KELANTAN schoolboy Ravinash Ratnam, 16, thought that Singapore was a place where the different races did not mix.

But the prefect from the SMK Sultan Yahya Petra 1 school changed his mind after he came to Singapore for the first time, and interacted with students here.

'There's no difference between each race. They talk to each other: The Chinese talk to the Indians, and the Indians to the Malays,' he noted.

On her part, Noor Ewanny Alwi, 15, a student councillor from Tampines Secondary, said the furthest she has gone to Malaysia is Malacca.

But she is now raring to go further up north to Pahang and Terangganu after learning more about these states.

'My buddy from Pahang said 15-year-olds were not allowed to work last time. But now as the economy gets worse, a lot of teenagers are working to help support their parents,' she said.

The duo are among 185 students at the third annual Singapore and Malaysia Student Leaders' Adventure Camp, which started on Monday and ends on Friday.

Visiting the camp on Wednesday with his Malaysian counterpart Hishammuddin Hussein, Singapore's Education Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam said it was hard to tell the students apart.

This shows how close and similar they were.

Singapore and Malaysia can take the lead in fostering more interaction amongst students in South-east Asia, he added.

Getting students from the countries in region together are 'low hanging fruits which we must take', he told reporters on Wednesday.

'Getting the kids together is one of the easiest things we can do, and one of the most powerful thing we can do in the long-run.'

For a start, the two ministers hope to bring student interaction between their two countries up a notch.

One idea they have agreed on is to help those who have taken part in the camps to keep in touch and have reunions before they go on to university.

Another is to put a smaller group of older student leaders on a sail boat, so that there's ' no escaping fellows on the same boat', said Mr Tharman with a smile.

Datuk Hishammuddin said that education was 'not as sensitive' as other areas, and Singapore and Malaysia have got things moving in this area.

On Tuesday, the two ministers had signed a government-to-government Memorandum of Understanding to deepen the countries' education links.

On Wednesday, the two ministers saw gamelan, band and dance performances put up by students and watched a video clip of the students visiting places of interest like Little India and the Esplanade.

Wan Sabaruddin Wan Mohammad, 16, from Terangganu, was impressed by what he saw on his first trip here.

'I thought Singapore was just a small place with no natural environment.'

'But now I see it has skyscrapers, monuments and is very high-tech,' he said.

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