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Friday was an occasion for pupils to imbibe the value of ethnic diversity, but for some 30 of them, it was a lesson on the cost of not coming in costume.
Ethnic garb was the requirement for this year's Racial Harmony Day celebrations at Jurong West Secondary. To all good intent, this was meant to create a better atmosphere and make it a grander occasion, according to the school.
But what happens when pupils turn up without an ethnic outfit? It means being left out of the best parts of the festivities, according to some who fell into this category.
Some 30 to 40 of them, who did not have costumes, were taken out of the activities and made to stand outside the school office for one-and-a-half hours, said a parent who called the MediaCorp Hotline, after her son was one of those who missed the finale.
"We had trouble borrowing costumes, and I didn't want to waste money buying something that he would only wear once a year," said Madam Ng, who declined to give her full name. "Why should they be punished for that?"
Avoiding punishment was on the minds of some other pupils.
"Half my class didn't even turn up because they couldn't find costumes," said a Secondary 3 student who declined to be named. "We were told we had to come in costumes or we might be punished."
But school principal Oliver Jeeva Balasingam told TODAY that Jurong West Secondary did not punish any pupils for not wearing costumes. "That is not true," he said. "Students who did not wear the costumes were taken aside and briefed by some teachers and then told to do a feedback form about racial harmony. I don't see that as a punishment at all. And they took part in other activities in the morning."
He explained that students who could not get costumes because of financial difficulties could have approached the school for help. "We could have helped them borrow costumes," he said. "That was made known to the students when we notified them about the costumes."
No student, he said, came to the school for assistance. "Only 30 plus students missed the celebrations, out of about 1,200 students," said Mr Balasingam. "I don't think that's excluding a lot of people; it's only a minority."
Elsewhere, Environment and Water Resources Minister Yaacob Ibrahim highlighted the important role of schools in helping "our students recognise the multiple identities that we've developed".
An old boy of Tanjong Katong Secondary, he said at his alma mater: "This recognition is important amid the shallow but increasing tendency to pigeon-hole people into neat boxes or categories, such as religion or civilisations ... When we look for the commonalities and the similarities, we'll see much more ... When we constantly strive to keep one another connected, we will be a cohesive society indeed."
- TODAY/so
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