Youth activities to celebrate SG50 have deeper objectives: Indranee Rajah
TODAY file photo
SINGAPORE — Youth activities to celebrate the Republic’s 50th birthday are not just about being festive, but have deeper objectives, said Senior Minister of State for Education Indranee Rajah.
In an exclusive interview with Channel NewsAsia, Ms Indranee — who co-chairs the SG50 Education and Youth committee on the SG50 steering committee — said as “pioneers of the future”, Singapore’s youth should reflect on how far the country has come, forge a sense of identity, and how to take the country forward.
A highlight of Youth Celebrate! — a large-scale youth festival to celebrate Singapore’s 50th birthday — is a display band, made up of 350 students from six secondary schools. They are: Bowen Secondary School, Bukit Panjang Government High School, Deyi Secondary School, Ping Yi Secondary School, Tanjong Katong Secondary School and Yuying Secondary School.
Youth Celebrate! will be held at the Sports Hub on Jul 26, and aims to reflect on the achievements of Singapore’s youth in sports, the uniformed groups and the arts.
SG50 YOUTH CELEBRATIONS TO BE INCLUSIVE
It will be the first time that students from all Ministry of Education (MOE) schools, Special Education schools and Institutes of Higher Learning will attend an event together. Parents and members of the public can also join in the celebrations.
Ms Indranee said her committee aims to make the SG50 celebrations as inclusive as possible. “The school bands all come from different schools and they will be wearing their own school band uniforms. They will all have a cape that is common to all, so that it’s like many different identities but under a common bond,” she said.
Those taking part already feel such a bond, as they prepare to impress the 50,000-strong crowd. Training started in November last year, and some said being a participant is their way to leave a mark on Singapore’s Golden Jubilee celebrations.
“I feel that it will be very memorable for us and when Singapore reaches 100 years old, we can look back (at this experience). If I have children in the future, I can tell them the experience that I have had through this activity and I can share the joy with them too,” said Ms Elaine Lork, a Deyi Secondary School student.
Ms Thashanni Devi from Bowen Secondary School said she feels very proud to be a part of the event. “It’s something that you will rarely see in Singapore and as young people we are supposed to be very confident of ourselves and we work together to show teamwork.”
Mr Luamanual Hakim, from Tanjong Katong Secondary School, said the event would show students’ abilities beyond academics. “We can do anything, sports, arts and all these things aside from studying, we can show that we can excel in both and contribute to the nation.”
Apart from the display band, there will also be a novelty football game which pits 50 primary school students against former national players. Youth Celebrate! will also extend to the OCBC Aquatic Centre where students will attempt to set new national records to instill pride and a “can-do” spirit. One of which is to surpass the current national record of swimming 3,772 laps of the pool in one hour.
TRAILS, EXHIBITIONS SHOWCASE ASPECTS OF SINGAPORE
Other than Youth Celebrate!, ongoing initiatives such as mySG Trails and Exhibitions have enabled students to showcase aspects of Singapore in an experiential and creative way. The committee hopes such programmes are impactful for them to reflect on the country’s struggles and challenges.
“The way the committee approached it was this: It is not just all about a party time and being festive, but there’s a deeper and underlying thought behind it which is that these are our youths, they represent the future of the nation, they should celebrate how far we have come but they should also look forward and see themselves as part of the pioneers of the future if you like,” said Ms Indranee. “Because it’s not a pre-determined future, and there will be many things that will come along the way, that will represent challenges and difficulties. And the only way that we are going to succeed going forward, is if we stick together as a people and a nation and you work together to achieve the kind of objectives that we want for the future.”
A total of 66 projects are being developed under the mySG Trails and Exhibitions initiative. CHANNEL NEWSASIA
