Mr Tang Kin Fei, Chairman, Ngee Ann Polytechnic Council,
Mr Lim Kok Kiang, Principal & CEO, Ngee Ann Polytechnic,
Mrs Loke-Yeo Teck Yong, Director, National Institute of Early Childhood Development
Ngee Ann Polytechnic Council Members,
Colleagues, Graduands, family members
1. A very good morning to all of you. I'm happy to join you at Ngee Ann Polytechnic's Graduation Ceremony.
2. Today marks an important milestone for the 173 graduands from the Diploma in Early Childhood Development and Education (ECDE) and Diploma in Tamil Studies with Early Education (TSE), offered by the National Institute of Early Childhood Development (NIEC) in collaboration with NP. Congratulations everyone, on your well-deserved achievements.
3. Equally important, are your family, friends, and lecturers who have accompanied you on this journey. Please let us give everyone a round of applause.
4. As we celebrate the successes of the graduands today, I hope to share three perspectives with you should you want to consider them as you embark on the next phase of your journey.
Passion and Determination
5. The first point I would like to share with you is how, in order to succeed or excel, one needs to pair passion with determination.
6. As prospective early childhood educators, I am sure you have considered how teaching can bring with it unique challenges. Nurturing young children is a noble task and if this is where your passion lies, then I salute you for your love and passion and hope that you continue to stay determined to find the best ways to bring out the best in every child.
7. One of your fellow graduands, Ms Joelle Koh, found her first practicum at a preschool challenging. During storytelling time, she could not capture the students' attention. Some would cry, others would walk around and play with toys, or try to grab the storybook that Joelle was reading. Instead of giving up, Joelle took the time to reflect after each of her lessons and searched for new ways to improve. Over time, she learnt better ways to guide her students, so they had an enjoyable and fruitful time in the classroom. She would turn to music and use finger props to hold the attention of her young charges. Realising that every student learns differently, she tried a variety of teaching methods until she found one that worked. And today, Joelle is the proud recipient of the ECDA Teaching Award and the PAP Community Foundation Silver Medal.
8. I also understand that Joelle aspires to set up an inclusive preschool one day to help children with different needs to learn at their own pace. I wish her the very best!
9. Another student, Ms Andi Hani Yasmin Binti Mohd Yusof, demonstrated her passion and determination in juggling her studies with heavy familial responsibilities. While taking care of an ailing family member, Yasmin managed to set aside time to focus on her studies and eventually graduated at the top of her cohort. Yasmin's passion for working with young children extended beyond the classroom, as she volunteered in the Home-to-School programme by Singapore Children's Society where she helped preschool children transit to primary school.
10. I understand that Yasmin hopes to work as a preschool educator upon graduation and is considering furthering her studies in early childhood education in the near future.
11. I encourage all of you to keep the passion burning in the work that you do. Many of our skills and habits are formed in our early years, and as early childhood educators, you play an important role in shaping the future of our younger generation.
Leveraging technology for teaching and learning
12. The second point I would like to share with you is the importance of finding new ways to leverage technology for learning and teaching. The pandemic, as we all know, has accelerated the pace of technological change, and forced us to learn new ways of doing old things more quickly.
13. I'm sure all of you, have all felt the change acutely. You have all felt the change acutely, you have had to have lectures and practical classes moved online, and over the past two years, technology played a key role in ensuring that our teaching and learning objectives were not overly compromised.
14. For instance, you had the opportunity to explore a physical pre-school classroom through a 360-degree classroom simulator that included embedded readings, videos, and quizzes. Kudos to the NIEC and NP staff who had co-designed this simulator and made learning fun and interactive.
15. As we transition out of the pandemic, these takeaways will continue to remain relevant. I understand that NP plans to leverage on this experience to continue blending learning for students and shifting content that is better learnt online onto digital platforms and leaving more time on campus for more interactive components of learning and teaching. Overall, this contributes to a more meaningful and enhanced student experience.
16. I am impressed also that NP students had demonstrated resilience and innovativeness in your learning during the pandemic. I would like to mention Mr Elijah Ng, the Lee Kuan Yew Award and Ngee Ann Polytechnic Outstanding Achievement Award winner as one example.
17. Elijah was part of a Youth Expedition Project team that planned a three-day virtual event for young refugees from the ElShaddai Refugee Learning Centre in Malaysia. They successfully used virtual platforms to teach basic IT skills to their foreign friends and conducted cultural immersion activities.
18. He also took part in the Temasek Foundation Specialists' Community Action and Leadership Exchange Programme, where he interacted with students from Vietnam National University via online platforms. He has shown us how technology provides new ways to stay connected, learn and help others.
19. Another example is Ms Natalie Yeh, the winner of the Ngee Ann Kongsi Award and the Lee Kuan Yew award. Natalie gained inspiration from her experience as a nursing student attached to the hospitals to help come up with an innovative solution to help others. She was part of a team that developed an interactive game from scratch to aid the rehabilitation of patients with dementia.
20. The digital game allowed patients who were cooped up at home to continue their rehabilitation activities during the height of the pandemic. To Natalie and the team – great job in coming up with an innovative way to improve care for our patients!
21. I encourage all of you to leverage on your familiarity and ease with technology to find new ways to transform the way teaching is being conducted, learning, and also to help one another.
Giving back to our community
22. My third point is on the importance of community. As we journey ahead and get better at what we do and provide for our families, we should also look out for those who may be facing difficulties or who have started from less advantaged backgrounds.
23. I am heartened to hear of many initiatives that you have undertaken to give back to the community, and that you have also initiated new projects to support those who were hit hardest by the pandemic.
24. For example, ECDE and TSE students initiated and organised more than 20 events over three months during the last semester break under the umbrella of Project L.A.H., which stands for Lend-a-Hand, to help the less privileged amongst us. The events organised included a donation drive to collect basic necessities for migrant workers, making sensory objects for children from low-income families, and leading children with intellectual disabilities in dance workouts via Zoom.
25. I would like to mention Ms Pearlyn Koh, the Lien Ying Chow Gold Medal & Ngee Ann Polytechnic Outstanding Achievement Award winner. Despite Pearlyn's busy schedule as a national table tennis player, she also made time to contribute to the community.
26. She organised a one-day table tennis tournament for children after noticing that there was a lack of opportunities for young paddlers to compete locally. During the pandemic, Pearlyn, together with her sister, also launched a fundraising campaign and successfully obtained sponsorship to put together care packs for frontline medical workers.
27. I hope that we can all continue to look out for one another, remaining connected to the community around us, and to find ways to give back to build a stronger and more resilient Singapore.
Conclusion
28. In conclusion, with the skills and values that you have gained in your time at NP, I am confident that you will be able to pursue your passions, continue to leverage technology for teaching and learning, and contribute to our community.
29. Congratulations once again to all the graduating students! May you always fondly remember the memories you have here in NP, the friendships you have formed, and I wish you the very best for the next stage of your journey. Thank you.