Scholarship named after ex-RGS principal Carmee Lim

Former Raffles Girls' School (RGS) principal Carmee Lim has a scholarship named after her, in honour of her work in education.

Education firm MindChamps and Toa Payoh East Citizens' Consultative Committee launched on Tuesday the Mrs Carmee Lim Scholarship for needy students in Bishan-Toa Payoh GRC and Central Singapore district.

It is a result of a meeting this year between Bishan-Toa Payoh GRC MP Zainudin Nordin and MindChamps founder David Chiem.

Mrs Lim, 74, who headed RGS from 1988 to 1999, was a senior inspector of schools at the Ministry of Education from 1985 to 1988, and the founding executive director of the Academy of Principals, which trains principals, from 2002 to 2004.

Mrs Lim, now mentor principal of MindChamps, was part of a team that developed the curriculum for the firm's preschools. She also has a hand in training its teachers and coming up with programmes.

On Tuesday, she presented the scholarships to 15 Primary 5 pupils at the company's Toa Payoh HDB Hub headquarters. Each received about $16,700 worth of its programmes. The total sum came up to $250,000.

From next month, the 15 recipients will take part in programmes which will train them in areas such as life skills, study techniques and how to do well in oral exams and the Primary School Leaving Examination. Their parents will also receive training in exam strategies.

Mrs Lim said: "It's always been my dream to give more help to underprivileged students. This will really make a difference to their lives, and their families too."

Housewife Pakoanary Lingam, whose son Aavinash Balamurukan was among the scholarship recipients, hopes his grades will improve.

She said: "This scholarship is good for both of us... I want him to go to polytechnic, university, and become a graduate, and when he grows up, give something back to society."

ateng@sph.com.sg

This article was first published on Nov 14, 2014.
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