BG Lee urges Indian students to pursue post-secondary education which would arm them with marketable skills needed to face future challenges

The number of Indian students preferring to take on a job after secondary school instead of going on with their education at a technical institute is particularly worrying, said Deputy Prime Minister BG (NS) Lee Hsien Loong yesterday.

Finding a job when times are good may be easy but the students' "lack of marketable skills will tell against them"' he said. "The future economy will be driven by technological progress, innovation and constant change.

"Students in schools now must realise that what they learn today will quickly become obsolete. To remain ahead in their chosen careers, they will have to keep on learning new skills all their working lives."

BG Lee was speaking at the Singapore Indian Development Association's award ceremony for top Indian students. A total of 127 students, from PSLE up to Nanyang Technological University levels, received plaques and certificates from the Deputy Prime Minister.

Providing figures to underline the concern, BG Lee said that less than two-thirds of all Indian pupils this year who were eligible to join a technical course, did so.

Reiterating a point made last month by Foreign Affairs and Law Minister S Jayakumar at an Indian community gathering, BG Lee noted that about 400 Indian students left school with just secondary education each year.

He added that the 57 per cent of Indian students from the Primary 1 cohort that made it to post-secondary institutions last year was still lower than the national average of 77 per cent.

"Fortunately, the Indian community has recognised these issues and is tackling them." BG Lee said that the Indian community's success will not only help Indians but also help Singapore position itself for the challenges ahead.

SAF scholar is GI Jane too

SHE is one tough cookie. And a smart one too.Scholarship winner Shalini Arulanandam, 19, who is studying to be a doctor, also does 6-km runs and quick marches in full combat gear. Miss Arulanandam is also Cadet Arulanandam. She completed six months of officer cadet training this year, before disrupting it to start her medical studies.

In that time, she has roughed it out in rubber plantations in Pulau Tekong, and in weekly rounds of the standard obstacle course at the elite Officer Cadet School. For the 1.7m-tall scholar, who is also trained in Indian classical dance, it was all part of accepting the Singapore Armed Forces Local Study Award for medicine.

She is the first woman to have been offered a medicine scholarship from the SAF. Before her, SAF scholarships have been taken by women in other disciplines.

She will serve her 12-year bond in the army. "It was a difficult decision to accept the scholarship. And during those six months, I did have my doubts.

"Especially when I had to 'book in' on Sunday nights. I'd wonder, 'Why am I doing this? Is this what I really want'?"But the first-year medical student at the National University of Singapore (NUS) persevered and came out tops in her platoon, bagging the overall best cadet award.

On the SAF scholarship, she said: "I wanted to take it up because it gave me the chance to be financially independent." Yesterday, she was one of 127 students to receive academic excellence awards from the Singapore Indian Development Association (SINDA).

No stranger to academic prizes, she has won a SINDA excellence award twice before. And last year, the former Raffles Junior College student received the college's Shaw Foundation scholarship - an award given to RJC's students for all-round excellence.

She credits her family for encouraging her to do well in her studies, which she balanced with her interests in sports. Netball helped her win the Sports Excellence Assistance Programme for Schools award in 1996. And she is also a long-distance runner.

Her father is an engineering lecturer at the Singapore Polytechnic and her mother is the deputy director for health promotions at Tan Tock Seng Hospital. Younger sister, Shivani, is studying for her O-levels at Raffles Girls' Secondary.

Scholar, soldier, athlete and trained Indian classical dancer, with a postgraduate diploma from the Singapore Indian Fine Arts Society. So, is Miss Arulanandam bad at anything? "Yes," she said, smiling. "I stopped learning to play piano. I just could not take any more lessons."