SAP students need to be well-integrated: PM

Almost 35 years ago, Singapore set up Special Assistance Plan (SAP) schools to nurture bicultural and bilingual students.

Today, these schools continue to play an important role in the education system, as they maintain the values of the old Chinese schools adapted to a new age, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said on Tuesday.

But he stressed that they must produce students who are well-integrated into Singapore's multiracial and multi-religious society.

The students must also be taught to give back to society, having benefited from Singapore's meritocratic system, he added.

"If we do it well, it gives us a unique strength - a deep understanding of one's own culture, within a multicultural context - which will enable you to continue maintaining harmony in Singapore, and also to thrive in a globalised world," he said.

Mr Lee was speaking at the 80th anniversary of CHIJ St Nicholas Girls' School.

He also officially opened its rebuilt campus in Ang Mo Kio GRC's Teck Ghee ward, where he is the MP.

SAP schools like St Nicholas' were set up in 1979 to produce students who are poised to seize opportunities in China and create new ones for Singaporeans back home, he said.

There are 11 of them and they teach only Chinese for mother tongue. As a result, they have few non-Chinese students. But as Singapore is multiracial and multi-religious, "we've got to understand, to relate to and interact comfortably with Singaporeans of other races and religions".

At St Nicholas, where only 3 per cent of the 3,000 students are not Chinese, Mr Lee noted that students learn conversational Malay and attend camps on appreciating other cultures.

He also called on all schools to imbue students with a spirit of service: "If you have done well, it's right that you give back to society and strengthen the system which has enabled you to succeed."

There are concerns that Singapore's meritocratic system has produced a more stratified society, favouring those who have done well and can give their children a head start.

The new campus of St Nicholas has a new indoor sports hall, and music and dance studios. The Government funded most of its $55 million rebuilding costs, while Kwan Im Thong Hood Cho Temple donated a Chinese heritage gallery.

Said St Nicholas' principal Tan Wai Lan: "It is the values of love and giving that we seek to instil in our young charges that will endure beyond the grandest of campuses and stateliest of buildings."

chinlian@sph.com.sg

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