特选四十筹委会主席刘德荣校长、
国会同僚、
各位来宾、
校长、老师、校友与同学，
大家上午好！
前言
1. 中国古代有一幅对联：“风声雨声读书声 声声入耳 / 家事国事天下事 事事关心”，希望读书人除了学业好，还要抱有修身、齐家、治国、平天下的雄心壮志。这样带有儒家色彩的教育目标，各位应该不会陌生。
2. 我在学校最常听到的不是风声雨声，而是上下课的钟声。这让我联想到过去两年，《星期二特写》所制作的“钟声响起时”系列。通过史料和采访，节目呈现了一些特选学校的转型和变迁。
3. 本次筹委会为了庆祝特选四十，也策划回顾展，出版纪念特刊。我鼓励大家参观展览、阅读特刊，通过师长和校友的回忆，重温校园的生活，也让在籍学生认识特选学校的办学宗旨和发展。
4. 早期的教育工作者在艰难中，坚持办校的使命。风雨飘摇的时代虽然过去了，但教育的工作却不见得容易呀。语言环境的变化，为母语的学习、文化的推广，带来比以前不同的挑战。各所学校、各位师长，为教育学生不遗余力、恪尽职守。这样的精神、这样的钟声，不能成为绝响。
特选学校的意义
5. 今年纪念新加坡开埠两百周年，但实际回顾的是更久远的历史。远至七百年前，面向海洋的岛国，就迎来了全球各地的旅人。交易货品的同时，我们的小岛也开始接收了外界的影响。历史与地理注定了我们对多元文化的包容。
6. 新加坡成为自由港后，不同种族的移民先辈，就带着各自的母族文化，在这里落地生根, 寻求更好的生活。各族文化除了得到传承，也在兼容交汇中，发展出本土的特色，焕发出属于新加坡我们自己的风采。
7. 在这样的历史脉络中，教育政策持有重要的地位。我们的教育体制，必须以尊重彼此的差异为基础，建立并扩大各族共同交流的空间。我们也意识到每个孩子的兴趣、爱好和长处都各不相同。无论热爱的是体育、艺术，还是人文、数理、语言，我们都必须给孩子足够的成长空间。
8. 教育部成立特选学校，为了就是保留华族优良传统与华校校风，吸引有潜力、有兴趣的孩子，为国家培养双语、双文化人才。这数十年来，教育部也致力发展马来文和淡米尔文的特选课程，让更多学校参与、让更多学生受益。只要各族仍然重视母语文化，教育部与和各所学校将坚持不懈，继续这项任重道远的事业。
特选学校的发展方向
9. 走了四十年的路，特选学校未来的方向又是如何呢？
10. 2017年，在前教育总司长何品女士的指导下，全体二十六所特选学校群策群力，针对教育景观的改变，合作拟定了策略蓝图。
11. 大家都认识到，随着时代的改变，特选学校也开始面对不同的挑战和期望。特选学校制订了三大方向，与今天庆祝会的主题契合:
- 第一，心系特选：为学生灌输优良的价值观，培养双语人才，肩负文化使命。
- 第二，情牵岛国：让学生扎根本土，了解多元文化，为种族融洽、社会稳定做出贡献。
- 第三，眼观天下：开拓学生的国际视野、掌握区域局势，为中国和亚洲的经济崛起，做好准备。
12. 纵观世界，双语能力受到许多学府和企业的推崇。掌握多一门语言，就能深入了解其他文化，为未来打开更多的机遇。我们周围的国家，也认识到语文所带来的优势，他们的学生们也纷纷学习第二，甚至第三语文。
13. 这是大势所趋，我们必须继续通过特选学校、通过母语课程，确保新加坡的文化底蕴、加强双语优势。语言和文化是我们必须传承给下一代的宝贵资产。重视各族的悠久文化，学习优良的价值观，让我们更有信心地面对世界、迎向未来。
14. 接下来，让我用英语继续我的演讲。
Origins of SAP Schools
15. In the early years of our independence, we established English as the common working language in multi-cultural Singapore. English has also been the global language of commerce and trade. Hence, in the 1970’s and 80’s, parents sent their children to English schools in droves. Enrolment for Chinese medium schools fell, and over time, the Government closed many of them.
16. For many members of the Chinese community, this was a deeply personal and emotional loss. I witnessed this first-hand because my mother was a Chinese teacher.
17. Recognising this and the value of preserving the ethos of Chinese medium schools, the Government established SAP schools in 1979. SAP schools were to uphold the traditional Chinese school cultural environment, and promote the learning of Chinese language and culture.
The Historical Context of SAP Schools
18. We need to view SAP schools and chart their future from this historical context. 2019 is our bicentennial year, and it puts many Singaporeans in a reflective mood. If we pause and look around the country, we will be amazed at how far we have come as a society.
