A whole-school approach to engage youths and youth leaders in the community

1. The Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth (MCCY) and the Ministry of Education (MOE) are joining forces to adopt a whole-school approach to engage youths and youth leaders in the community. Under this MCCY-MOE partnership, the National Youth Council (NYC) will work with a few secondary schools, for a start, to trailblaze as Community and Youth Leadership schools. Schools are encouraged to engage NYC and tap into its schemes to support youth development and ground-up community initiatives.

2. The Community and Youth Leadership schools under the MCCY-MOE partnership follows the announcement of the new $100 million National Youth Fund (NYF) to support ground-up youth initiatives which champion community and social causes. Drawing on the NYF, the NYC will connect participating schools with Youth Sector Organisations (YSOs) and community organisations, and work with stakeholders, including curriculum planners, school leaders, teachers, parents and students, to imbue in students a culture of volunteerism, good character and leadership qualities. The partnership aims to create a supportive environment to sustain youth volunteerism and continued engagement with the community beyond the school years.

3. In consultation with MOE, NYC will use the NYF to support YSOs and connect them with schools to co-develop programmes which engage students in the community. Such programmes could link Co-Curricular Activities in school with the arts and sports groups in the community. The YSOs could also provide mentoring and training to educators to facilitate more impactful delivery of Values In Action (VIA) programmes. Examples of such programmes can be found at Annex A [PDF, 66 KB].

4. The VIA programme, as part of the Character and Citizenship Education in schools, provides learning experiences that support students’ development as socially responsible citizens who contribute meaningfully to the community, through the learning and application of values, knowledge and skills.

5. Mr Heng Swee Keat, Minister for Education, said, “The VIA activities that students participate in today serve as springboards to their active participation in society in the future. Through the collaborative efforts, we hope to nurture students’ active citizenship and see more students sustain their community activities beyond their time in schools.”

6. Mr Lawrence Wong, Acting Minister for Culture, Community and Youth and Chairman of NYC, said, “I see this MCCY-MOE partnership as an important way forward to build a strong culture of youth volunteerism. It’s good that our schools are doing more in character and values education. We want these efforts to be translated into actual action in the community, so that our youths can see the meaning and impact of what they are doing. Through this partnership, I hope we can nurture a new generation of active, caring and connected youths and youth leaders, who will serve as change agents and role models in our society even after they leave school,” said Mr Wong.

7. The partnership was announced by Mr Wong at the 2nd National Secondary School Student Leaders Conference (NS3LC) this morning. Co-organised by MOE and NYC, the NS3LC saw 614 student leaders from 154 schools share and present their ideas for community and nation building. The conference programme is attached at Annex B [PDF, 172 KB] for reference.
   
   Contact person/s:
   Joshua Phua
   Client Executive
   Edelman Public Relations
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   Email : Joshua.Phua@edelman.com
   
   Quinnie Low (Ms)
   Assistant Manager (Corporate Communications)
   National Youth Council
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   Email : Quinnie_LOW@pa.gov.sg

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