OPENING ADDRESS BY MR HAWAZI DAIPI, SENIOR PARLIAMENTARY SECRETARY, MINISTRY OF EDUCATION, AT THE OFFICIAL OPENING OF MOE CHANGI COAST ADVENTURE CENTRE AND THE INAUGURAL MALAYSIA-SINGAPORE CAMP ON 14 NOVEMBER 2005, AT 10.00 AM.

INTRODUCTION

1 It gives me great pleasure to be here this morning to officiate at the joint opening of the MOE Changi Coast Adventure Centre and the Inaugural Malaysia-Singapore Student Leaders’ Adventure Camp.

2 This occasion marks yet another milestone for the Ministry of Education in its continuous effort to provide schools with the best resources for outdoor education.

3 The first MOE Adventure Centre at Ponggol was completed in 1986. Since then, there has been an increasing demand from schools for such centres where outdoor education programmes can be carried out. On average, 60,000 students benefit from the programmes conducted at our three MOE Adventure Centres each year. With the opening of Changi Coast Adventure Centre, we now have 4 fully operational MOE Adventure Centres to cater to schools’ outdoor education programmes that have become increasingly diverse and varied. With this, we hope to achieve the target of providing every secondary school student the opportunity to go through at least one camping experience in one of our MOE Adventure Centres.

4 MOE Changi Coast Adventure Centre, located along the shoreline of East Coast, is one of the most ideal venues for water-based adventure. It has the capacity to accommodate a total of 400 campers at any one time. One of its unique features is that it is designed along the old “kampung” concept of community living. Each hut, with complete full toilet facilities, can hold up to 50 campers. This concept allows a few schools to share the camping facilities at anyone time and makes possible the interaction between campers of different schools. Besides the challenge ropes course for team-building and adventure programmes which is the hallmark of MOE Adventure Centres, this centre is specially designed to cater to a whole range of sea activities. It promises some of the most comprehensive outdoor programmes that are water-based in nature. I am confident that our students will find the experience at Changi Coast Adventure Centre a most exciting and meaningful one.

5 Today also marks the opening of the inaugural Malaysia-Singapore Student Leaders’ Adventure Camp. The Camp is one of many educational collaborations initiated by the Education Ministries of

Malaysia

and

Singapore

at the beginning of this year. I am pleased to note that many of these collaborations are progressing well. For instance, 12 secondary schools each from both countries have been paired up for collaborative activities under the school twinning programme. Singaporean students have participated in the Wilderness Adventure Camp and the School Marching Band Competition in

Malaysia

earlier this year. Malaysian students have also performed at the Singapore Youth Festival for the first time in July this year. In addition, there are also other collaborations involving educators and officials from both countries. All these collaborations, and others in the pipeline, help enhance the people-to-people linkages between

Malaysia

and

Singapore

and this augurs well for the good relations in the education sector between our two countries.

I am therefore very pleased to see 200 students from

Malaysia

and

Singapore

gathered here today for the 1^st Malaysia-Singapore Student Leaders’ Adventure Camp. On behalf of the Singapore Ministry of Education, I would like to extend a warm welcome to our friends from

Malaysia

6 The international environment has become faster-paced and more competitive. We would need to prepare our young to compete and thrive in an increasingly unpredictable global economy. How do we imbue our young with resolve and resilience, grit and determination, an indomitable spirit, and the qualities to compete?

7 Camps play a special role in developing in our young attributes that will prepare them for the future. Camping experience and lessons in the outdoors offer some of the most valuable experiences for participants to acquire values and skills through hands-on experience in authentic situations and environment, closely resembling the real world.

8 In the outdoor setting, experiences are frequently not as structured as those in the formal settings. Individuals placed in such conditions would need to decide for themselves how to negotiate successfully through these conditions, and what to make of these experiences. These experiences count in nurturing in our youths a flexible and robust outlook of life, so that they can thrive in an environment of change.

9 The Singaporean students who participated in the Wilderness Adventure Camp in Langkawi in June this year will agree with the points that I have just made. Unlike the camps that they are used to in Singapore, which are conducted in proper buildings with toilets and catered food, these students had to set up tents and latrines, cook their own food, and be exposed to the elements of nature at the Wilderness Adventure Camp. These conditions provided challenge to our students and helped to boost their confidence in their own adaptability. They were full of praise and appreciation for this unique enriching experience. In fact, most of them gave feedback that the Wilderness Adventure Camp is one camp that all student leaders should go through at least once.

10 The experiences that the MOE Changi Coast Adventure Centre will offer over the next 5 days is going to be very different but not less challenging. I believe all of you will find the experiences enriching.

11 As you participate in the different camp activities, I am sure that you will also take time to interact with each other and make new friends, which is also one of the key objectives of this Camp. More importantly, I hope you will continue to keep in touch and maintain the friendships even after the Camp is over.

12 On this note, I wish you all an enjoyable, enriching and fulfilling time at this inaugural Malaysia-Singapore Student Leaders’ Adventure Camp.