19. We celebrate the festivals of all ethnic groups; observe the major religious holidays of Hindus, Muslims, Buddhists and Christians. Our city is festooned with churches, temples, mosques and even synagogues, sometimes situated next to each other. We have four official languages. People of all races live within each HDB precinct.
20. Education in Singapore reflects this multiplicity too. Our bilingual policy ensures that while Singaporeans use English as a common working language, we will continue to learn our respective Mother Tongues. Government schools, clan-based and church-based Government-Aided schools, SAP schools, Madrasahs, all co-exist in this education landscape.
21. The Umar Pulavar Language Centre – the first Tamil high school in Southeast Asia – specialises in the teaching of Tamil language and literature. EMAS (Elective Malay Language Programme for Secondary School) helps develop students with a deep interest in the Malay language and culture. The Bicultural Studies Programme encourages students to learn more about Chinese culture and contemporary society by offering Higher Chinese and China Studies and provides enrichment and overseas immersion programmes.
22. We also promote the learning of a third language from another race, at a conversational level. Today, about 25,000 students are enrolled in this conversational language programme.
23. At the same time, we see a common Singaporean identity gradually developing - in the language we use, the food we eat, the shared experiences over 53 years, and the common ethos we display as a people. That is why we don’t describe Singapore as a melting pot, but a tapestry, because there is synergy and co-existence between the individual parts and the whole, between the identity of every ethnic community and the Singapore identity.
24. This is the case because we did not choose the path of ideological extremes – insisting that everyone is Singaporean and nothing else, or allowing every community to fully assert their cultural identities, leaving no common space for a Singaporean identity to grow in our young nation.
25. Here, every community that makes up our society can practise their culture, language and religion. At the same time, each community takes a step back and exercises restraint, to ensure a healthy common space for Singaporeans of all backgrounds to mingle and integrate.
26. This wise balance, and deeply ingrained attitude, has been holding Singapore society together. We need to understand that SAP schools are a result of this balancing act.
Relevance for the Future
27. It’s been 40 years since we set up SAP schools, and the environment we live in has evolved further.
- First, the use of English is even more common today. The percentage of families which communicate using Mother Tongue is falling, although bilingual, bi-literate families are growing.
- Second, many young Singaporeans are less conscious of their ethnic identity, and feel more proud to be Singaporeans.
- Third, there are many other non-school based, specialised programmes to promote Mother Tongue learning, such as the Bicultural Studies Programme, and the Language Elective Programmes for Chinese, Malay and Tamil.
28. These developments have led some to question the relevance of SAP schools. Some SAP school students lament the lack of opportunities to make friends with students from other communities. But should we therefore make a drastic change to the SAP school system? Let’s consider other factors at play.
- First, Asia is now the fastest growing region in the world. China has become our largest trading partner, and continues to develop; Indonesia and Malaysia are our immediate hinterland and offer tremendous opportunities; India is the fastest growing developing country in the world.
- Second, countries all around us are stepping up the learning of multiple languages. Today, it is common to meet PRC Chinese, Japanese or Koreans who speak fluent English, as it is common to meet Europeans, Americans or Australians who speak some Chinese. Bilingualism has been a unique advantage Singaporeans have, but other countries are catching up, even surpassing us.
- Third, our nation-building journey is far from over. A nation’s identity takes centuries to develop and mature, and it has to draw from the cultural richness of individual communities. The balancing act I talked about earlier, continues to be very relevant to a young nation like Singapore.
29. Given the larger trends, the learning of language and culture has become more important than ever. The right thing to do is to preserve the programmes and institutions that promote the learning of our Mother Tongues, and improve them where we can. We should be very careful not to undo any of these efforts, as that would be bucking the strategic trend at a time when it matters most.
30. Indeed, our programmes should seek to endow students with a deeper and more sophisticated understanding of our region, cultural heritage and languages. That is what will give us a distinct and lasting identity, competiveness, capability and confidence as a people.
31. Take for example the Chinese, Malay and Tamil Language Elective Programmes at the post-secondary level. Schools such as Nanyang Junior College have run them well and made it its distinctive offering. We should review the programmes with a view to enhancing and improving them, across all our Mother Tongues.
32. At the Institutes of Higher Learning, we are enhancing the opportunities for more student exchanges and overseas internship programmes, especially to ASEAN countries, China and India. This goes beyond learning languages and cultures, to immersing students in them.
33. Likewise, we should preserve SAP schools, which are uniquely positioned to immerse students in an environment rich in Chinese culture and language. But it is increasingly challenging to run a SAP school, because more students are coming from English speaking families and English has become the commonly spoken language of the school.
