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  Channel NewsAsia 27 Aug 06
Volunteerism is one of key pillars of National Education: Lui Tuck Yew
By Pearl Forss

SINGAPORE : Student volunteerism is growing and the Education Ministry believes such activities are key to the new direction that National Education is going to take.

Volunteerism rate for youths is up from 17 percent in 2002 to 25 percent today.

But when it comes to thinking of new ideas to solve community problems, it seems a significant number still have a crutch mentality.

At the inaugural National Student Action Conference at NUS, many questions focused on how the government can solve problems, instead of how youths themselves can come up with creative solutions.

"The government provides some degree of support but rather than be too prescriptive about what each person ought to do, we let them decide what it is that they really enjoy doing. Community action is very much part and parcel of National Education, it is one of the key pillars if you want a rooted-ness in the country," says Minister of State, Education RAdm Lui Tuck Yew.

"I think it is important for our young people to understand what is happening in society around them, what the areas of needs are and more importantly, how they can respond and be responsible in meeting some of these areas of need," he adds.

And while some youths rely on direction from the authorities in carrying out local charity projects, it's a slightly different picture when it comes to overseas volunteerism.

In the past, students relied on organisations like the Singapore International Foundation to facilitate overseas expedition projects. But increasingly, youths are going overseas themselves to conduct community surveys and implement new projects in remote villages across the world.

"The local organisations need help but not that great of a help as compared to those overseas. When we go overseas and accomplish a project, we see that the people there really gain from what we bring them, and the stuff we teach them there," says student volunteer Amelia Tan.

Other issues that are raised at the conference include the know-how of securing funding, and how to ensure youths are not being taken advantage by wayward charities.

Responding to questions, Raymond Huang from Heartware Network, a local voluntary welfare organisation, says youths need to learn to be more street smart when working with the various charity organisations.

Minister Lui says going forward, the next stage in the development of the youth volunteer scene will require a volunteer leader to not just look at addressing issues in one's immediate environment, but to also frame it in the national context.

He adds that many of today's youth volunteer activities are conducted either in isolation or on an one-off basis, with individual groups focusing on their own cause.

He hopes there can be more exchange of information between would-be volunteers and the community services.
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