Singapore Government Press Release

Media Relations Division, Ministry of Information, Communications and the Arts,

MITA Building, 140 Hill Street, 2nd Storey, Singapore 179369

Tel: 6837-9666

SPEECH BY MR THARMAN SHANMUGARATNAM, MINISTER FOR EDUCATION, AT THE SINGAPORE MEDIA AND YOUTH CONFERENCE, 26 JANUARY 2005, 9.45 AM AT THE NGEE ANN POLYTECHNIC CONVENTION CENTRE

Mr Chia Mia Chiang,

Principal, Ngee Ann Polytechnic

Associate Professor Ang Peng Hwa,

Dean, School of Communication and Information,

Nanyang Technological University

Mr Han Fook Kwang,

Editor, The Straits Times

Mr Shaun Seow,

Group Managing Director, MediaCorp Private Limited

Students

Ladies and Gentlemen

INTRODUCTION

It gives me great pleasure to be here this morning at the inaugural Singapore Youth and Media Conference.

This Conference is an excellent initiative.� It brings together two important groups of stakeholders in Singapore society � our youth and the media.� It provides a platform for our youth to exchange ideas, to examine the changing character of the media, and to assess its impact on society from the perspective of younger Singaporeans.� It will also allow you to discuss how you can use the media to express your views, and to shape opinion of others in your generation or the public at large.

THE MEDIA AS AN INDISPENSABLE CONDUIT

The media plays an important role in Singapore, as in any modern society.� Newspapers, television and radio perform the critical function of bringing information to the public.� They also surface public opinions and reactions to the issues of the day.� This is useful for other viewers and readers and also very important for policy-makers.� The media effectively serves as a feedback platform on policies and schemes, and what needs to be improved.

As Education Minister, I reach for the Straits Times the moment I wake up.� It is in fact my caffeine substitute.� I used to take a cup of thick black coffee first thing in the morning.� But I now find that reading the daily views, suggestions and criticisms on education wakes me up much faster.� The ST is now my cup of coffee.

It also stays with me during the day.� By early afternoon, my staff at MOE would have put together and summarised all the news and comments on education from Singapore�s different language newspapers, so that we can think about the issues raised and respond where necessary.� And over the course of the day, I will try to do a quick read of several national and international newspapers, looking out for commentaries that offer a new perspective.� I round up the day by watching the news on Channel News Asia, or if I don�t get back home in time, I look at it online at the CNA website.� So the media starts and ends my day, giving me a surer feel of what the public thinks, and throwing up ideas that are often worth mulling over and following up on.

In Education, listening to views in the media, and engaging with the public through the media, is indispensable.� The media gives us a way of reaching the wider public and parents, and gives them a channel to have their views heard.� Tuning in is part of the job, as it is almost everywhere in Government.� It complements everything else we do in MOE, in communicating up and down the line with our schools and in the dialogues we have with students and parents.

BUILDING AN ACTIVE CITIZENRY

Globally, the reach of the media has never been wider.� The recent Tsunami tragedy showed how the power of the media can be harnessed positively.� The authentic images and accounts of suffering that the world read in the papers and saw on television galvanised governments and moved ordinary people to reach out to help and assist the victims in an unprecedented wave of compassion and giving.� But we also know that the media, with its now immense reach, can be harnessed for negative aims.� Even small and disorganised terrorist groups have been able to broadcast their demands around the world and capture the attention they desire.

It will be some time before we can fully understand the implications of the explosion of media, in the internet, and from terrestrial TV to cable and satellite, on the way we, especially the young, think, and the societies we live in.� The current generation of young people the world over has access to information and influences through the media and internet that would have been unimaginable just half a generation ago.� Will it this phenomenal new access produce better informed and more active citizens?� Will it help develop more cohesive societies?

On the face of things, the huge increase in information being pushed out through new media channels has not led to an increase in civic awareness or a greater sense of responsibility on the part of citizens.� There are many encouraging exceptions, with the recent response of people around the world to the tsunami disaster being the most inspiring example.� But the trends in the developed societies have not been encouraging.

