Speeches
Speech by Dr Ng Eng Hen, Minister for Education and Second Minister for Defence, at the Official Opening of Millennia Institute on Saturday, 16 May 2009, at 9.30am
Fellow Parliamentarians, Dr Amy Khor and Mr Liang Eng Hwa
Mr Lu Cheng Yang Director, Personnel, Ministry of Education
Dr Stephen Lee, Chairman, Institute Advisory Committee
Mr Tan Chor Pang, Principal, Millennia Institute
Distinguished guests
Ladies and gentlemen
Good morning
Introduction
It gives me great pleasure to be here today at the official opening of Millennia Institute.
Millennia Institute was formed in 2004 from the merger of Jurong Institute and Outram Institute. In 2006, the two campuses moved to a single campus here with brand new facilities. The official opening of the new campus today thus marks a significant milestone for MI.
Investing in our human capital
The Ministry of Education firmly believes that education is a necessary investment, in good times as well as in bad times. Our steady investment in education has resulted in a strong national system, renowned for its high standards and achievements. In 2008, Singapore was ranked first by the World Competitiveness Yearbook for having an education system that best meets the needs of a competitive economy. The 2007 McKinsey Report had also named Singapore as one of the world’s top-performing education systems. Thus even in these times of global economic slowdown, MOE will continue to put in our best efforts to strengthen Singapore’s economic competitiveness by investing in our human capital.
Nurturing our young for the future
For Singapore to remain a growth city for the future, our students must be equipped with the knowledge, skills and values needed to stay relevant and adaptable in a rapidly changing world. In knowledge, our youth must have competence in multiple domains to be able to understand and improve complex technology. For skills, they will need to work in and lead teams of people with diverse cultures, ideas and perspectives. We want to also anchor our students in values of resilience, integrity, compassion and the responsibility to give back to the larger community. Staff and leaders of MI play an important role in the modelling and imparting of these values.
MI’s new campus has been equipped with facilities to provide a stimulating and engaging learning environment for its students to acquire these enduring knowledge, skills and values. Here learning laboratories have been built in place of some classrooms. The Humanities Eureka Room, for instance, is one such laboratory where a specially designed loft provides an authentic setting for students to role play historical figures. Students’ authentic learning experiences are further enhanced through field trips and learning journeys beyond the school.
MI staying relevant and dynamic
Real-world learning is also being promoted through MI.World, a strategic programme in which students from partner schools in Asia and Europe work with MI students on learning projects. hese projects are done through internet platforms made possible by the ICT-enabled environment in this new campus. Such collaborative projects increase students’ exposure to foreign cultures and the global environment, developing in them the 21st century skill of multi-cultural literacy.
Our students should have financial literacy skills. To this end, MI has put in place a Business Literacy Programme which includes courses and games on financial literacy and cash flow. Students have also been given entrepreneurial exposure through interviews with entrepreneurs and the running of real businesses at the MI Flea Market. High ability MI students can also work towards a diploma in business, mass communications or psychology, in addition to earning their A-level certifications.
Stories of MI students
Our efforts to improve outcomes at MI have already borne fruit. Let me share two examples of students, Ng Bin Hong and Suliana Bte Johani, whose lives have been positively influenced by their MI experience. Bin Hong had stopped schooling for a year after performing poorly in his O Level examinations. However, he later enrolled in MI, where he was given opportunities by his teachers to hone his leadership skills and stretch his academic potential. He became a debater and an activist for community service, and also served as a student leader in the school’s National Education Council. In 2007, Bin Hong graduated from MI as the top student of his batch and is now reading law at the Singapore Management University.
Similarly, Suliana was given room to learn and grow in MI. She was particularly inspired by lessons conducted outside of the classroom, through for instance the MI Flea Mart and a Geographical fieldtrip organised by her teachers to Cairns, Australia. In fact Suliana was so grateful for the encouragement from her teachers that she herself has chosen teaching as a career. She was among four students from MI who were given the MOE Scholarship and Teaching Awards last year. Suliana is currently pursuing her degree in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences at the National University of Singapore.
The way ahead for MI
We must keep up our efforts to develop the MI students well and as always, teachers must take that lead. They must themselves be self-directed learners and take ownership of their professional growth. Teachers here should form communities of practice to research, experiment, document and share new methods of teaching and learning within and between schools. This drive towards professional excellence will be a key enabler to prepare MI students more effectively for the future.
I am glad to see that MI is determined to nurture a dynamic learning community of students who are ready to take on the challenges of the future. With brand-new premises and up-to-date facilities, MI will be better equipped to provide opportunities to develop our human capital to be a skilled, innovative and entrepreneurial workforce in the global economy.
Conclusion
In closing, let me congratulate MI on the opening of its new campus. I wish the Institute Advisory Committee, the Principal, staff, parents, the Alumni, and, of course, you, the students, every success in the years ahead.
It is now my pleasure to declare the new campus open.