34. When I met the SAP school principals last week, they told me they were making a renewed effort to make Chinese a living language in school. For example, assemblies are conducted in Chinese on certain days of the week. Principals and teachers will address the students in Chinese, and students have to make speeches and reports in Chinese.
35. Such a whole-of-school, immersive approach is still the best way to learn any language and culture. We have to do it whole-heartedly, in an educationally-sound way. The immersive approach is the reason many parents from English speaking families send their children to SAP schools, to improve their Chinese.
36. Given Singapore’s language environment today, it will be an uphill task to make all our students effectively bilingual and bicultural. But with SAP schools, we will have a good chance to develop a core group in every cohort, with an intuitive understanding of Chinese culture, history and thinking, and with standards of Chinese close to those in China, Taiwan or Hong Kong.
Making Friends from all Backgrounds
37. The key area where SAP schools need to improve in the coming years, is to expand and deepen opportunities for students to make friends from other communities. We must never take for granted the societal harmony we enjoy, and must sow the seeds of mutual understanding from young. In my dialogue with SAP school principals, they appreciated and supported this, and indeed identified this as one of the major tasks for SAP schools.
38. Today, SAP schools have good initiatives to promote inter-cultural learning. For example, Hong Wen School (a SAP school), Alexandra Primary and Radin Mas Primary jointly conduct art programmes and celebrate Racial Harmony Day together. Nanyang Girls works with Madrasah Aljunied to jointly organise activities during festive seasons and national events.
39. Most of the SAP schools are also running conversational Malay programmes. Some are doing very well. Poi Ching School, for example, enrolls about 1,000 students every year in the programme. Chung Cheng High has doubled its programme intake from 350 to 700 a year, over the past three years.
40. There is definitely room to do better. Because the objective is not just getting students to interact occasionally with students of other races, but having the experience of growing up with friends from all ethnic backgrounds, developing mutual trust, understanding our multi-cultural society, and appreciating the adjustments that we sometimes have to make to maintain our social harmony and social cohesion.
41. The SAP schools will need to make a special effort to give their students this broader perspective. And we can already see that happening. Schools located in Boon Lay, including River Valley High, work together to involve students in social services in the community as an on-going and regular effort. A few SAP schools are also combining with other schools for their Cohort Outdoor Learning camps. So, after spending a few days learning together, they get to know each other very well.
42. Senior Parliamentary Secretary Faishal Ibrahim attended the Fiesta Bahasa event a couple of years ago. The participants were from Hwa Chong, as well as Malay students from various schools. He saw the students interacting and engaging well with each other. A few of the Hwa Chong students were interviewed on Berita@Suria, and they spoke fluent and good Malay. A few Malay literati told Faishal that they were impressed with the ability and confidence of the Hwa Chong students in the Malay language. These students displayed the determination, to know their own language and culture deeply, while making a great effort to also understand multi-cultural Singapore.
The Way Ahead
43. In 2017, the principals of all SAP schools, under the leadership of former Director General of Education Ms Ho Peng, got together to chart the way forward for SAP schools. They concluded that SAP schools remain relevant, and will need to focus on the following in the coming years. First, preserve their culture and ethos; second, contribute towards a multi-cultural Singapore; and third, broaden their horizons and prepare students for a changing world and region.
44. MOE supports their recommendations. Our domestic and external circumstances are changing. More than ever, we need to make wise decisions, to make sure that the Singapore spirit continues to flourish and grow, our people have the life skills to excel in this environment, and we stay cohesive and united as a society.
45. It is critical that we succeed in the three objectives set out by the leaders of the SAP schools. We can do more and better on all three fronts, in substantive, meaningful and effective ways. The objectives are not inherently contradictory. The challenge is to find practical ways of achieving them. I am confident that SAP schools will succeed, and will make an immense contribution in this forward march of Singapore.
46. I will now conclude my speech in Mandarin.
总结
47. 今天在座有不少长辈，曾经在特选学校担任校长或老师。他们传承了华校的校风，建设了特选学校的独特文化；他们为学生的教育，贡献了毕生的精力。在此，我要表达由衷的感谢。谢谢你们。
48. 我本身是特选学校的校友，在海星中学的那几年，对于我的性格、思想、价值观都有着非常深刻的印记。当然，时代与环境改变了，现在的学生有着不一样的语言习惯，影响了他们对华族文化的接触。对于特选学校来说，文化的传承不是一项容易的工作，但却值得做、必须做。
49. 我以对联开始演讲，恰好华人新年刚刚过去，我就以春联做总结，借此勉励大家。南侨中学为纪念特选四十，新年时在校园广场挂了一幅好字：
四十年 沐雨栉风 特选 传薪火
千秋业 劈波斩浪 兼程 再启航
50. 让我们不惧风雨，共同努力。谢谢大家。