More should be done to promote interschool teamwork, volunteerism

Amid the discourse about shared experiences — via attendance of the National Day Parade rehearsal and the five-day Outward Bound Singapore (OBS) expedition camp, for instance — I believe the focus on young Singaporeans is correct (“Visit to museum, theatre to be new ‘shared experience’”, Feb 18).

But more can be done to encourage interaction between students of the various schools, and thereafter emphasise the value of volunteerism or community service outside of school. Shared experiences are more likely to resonate in the long term if individuals are pushed out of their comfort zones, are forced to deal with diversity and adversity, as well as think outside their own circumstances. This is to develop empathy, greater civic engagement and cognisance of socio-economic issues in the country.

At the moment, the school remains the point of intervention in encouraging volunteerism, and understandably so. Values in Action (VIA) — the recent reincarnation of the Community Involvement Programme (CIP), which rendered school or community service mandatory — has been implemented more efficiently because teachers can arrange for activities according to classes or co-curricular activities, before following up with reflections or administrative duties.

Yet missing from this are more opportunities for students to go out of their own schools to work with other students from different backgrounds and with different experiences. Through a leadership development programme when I was in secondary school, I worked with students from other schools on a service-learning project with Children-At-Risk Empowerment Association, and I benefited from the engagement with my peers and the beneficiaries.

Given the criticism of stratification between schools and perceived gaps in Singapore’s competitive education system, this notion of inter-school collaboration should be applied to other programmes such as OBS. There is more work to be done to boost volunteerism rates among Singaporeans. The 2014 Individual Giving Survey by the National Volunteer and Philanthropy Centre found that fewer than one in five Singaporeans volunteered — or just 17.8 per cent — volunteered in the past 12 months. This figure has not had sustained increases since 2000.

Singapore was the 28th most-generous country on the Charities Aid Foundation’s World Giving Index 2016, but fewer are volunteering their time and efforts for causes. In this vein, VIA and CIP are useful springboards for students to get started, but unless the endeavours are sustained, shared experiences will count for little in the long run.