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Success of youth volunteering depends on passion: Minister Heng

SINGAPORE — The Volunteer Youth Corps will provide resources and opportunities for young Singaporeans to serve, but its success will also depend on whether they are passionate about serving and find volunteerism meaningful, said Education Minister Heng Swee Keat.

Volunteers and residents at the Bishan Home for the Intellectually Disabled tending to their community garden. Photo: National Parks Board

Volunteers and residents at the Bishan Home for the Intellectually Disabled tending to their community garden. Photo: National Parks Board

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SINGAPORE — The Volunteer Youth Corps will provide resources and opportunities for young Singaporeans to serve, but its success will also depend on whether they are passionate about serving and find volunteerism meaningful, said Education Minister Heng Swee Keat.

He made the comment yesterday (Aug 24) at a dialogue with some 90 youth leaders from eight school-based uniformed groups, which included the Scouts, Girl Guides, Boys’ Brigade, Girls’ Brigade, and National Cadet Corps.

Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong had announced the setting up of the Volunteer Youth Corps at the National Day Rally on August 18.

Some ideas raised at yesterday’s dialogue included keeping youth active in volunteerism while juggling school and work commitments, making environmental education part of the school syllabus, and creating better opportunities for disadvantaged students.

Other topics the students discussed covered social entrepreneurship, community integration, and building public confidence as youth get involved in social services.

The dialogue was part of a Youth Leaders Forum organised by the Singapore Scout Association.

Desmond Chong, assistant chief commissioner of projects at the Singapore Scout Association, said: “After seeing the whole OSC (Our Singapore Conversation) process, this is also an opportunity for young people to talk about what is it now they want to do with some of the ideas that were generated as a result of the forum earlier.

“We deliberately got together all the uniformed groups, because this is really one of those very big sectors in our youth population. It’s about 25 per cent of all school-going kids, and we want to make sure we reach out to this group.”

Many of the students at the dialogue are leaders within their own school communities, and it is hoped that not only will they be able to bring the ideas of their fellow students to the table, but be able to play an active role in bringing about the changes they want to see within their communities.

Mr Heng and the students also discussed how effective the Volunteer Youth Corps would be in motivating young Singaporeans to continue serving after they have left school.

The minister said there’s a need to see how to better link what’s being done in schools with what the new youth corps is promoting so as to sustain the movement.

He said: “The youth corps will provide a network as well as resources and opportunity. It will provide for better matching of needs and efforts, and in that way we can make volunteerism even more effective and more meaningful for the participants.

“This is just a start. We have to build on what we already have. In fact there are many young people who have started their own little movements — all doing very meaningful work.

“And what we hope to do is to catalyse this further and to give them the support. I think if we can make it a norm in Singapore for our young people to volunteer, then I think it will have a very big impact later on.

“If you look at the uniformed group — 25 per cent of our students are in uniformed groups and — even if a fraction of that continues to volunteer, it will make a big impact.”

He added: “As we’ve heard from many of the participants, it helps to develop their leadership qualities, it helps to develop their social skills, and it develops a greater awareness of the community — both in Singapore as well as outside of Singapore.”

For the youth, Saturday’s dialogue was a chance to exchange experiences.

Lee Hui Ting, a member of The Girls’ Brigade Singapore, said: “They’re not just young leaders, some of them are actually volunteers at grassroots. So as a volunteer there, they see a lot more things than I do. It gives me (greater) perspective.”

Nicholas Oh, a member of the The Raffles Scout Group, said: “I feel very invigorated after attending this. We are actually machines of change, we can actually do something for the society.”

Mr Heng said he was impressed with the idealism, energy, and creativity of the youths involved in the dialogue. CHANNEL NEWSASIA

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