abdullah, CEO, Yayasan Mendaki
Parents and students,
Ladies and gentlemen
A very good morning to all of you.
I am very glad to join you for the launch of Young Minds’ Club, a Mendaki Club initiative. Before I begin, I would like to congratulate all the students here for working hard and excelling in your PSLE last year. I am confident that you are adjusting well to secondary school life and are enthusiastically rising up to the challenges in your journey towards achieving your full potential.
Holistic Education—Developing Soft Skills
All of you are no doubt aware of the importance of academic achievement. There is no substitute for studying hard. Your teachers would have emphasized this via rigorous and innovative school programmes. Nonetheless, I would like to impress upon you the need to have a balanced, holistic education that transcends the textbook. Young Minds’ Club was set up because we realise that academic qualifications are no longer sufficient to be a comprehensive platform to success in today’s world.
Soft skills are life skills that cannot be found in any textbook. They are non-tangible and non-technical, and your ability as a leader or a team player depends heavily on these skills. These skills transcend disciplines and will no doubt be essential to you throughout your life, regardless of your profession in the future, whether you become a scientist, lawyer, a teacher or even a CEO.
Soft skills are essentially “people skills”. Acquiring soft skills will give you a competitive edge when you become leaders either in Singapore or abroad. Indeed, as leaders of our future, having these soft skills will enable you to communicate effectively with your audience.
Preparing for a Global Future
The world today is very different from the world your parents grew up in. You will no doubt find yourself being able to take advantage of many opportunities to inculcate a global perspective which your parents never had: studying overseas, absorbing the unique culture of foreign societies, working in multiple locations all over the world and interacting with people from far and wide. How prepared are you for the challenges of a globalised future?
In order to thrive in this new global landscape, you need to work smart and be able to think for yourselves; critically and creatively, so that you can solve problems as they crop up. You will have to be good team players; resilient and yet compassionate to those around you. You will also need to be able to communicate effectively with others.
Contributing to a Greater Cause
As leaders of the future and responsible global citizens, it is vital for you to apply the all-rounded education that you are receiving and benefiting from to improve the lives of others. The measure of any civilized society is how it treats its less fortunate. To build a caring and cohesive society, we must not neglect the less fortunate, but take action to bring about positive changes.
We have seen how Singaporeans have come together with other global citizens to help the victims of recent natural disasters by engaging in relief missions to help the earthquake victims in China, hurricane victims in Myanmar, those stricken by the tsunami in Sri Lanka, Thailand and Indonesia.
In the same spirit, I hope that you will continue in the good footsteps of your predecessors by being part of Young Minds’ Club’s numerous community service projects that have been successfully organised by its young and talented members since the Club was started. These projects have ranged from interacting with orphans under the care of Muhammadiyah children’s home to organising leadership training camps for underpriviliged students. As you participate in these projects, I hope that you will learn and develop the Service Learning spirit so as to serve your community.
I believe your joining the Young Minds’ Club will provide you with an excellent opportunity to develop and reach your fullest potential while you prepare for a globalised future. I hope all of you young students involve yourselves in these enriching activities by being part of the Young Minds Club.
I wish all of you the best in your future endeavours. I am confident that you will continue to excel in your studies.
Thank you.