17 April 2019
Education Minister Ong Ye Kung has said that it is important for Singapore’s schools to remain as open communities, and as establishments that aim to give students many opportunities to interact with peers from different backgrounds and races.
In particular, the Special Assistance Plan (SAP) schools need to make extra efforts to expose their students to people from other walks of life.
Mr Ong was speaking at the premiere of a documentary-drama at the Capitol Theatre, a film that pays tribute to the contributions of former educators from CHIJ St Nicholas Girls’ School, which is an SAP school.
Mr Ong said that students’ exposure to other people “needs to go beyond the occasional or one-off events, such as celebrating Racial Harmony Day”.
The SAP schools are part of a “larger ecosystem”, he added, and along with government schools, clan-based and church-based government-aided schools, and madrasahs, they make up a diverse education landscape.