I REFER to the lament by Mr Kevin Chua, 'Not enough done to keep beaches clean'?(March 26). What is needed is a mindset change. We should start with our youngsters. If students can see that they are personally responsible for the environment around them, then perhaps the littering situation in public places would improve. I remember growing up in the 1970s and having to pick litter around my primary school premises. In those days, no one minded. In fact, all it took was a few minutes of walking around the school premises to remove sweet wrappers, tissue paper and the like from the ground after recess.

Such a simple, yet effective act has instilled in me the need to keep our environment clean, until today. I'm sure there are many Singaporeans like me who have benefited from this anti-littering exercise in schools then.

The Education Ministry, secondary schools and JCs might explore the possibility of having our students pick up litter at beaches and public parks as yet another avenue for a Community Involvement Project.

The idea is not to replace the cleaners, but to instil in students an awareness that their actions have a direct impact on the environment.

It is only through having to pick up other people's litter that one will realise how thoughtless a litter bug is. Hopefully, their litter-picking experience will rub off on them in a positive way, just as mine did on me.

Jean Clare Tan (Mdm)

This article was first published in The Straits Times on Apr 4, 2008.