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SINGAPORE: Many educators agree that when it comes to matters of integration, the school is a great starting point and the Ministry of Education hopes to nudge things along with a new resource pack for schools.
Vietnamese student Nguyen Mai Huong loves a giggle with her Singaporean friend, Kanaga Ramu.
Mai Huong has settled into life here since arriving two and a half years ago but said it wasn't always easy.
She said: "Sometimes Singaporean students use a lot of dialect and also they put in Malay, Chinese and even Tamil in one sentence. So the first time I also had difficulty in understanding those terms because they're not quite familiar with me. But after that I tried to pick up some of the common phrases so I can interact and communicate with them better."
Her Singaporean friend said little things like music and movies that help break the ice.
Kanaga Ramu, student, Republic Poly, said: "Initially, I was more comfortable with the local students because it was easier. But there are many international students in my class and I thought that I should befriend them because they're in my same team and we're in the same class together for 16 weeks."
And educators at a symposium on Saturday agreed that the classroom is a natural starting point for integration.
Senior Minister of State for Education Grace Fu said: "As young children, they will look at their friends as friends. They don't really care what race, what religion, what culture they come from. And I think that's precisely the point that we think social integration can take place and can take place well."
The inaugural Symposium on Integration in Schools is organised by the National Integration Working Group for Schools, a committee under the National Integration Council.
All schools will be given booklets which gives examples of what schools are doing to get Singaporean and foreign students to mix and mingle.
For instance, some schools organise trips to the hawker centre while others set up buddy systems and peer support networks.
But Ms Fu said such efforts should not be too contrived and that it's best left to schools to decide what to do. - CNA/vm
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