In the UK, the Government has recently warned that political and social apathy among students poses a risk to the long term cohesion of local communities.� Citizenship education has been made a statutory requirement in schools so as to engage youth in political and social issues.� It has met with minimal success so far, but the UK is keen to press on and improve the way citizenship education is taught.� In Australia, a 2004 Electoral Survey showed that more than half of all young people have no interest in politics.� In the US, surveys find people having lower levels of knowledge of the workings of government and the political system than a few decades ago.� In the last US Presidential Elections, a survey found that a third of first-time voters were uninformed on the key issues that each presidential candidate stood for.� In Canada, the last federal election saw one of the lowest turnouts in history.� And in China, there is concern about increasingly individualistic attitudes among new generations of students.

It is critical that we avoid these trends in Singapore.� We can do so by providing opportunities for young Singaporeans to learn and practice active citizenship.� This is a key task in education.

We will not groom active and responsible citizens just by providing facts or knowledge.� To help our youth become active citizens, we have to not only give them facts about the basic realities we face, and assiduously nurture a questioning attitude from young.� You have to question things as you grow up and become a young adult.� It is the only way to understand issues, and develop a genuine conviction about social and national priorities.

Equally important, we must also provide students with opportunities for participation.� The best way to learn the skills and habits of citizenship is to practice it.� We have to find inventive ways to encourage students to exercise initiative, to express their views on national issues, and to contribute meaningfully, in the school, in the community, and in the region around us.

The response of our students and schools to the tsunami tragedy showed quite clearly that many of our youth want to contribute.� In Ang Mo Kio Secondary, for instance, students in the Red Cross responded as early as 27 Dec by approaching their CCA teachers to volunteer their services.� Subsequently, their teachers linked them up with the Soka Association of Singapore to help in the relief effort through collecting clothing and blankets for the survivors.� Before long, other CCA groups like the National Police Cadet Corps (NPCC) and volleyball boys chipped in.

Students from our post-secondary institutes also took the initiative.� They have lent support in various ways, from sorting and packing supplies to the victims, to organising donation drives.� More than $620,000 has been raised by the ITE, polytechnics and universities, and in interesting ways too.� For instance, a group of Singapore Polytechnic (SP) students sold 200 boxes of chocolates made by a former SP student who now runs a chocolate manufacturing and retail business.� Enterprising students from Ngee Ann Polytechnic�s School of InfoComm Technology (ICT) organised their own ICT Idol competition, and takings from the ticket sales will go to the Tsunami Relief Fund.� Students in each of the tertiary institutions also plan to contribute to the long-term reconstruction efforts in the tsunami affected countries.� Republic Polytechnic is planning disaster relief missions involving staff and students to Sumatra and Sri Lanka in the next few months in collaboration with the Singapore International Foundation.

KEEPING UP THE MOMENTUM

The signs are promising.� More young Singaporeans are standing up, letting go of their inhibitions, developing a passion for issues that matter to them, and contributing in their own ways.� More youth are coming forward to express their views.� The newspapers� Forum Pages regularly carry contributions from students that provide fresh and often well-articulated perspectives on topical issues.� Entries in the newer media such as weblogs also show that many feel strongly about events taking place in Singapore and around the world.� Our youth are engaging.

I would urge the media to provide channels that encourage this new civic consciousness, and keep up the momentum of youth engagement in community and national issues.� More of our media are in fact playing that role.� Last year, my colleagues and I participated in Channel I�s programme, I-Contact, where we had the wonderful opportunity of being assailed by questions and critical views from students on key national issues.� Interestingly, the idea for such a programme was mooted by a student himself after he had seen a similar programme on Australian television.

The Straits Times recently launched its Youthink pages, written by youth for youth.� It also introduced an education supplement entitled IN that is targeted at secondary school students, quite apart from getting Education Ministers up quickly in the morning.� Lianhe Zaobao has its upbeat and fresh Popcorn to appeal to younger readers while Berita Harian has its Teenage pages.

You can create your own media.� Within your schools and tertiary institutions, there are various avenues you can use or design for yourselves, to express your opinions or galvanise your peers into action.� Ngee Ann Polytechnic for example has a student-run campus radio station entitled Radio Heatwave as well as Campus Television (CTV) broadcast unit.

But remember always that the challenge is not in accessing more information.� The challenge is to keep assessing available information with an open and questioning mind, form your own ideas and opinions and discuss them with your friends.� And find your own ways to serve the community.

CONCLUSION

I am sure today�s Conference will throw up new perspectives from among the youth, on how you can use the media and contribute to a better Singapore.� I wish all of you a fruitful session.