Singapore Government Press Release

Media Division, Ministry of Information & The Arts, #36-00, PSA Building, 460 Alexandra Road, Singapore 119963, Tel: 3757794/5

SPEECH BY DR ALINE WONG, SENIOR MINISTER OF STATE FOR HEALTH AND EDUCATION, AT THE STUDENTS CARE SERVICE'S 20TH ANNIVERSARY DINNER ON TUESDAY, 12 NOVEMBER 1996, 7.30 PM AT THE HYATT REGENCY HOTEL

It is a great pleasure for me to be here today, on the occasion of your 20th anniversary. It has often been said that the youths of today are our hope for tomorrow. Take care of our youths and we take care of the future of our nation.

2 The Students Care Service has been working very closely with our schools through networking and providing a wide range of programmes and services. The list is quite impressive. For example, you provide weekly school-based counselling sessions for pupils and set up youth drop-in centres at some schools. Capitalising on the importance of peers in the lives of adolescents, you have set up friendship groups, lifeskills task groups and therapeutic groups, just to name a few. And to equip youths with the necessary skills for adulthood, you have mounted a great variety of training programmes in the areas of leadership training, peer counselling and family-life issues, as well as problem-solving, communication, stress management and so on. There are also programmes for the parents. You have further helped some schools set up remedial reading programmes for their pupils. In particular, you have provided invaluable support to MOE's Pastoral Care and Career Guidance Branch by assisting in training teachers in basic counselling skills.

3 From your wide range of programmes and services, it is quite clear that you have adopted a multi-pronged approach to working with youths and their adult care-givers. This is the right approach and will serve you well into the next 20 years of your work!

4 In July last year, the Inter-Ministry Committee on Dysfunctional Families, Juvenile Delinquency and Drug Abuse reported that, although the institution of the family was very much alive and well in Singapore, disturbing trends have been observed that are cause for concern. The traditional multi-tier family structure is giving way to nuclear families where both husband and wife are working, with repercussions on the quality of family life as well as child-care arrangements. There is a rise in the number of broken families and family violence. More Singaporeans are travelling overseas, or even living abroad, for work reasons. Our lifestyles and values are changing. The family is under great stress to keep up with these changes.

5 It is evident that the family environment is the single most important factor which shapes a child's growth and development. In view of the increasing number of families in distress, it is not surprising that youth problems such as juvenile delinquency and drug abuse have increased also.

6 The factors that put youths or students at risk are similar across countries and can be summarised as follows: unsupportive home environments, negative peer culture and influences, leading to poor self-esteem, lack of future orientation, poor study habits and deteriorated motivation. This would result in school failure, a feeling of hopelessness, alienation and disengagement, ending in school dropout. In short, a downward spiral which may ultimately lead to drugs and criminal involvement. To help the youths at risk, this vicious cycle must be broken. This is where voluntary organisations like the Students Care Service can play a crucial role. Through you and your "connect" programmes, it is possible for these youths to feel cared for, learn to care for others and grow up straight. Together with our schools, you can continue to provide these young people with the care and guidance of adults to compensate for the supportive infrastructure which is missing from their own homes.

7 Finally, I wish to touch on what are called the "Five Cs of Competency" identified by researchers as necessary for youths to possess in order to overcome the challenges faced by their particular age group. These are:

i) critical school competencies of basic academic

and survival skills or work habits;

ii) concept of self and self-esteem;

iii) communication skills;

iv) coping ability and

v) control, which includes the ability to make decisions and delay gratification.

High-risk youths are deficient in one or more of these skills, and deficiency would result in their moving onto self-destructive risk behaviours such as dropping out of school, substance abuse, teenage pregnancy, juvenile delinquency and so on. Perhaps your organisation can work with the schools to develop more programmes that are targetted at augmenting children and teenagers' abilities in these five basic skills groups. Perhaps you could consider making these five competencies the focus of your core programmes for the next few years.

8 The Students Care Service has made significant contributions in helping our youth, especially those in distress. Your spirit of volunteerism is exemplary. On behalf of the Ministry of Education, I would like to thank your organisation for the good work you have been doing and the support you have given to our schools. May I take this opportunity to wish you many more years of fruitful service ahead.