By Amelia Tan

STUDENTS from three secondary schools will get a chance to learn about the media and make their own films in a new course to be offered at the O-level exams from next January.

A total of 60 Express and Normal (Academic) students from Kuo Chuan Presbyterian Secondary School, Paya Lebar Methodist Girls' School and Singapore Chinese Girls' School have enrolled in the media studies course.

It is part of the second phase of O-level applied subjects, which came from the recommendations of a government committee formed two years ago. The committee was charged with looking into ways secondary schools could teach skills needed in a knowledge-based and innovation-driven economy.

It recommended that secondary schools work together with the polytechnics to introduce applied subjects to cater to secondary school students who prefer practical class work.

In January this year, eight secondary schools began offering creative 3-D animation, fundamentals of electronics and introduction to enterprise development as O-level applied subjects.

The new two-year media studies course will be taught by two lecturers from Ngee Ann Polytechnic's School of Film and Media Studies. Students will be introduced to mass media theories, analyse media content, conduct interviews and will be equipped with script-writing, directing and video editing skills to create films.

Ngee Ann Polytechnic School of Film and Media Studies deputy director Robin Yee said: 'There has been in unprecedented explosion of media in the last decade due to the Internet.

'But the ability to discern media content has not been in sync with this growth. We hope to train savvy consumers and producers of media through the course.'

Students said they applied for the course because it will put them in good stead to enter the growing media industry in Singapore.

'I enrolled in the media studies course because it will give me the skills for my dream jobs which are being a journalist, author and movie producer,' said Kuo Chuan Presbyterian Secondary student Premela Rajasegaran, 14. 'I'm so excited; I can't wait for school to start again.'

The Government announced in April that it will pour significant resources into making Singapore the best place to develop, host and distribute media content.

To achieve this goal, it would need to increase the pool of people who can conceptualise, manage and provide support for large creative projects like movies.

This article was first published in The Straits Times on Dec 1, 2008.