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SINDA'S 11TH Annual General Meeting
SSINDA will be holding
its 11th Annual General Meeting on Friday,
23 March 2001 at the SINDA Auditorium, 1 Beatty Road at 6pm.
It is only with the support of volunteers and the many Indian organisations
that SINDA has been able to work towards its mission of uplifting
the Indian Singaporean community. Keeping this is in mind we developed
new programmes and modified our existing programmes to increase
volunteer participation in the year 2000.
Volunteer Support:
Volunteer support has been crucial in the success of our programmes.
Hence, the volunteer recruitment, training and management system
was strengthened. As a result of this our volunteer ranks swelled
from 1300 in January 2000 to 2100 by the end of the year. Besides
appealing for volunteers through the media, we also used various
innovative volunteer recruitment strategies like recruit messages
through message pagers, inserts in our newsletters, online recruitment
through the website and through SINDA's radio programme Thil Thil
Manathil. We receive support from the community and beyond. More
than 10% of our volunteers are non-Indians. About 25% are students.
In addition to strengthening our entirely volunteer driven programmes
like the home-based reading programme Project Read we also introduced:
- Kaki Klub: a youth mentorship programme
for Secondary 1, 2 and 3 students in the Normal Academic and Normal
Technical streams. A trained volunteer mentor is matched to a
student for 6 months. We have 210 students from 11 schools in
this programme.
- Motivational Sessions: To inspire
our lower Secondary Express students to greater heights we conduct
special programmes like inspirational talks by young local celebrities.
250 students from 16 schools benefited from this programme.
- Project Teach: is a home tutoring
programme. Volunteers are provided one-on-one tuition. It helps
children (Primary1-Primary 3) from low income families whose foundations
in English and Math are so weak that they need individual attention.
Project Teach volunteers coach children for 2 hours a week. 110
students are in this programme. All students have made good progress
in their studies and the programme has received positive feedback
from schools and teachers.
- Project Reach: We reached out to
150 families in the Radin Mas constituency through Project Reach.
Trained volunteers from the constituency visited these families
living in 1/2/3 room flats to identify their needs and to ensure
that relevant services are offered to them.
Bridging The Digital Divide:
To bridge
the digital divide and ensure that the community is prepared for
the challenges of a knowledge based economy, SINDA introduced several
new programmes in partnership with the IT Services Cooperative.
10,000 people were trained by SINDA in IT through various programmes
and initiatives. These included:
- IT Smart: a special three hour
course that introduces computers and the Internet at only $10.
The programme was started by SINDA and the IT Services Cooperative
in response to feedback that many in the community were keen to
learn IT but were apprehensive as most courses were expensive,
had unsuitable timings or were taught in English. IT Smart addressed
these issues squarely and 3000 were trained through this programme
in just six months. 180 people from low income families received
free IT training. Of those trained, 30% were housewives and 15%
were retirees. 10% of IT Smart participants signed up for advanced
classes.
- Think IT: Through Think IT SINDA
provides advanced IT courses like the MS Office Package, Web Page
Design, Build Your Own PC and Programming courses. 1350 people
have been trained under Think IT.
- Promoting IT In A Fun Way: To promote
IT in a fun way, we organised an IT Carnival that was hosted by
local Indian celebrities. The carnival attracted 5,000 people.
Reaching Out To The Community:
Our efforts were directed at providing services
that meet the needs of the community. To achieve this we also worked
closely with various Indian Organisations. By working hand in hand
with the community we reached out to our target audiences in various
ways. Key among these are:
- Reading Efforts: Various reading
efforts like Project Read, Library Helpdesks, Block Reading and
Reading Centres reached out to 1400 children.
- STEP Tuition Programme: The STEP
Tuition Programme was modified in response to changes in the education
system. The Secondary Revision Programme was recast as an intensive
revision programme for pupils. To date, 25,000 pupils have attended
the STEP Tuition Programme. 3560 pupils attended the programme
in 2000, the highest since it started. We also effectively reached
out to the right target group. 70% of our students came from low
income families earning below $1500. 540 (16%) students in the
programme received free tuition.
- Early Intervention: Parents with
young children (between 2-6 years) were the main focus of public
education efforts this year. The aim was to equip parents with
skills to provide a headstart for their children. 1000 parents
benefited through these efforts.
- Career Guidance Programmes: Efforts
were stepped up to motivate upper secondary students to pursue
their studies after their 'N'¹ and 'O' levels. 4900 pupils and
parents benefited through these efforts.
- Working Hand in Hand with the Community:
We collaborated with more than 72 Indian Organisations on joint
projects. The People's Association Indian Activity Executive Council
(PAIAEC) was one of our key partners. Through joint public education
seminars and workshops we reached out to 3,500 people.
- Bursaries: $187,310 was awarded
as bursaries to 406 deserving students. SINDA also offered other
kinds of assistance to these families based on their needs.
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