SINDA Board of Trustees and Executive Committee Members;
CEO, Mr Anbarasu Rajendran;
Distinguished Guests, Award Recipients and Family Members;
Ladies and Gentlemen.
Introduction
1. A very good morning. I am very delighted to join you today as we celebrate and recognise the outstanding achievements of our students at this year's SINDA Excellence Awards.
2. First, I would like to congratulate all our 851 award recipients across both sessions today. Your presence here is a testament of your dedication, your hard work, and your relentless pursuit of excellence. You should be very proud of how far you have come.
What Does Excellence Mean Today?
3. As we celebrate your achievements today, I would like for us to look at what excellence means.
4. Excellence is more than just a goal or an end state; it's about improving consistently, setting new standards, and never settling for mediocrity. This concept of continued excellence applies to various facets of our lives. It reinforces to us that success is not a one-time achievement but a continuous path of progress.
5. That is why the SINDA Excellence Awards not only acknowledges your achievements this far, but also inspires each one of you to adopt a mentality of striving for excellence consistently.
6. There is no one-size-fits-all approach to excellence today; it is not pre-defined in any set path or form. We have also evolved our approach to education, to enable our students to explore a diverse range of opportunities and pathways to reach their goals. For example, Full Subject-Based Banding (Full SBB) in our Secondary schools seeks to nurture the joy of learning and caters to the different strengths and interests of our students. We have also revised the admissions criteria for post-secondary pathways to recognise a wider profile of learners and provide students with more options, while ensuring students have the necessary fundamentals to thrive in their chosen pathway. Many of the awardees today exemplify this. Besides academics, they excel or contribute meaningfully in various fields – be it the arts, sports, and community work.
7. I am heartened that over the years, SINDA has expanded its criteria for the awards to recognise Indian students who have excelled in the areas of sports and the arts. We recognise that each student is unique, with their own interests, strengths, passions, and as a community, we should continue to encourage and celebrate this diversity.
SINDA’s Excellence Awards
8. In this spirit, I am heartened to note that this year, SINDA honours the largest cohort of awardees in the ceremony's history. With 851 awardees in total, almost double the number 10 years ago. In arts and sports, we are also seeing more Indian students achieve success at local competitions and inter-school games. This is a clear reflection of the growing achievements of our Indian students across various domains and I look forward to seeing more of this growth in the years to come.
Highlighting Excellence
9. I would like to share that several of our recipients here today have already begun charting their paths to excellence. Take, for example, Hemaraaj Amuthan. His academic journey was not an easy one, as he struggled with his subjects in secondary school. Around the same time, he had also suffered a personal loss when his father, who was his mentor and inspiration, passed on.
10. He went on to pursue Mechanical Technology at ITE, and found his initial few months difficult, as he struggled with low morale and adjustment issues. In time however, Hemaraaj recognised he still had an opportunity to bounce back. He worked together with his lecturers to strengthen his foundations, building his skills and knowledge. Motivated to make his father proud, he went on to score a Grade Point Average (GPA) of 4.0, taking the curveball life had thrown him and turning it into an opportunity to excel.
11. We also met 19-year-old V Varsha earlier in the video. Varsha's sister, a software engineering student, had introduced Varsha to the world of data analytics and computer programming. Varsha was inspired to follow in her sister's footsteps as she watched her sister grasp complex and detailed concepts and listened first-hand to her vivid experiences in the field.
12. This led Varsha to pursue a Diploma in Business Intelligence and Analytics at Nanyang Polytechnic. She found herself excelling at her modules, supported by her keen interest in computing and guidance from her sister.
13. Beyond academics, Varsha actively gives back to the community. As a volunteer for SINDA, Varsha reaches out to households through SINDA's Door Knocking Exercise (DKE), a simple but highly meaningful programme that brings the right support to those in need. Varsha interacts with residents at their doorstep, sharing with them about SINDA's programmes and services while checking on their well-being. This helps SINDA identify more households that require assistance. I applaud SINDA and Varsha's commitment in serving and strengthening our community.
14. The recipient of our Singapore Schools Sports Council (SSSC) Colours Award, Daniel John Varghese, faced an uncertain future in his chosen sport, softball, when he suffered a hamstring injury last year. Instead of giving up, Daniel watched training videos during his recovery period to strengthen his game off the pitch. He focused on rehabilitation, working closely with his physiotherapists to ensure a complete recovery.
15. Today, Daniel is part of the national team who placed second at the Under-18 Softball Asia Cup in Japan, securing a spot at the Under-18 World Cup to be held later this year. Daniel's willingness to persevere and adapt in the face of adversity serves as an inspiration to all of us.
16. The stories of Hemaraaj, Varsha and Daniel, and those of the recipients we watched in the video earlier, highlight the importance of values like determination, focus and passion. Excellence is not synonymous with perfection though. Instead, excellence values effort and determination. It is the process, i.e. effort that each of us put in, driven by our passion and commitment to give off our best. Students like Hemaraaj, Varsha and Daniel willingly put in the time and energy needed to learn, practise, and refine their skills. They consistently persevere in pursuit of their goals, turning obstacles into opportunities. This mindset will serve them well on their journeys onward, and I'm sure that it will equally inspire us, in our own journeys towards excellence.
17. Today is also a day of celebration for the people who have supported our awardees. Behind each successful student, there is a network of support, sacrifice, and motivation. Your family, teachers, schools and community organisations like SINDA, have been instrumental in your journey. So, this is very much a collective journey of a community of people that support and believe in all of you, our awardees. I urge you to express your gratitude to them, for their unwavering belief in you and for playing a pivotal role in your life.
18. To the parents and family members present here today, I urge you to continue to support your children and be their pillars of support, so that they can continue to succeed and achieve excellence throughout their lives. My heartiest congratulations to all of you too!
Conclusion
19. To all recipients – let this moment not be an endpoint, but a milestone moment in your journey. Use this recognition as a launchpad for your future accomplishments.
20. With that in mind, I hope to see you back at this ceremony in the years to come, standing tall among our other award recipients. I wish you all continued success, and may your steadfast determination and resilience lead you to even greater heights.
21. Thank you.