14 July 2004

Racial Harmony Discovery Day 2004

        1,300 Primary 4 and Secondary 2 pupils as well as 340 student leaders from junior colleges and centralised institute (JCs/CI) will participate in Racial Harmony Discovery Day, to be held on Saturday, 17 July 2004. 

2.      Mr Tharman Shanmugaratnam, Acting Minister for Education, will be the Guest of Honour.  The event will be held at MOE’s Co-Curricular Activities Branch at Evans Road, Singapore Botanic Gardens and Singapore Management University.

3.      The theme for Racial Harmony Day this year is “Harmony in Discovery”. On the Discovery Trail, pupils will work together in multi-racial teams and participate in a series of fun, treasure hunt-type activities.  Through enjoyable outdoor activities, they will also learn teamwork and make new friends of other races.  These activities will tap pupils’ knowledge and experience of the ethnic cultures in Singapore, helping them make new friendships and learn more about other races as they work out answers, solve puzzles and complete tasks in the race to reach their destination.

4.      This is the first time that the activities for Racial Harmony Day are being planned by students. A multi-racial project team, comprising 27 student leaders from 9 JCs/CI[1]  started work last year to develop the activities for the Discovery Trail.  Trained and mentored by principal-facilitators and members of the organising committee, these student leaders conceptualised the Trail by linking the selected activities with a storyline and a code-breaking puzzle.

5.      The involvement of JC/CI student leaders in the planning of activities has injected fresh and creative ideas to make Racial Harmony Discovery Day more interesting and meaningful for pupil participants from primary and secondary schools.  Their involvement has also enabled them to hone their leadership and organisational skills.

Background
6.      Since 2002, Racial Harmony Day has been commemorated annually with an anchor event based on a theme.  The first was Racial Harmony Games Day in 2002, based on ethnic games.  Last year, Racial Harmony Music and Dance Day was based on ethnic music and dances.

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[1]  The 9 JC/CIs are Anderson, Catholic, Hwa Chong, Meridian, National, Pioneer, Serangoon, and Temasek JCs, and Millennia Institute.