Service Learning Champions programme to be extended

SINGAPORE — Since February last year, a group of about 10 Secondary Four students from Raffles Girls’ School have spent two hours every fortnight helping elderly residents adopt active ageing.

They do simple physical exercises together or play games such as bingo and memory cards to promote the seniors’ intellectual wellness.

When the students moved on to Raffles Junior College, they still managed to work on Project Ace (Active Care for the Elderly), which comes under the Service Learning Champions programme, after the latter initiative was extended to junior colleges last year.

When the students move on to university, they could well keep this project alive.

On Sunday (Aug 27), the People’s Association (PA) announced that the Service Learning Champions programme, which it started in 2006 together with the Ministry of Education, will now be extended to the institutes of higher learning.

The Singapore University of Social Sciences is the first to come on board.

In its statement, the PA said the goal is to promote the continuity of projects that students have initiated during their secondary school years and to encourage them to continue contributing to the community even after graduation.

At the annual Service Learning Festival Sunday, where the announcement was made, Education Minister (Higher Education and Skills) Ong Ye Kung said the initiative helps students to “discover their purpose in life, fulfil their keenness to serve and uplift the community”.

Mr Ong also presented awards to students whose exemplary community projects have made an impact. He noted that 103 schools, including six junior colleges, have joined the programme, with over 40,000 students initiating 70 projects annually to reach out to residents.

RJC year-one student Khoo Jia Min, 17, who is involved in Project ACE, said that extending the initiative to tertiary institutions will allow students to forge stronger bonds with residents.

“We don’t want this project to be just a one-off thing. We want to sustain it because we’ve already built strong relationships with the elderly residents. We’re more than just familiar faces to them, we’ve become friends,” she said.

Working alongside voluntary welfare organisation Lion Befrienders, the students support some 150 elderly residents from its senior activity centres in Bendemeer and Ang Mo Kio. “The elderly who live alone might have suicidal tendencies, so we made it our cause to help them,” said Tay Yong Ling, 17.

East Spring Secondary student Nur Syazwani Mohd Zahid, 16, told TODAY that such community projects must be carried out continuously in order for them to make an impact.

As a member of her school’s National Police Cadet Corps, Nur Syazwani and her schoolmates conceptualised a project that educates Tampines residents about bicycle theft and illegal moneylending.

Working with the Changi Neighbourhood Police Centre, the students hand out U-locks to residents to deter bike thefts, as well as brochures containing information on the perils of borrowing from loansharks.

“You can’t just stop doing it after you’ve finished secondary school. We’re passionate about such projects, and we want to continue ... as long as we can,” said Nur Syazwani.