SINGAPORE: Singapore aims to position itself as an international centre of excellence for the teaching of Chinese. And to do this, the republic is setting up a centre to enhance teacher training and research in the language.

Whether in business or in school, English is the most commonly used language in Singapore.

Speaking at the 85th anniversary dinner of local Chinese daily newspaper Lianhe Zaobao on Saturday, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said Singapore must make strenuous efforts to preserve the mother tongues and its cultural heritage.

He added that Singaporeans must also remain bilingual and bi-cultural or risk becoming disadvantaged economically, with the rise of China, and lose part of its identity.

So Mr Lee said one way is to improve the teaching of Chinese here.

He said: "Chinese teachers have a difficult task of inspiring their students to understand, appreciate and learn the language. We should provide them with a range of training opportunities to help them achieve the task.

"Many modern teaching aids and materials have been developed in western countries for Maths, Science and English, but few have been developed to teach the Chinese language. We can do more to help our Chinese teachers."

And that is where the new centre on Chinese language will come in. In addition, it will be a test-bed for innovative ideas on teaching of Chinese language and the use of new technology and software in this area. All these will establish Singapore as a knowledge hub.

Mr Lee noted that China, Hong Kong and Taiwan have shown interest in studying Singapore's model of development. He added that being an Asian society, Singapore has solutions closer to their circumstances.

"Also because there is a cultural similarity and Chinese as a common language, so they find it easy to engage us and get a sense of what is happening. It is a great advantage to us that they find us and our experience interesting, and useful," said PM Lee.

That is why Mr Lee said it is essential to keep the Chinese language and culture alive in Singapore. - CNA/vm