By Leow Si Wan

PUPILS at Holy Innocents' Primary School are getting a new taste for Chinese culture with a series of hour-long classes launched in July.

Primary 1 and 2 pupils at the school in Hougang attend Chinese speech and drama lessons, while those in the higher levels take on the art of rhythm-based story-telling and traditional cross-talk.

Such broad-based education programmes - part of recommendations by the Special Assistance Plan (SAP) Schools Review Taskforce announced last year - are examples of how these schools are reinventing themselves and injecting 'new zest into the education sector', said Senior Minister of State for National Development and Education Grace Fu.

She was speaking at the third SAP seminar held at Nanyang Girls' High School yesterday.

This year marks 30 years since the first nine SAP schools were established in 1979. There are now 25 SAP schools, and their aim is to groom students with a strong command of English and Mandarin, and a solid grounding in traditional Chinese values.

Said Ms Fu: 'With the shift in language use at home and the rise of China, SAP schools... have to be pro-active in nurturing bilingual and bicultural talents who are able to engage China and the Western countries.'

Like Holy Innocents', the other SAP schools are implementing programmes to enrich the process of acquiring the Chinese language and culture.

Lower secondary students at Hwa Chong Institution participate in a Chinese drama programme, while Anglican High organises visits to China for Secondary 2 students every year.

SAP schools face a big challenge in developing more bicultural students, said Dr Tan Chee Lay, deputy executive director of the Singapore Centre for Chinese Language.

He added: 'Being bilingual is only the start and SAP schools have to constantly move towards this target.'

This article was first published in The Straits Times.