Being a single parent and juggling full–time work along with it isn’t an easy task. But that was the reality for Ms Sp Shanthini whose son, Arvin Shankar, is in Primary 6. She constantly worried about his whereabouts after school as there wasn’t anyone to look after him while she’s at work. However, help came to her in the form of the Big Heart Student Care Centre at Teck Whye Primary School – where Arvin studies.

The Big Heart Student Care Centre project, co-operated by the four SHGs, was set up in November 2015 to run school-based student care centres in schools to cater to students of all races. These centres deliver a homely and conducive after-school care environment for students and complement the Ministry of Education’s efforts in offering educational and developmental support to students and reaching out to those from less-advantaged backgrounds. As of 2016, 10 centres were operational with 27 Indian students enrolled in the programme.

This centre at Teck Whye Primary School turned out to be good news not just for Ms Sp Shanthini, but for Arvin too. “I’m very happy to be at the student care centre after my lessons end because I get to meet students from other classes and levels. The teachers in the centre have many activities planned for us and we also complete our homework in the afternoon. During school holidays when I go to the centre, we get to go on learning journeys too”, said Arvin.

While being on probation in 2015, Haashrol decided to turn over a new leaf, not just for himself, but for those around him as well. With the support from his family and friends Haashrol was motivated to change and prove the doubters wrong. Haashrol, who was then pursuing a Nitec in Mechatronics at ITE College Central, buckled down and focused on his studies. His efforts paid off as he maintained a GPA of 4 and graduated from ITE recently.

Haashrol decided to join the SINDA LIONS - SINDA’s very own football team, as a way to stay out of trouble. Being a consistent team member on and off the field, Haashrol was handed the captaincy of the team from 2016 to 2017 and led the team to be champions of the Merlion Youth League (U21) and Merlion Youth Cup (U21) in 2017. “By playing for SINDA LIONS and then getting a chance to captain the team, I learnt a lot more about myself. I found out what my strengths are and gained leadership qualities that helped to shape me into a better person,” said Haashrol.

Muhamed Haashrol S/O Muhamed Jinnah
Captain, SINDA Lions (2016-2017)

Participating in the 2015 ITE Leadership Programme (ITELP) so inspired Daniel Ravindran that the third-year Singapore Polytechnic Electrical and Electronics Engineering student squeezed out time from his full-time studies to return as a mentor in 2016 and back again as programme co-lead in 2017.

Time well spent, is how Daniel sees his journey with ITELP. “ITELP gave me a sense of direction and taught me a lot about being responsible and caring for the community,” he says about his stint as a participant three years back. “It changed me from being someone very quiet and easily distracted to someone who’s able to set goals and chase after them.”

One of his goals was to help other youths—something he feels he has achieved as a co-lead for ITELP 2017, seeing new teams and individuals progress. Although it was a challenge to juggle his time, Daniel says he is grateful for the opportunity. Being part of the annual five-month leadership programme for ITE students twice in different capacities has afforded him new perspectives and made him more adaptable.

Daniel Ravindran, 25
ITELP 2017, Co-Lead

Click here to read it in Tamil

Introduction

We all want our children to be successful in life. By success I don’t just mean academic results. Success includes good character, good values, ability to progress in life, being good citizens and respected by the community.

But how do we ensure success for our children? Like many, I used to think it was mostly about studying hard in school. But when I was at MOE I learnt a few interesting things about what helps children succeed.

The Still Face Experiment

At one MOE Conference on Early Childhood Education I was introduced to the “Still Face Experiment”. This is a famous experiment by Dr Edward Tronick in 1975 which shows the dramatic impact of parent-child interaction.

It starts with a mother actively engaging her 1-year old child. The baby responds happily and positively. Then the mother abruptly stops and shows a still face, not reacting to anything the baby does. At first the child tries to engage the mother’s attention. When there is still no response the child reacts negatively, showing signs of stress and eventually starts crying. The experiment with fathers had the same result.

The experiment shows is that even at a very early age children are sensitive to their environment and respond to it. The quality of social interaction they receive is important. Lack of positive emotional connection and attention from their parents causes them insecurity, anxiety and distress, eventually resulting in negative behaviour.

The first key to a child’s success therefore is the parent - child relationship. Children who come from loving and caring environments, whose parents engage, talk, teach, play and bond with them regularly and show interest in their activities and support them, are more likely to become confident, well-adjusted individuals who will do well in later life.

Learning begins long before primary school

The next key to success is a good early childhood education. Research has shown that those with early childhood education generally do better in life than those who don’t have any.

The pre-school age is an important stage of a child’s brain development. At this age they learn very rapidly. Studies show that children start learning as early as when they are in the womb!

These are formative years during which the foundations are laid for the child’s way of thinking, ability to grasp concepts, social interaction and motor skills. This is also the best age to learn languages.

Pre-school is essential preparation for primary school. Children without pre-school education will be at a disadvantage in primary school compared to children who have had it.

Learning through play

The traditional way of pre-school learning was mostly by memorisation. Some memorisation is still necessary, but teaching and learning today is very different.

One important technique is letting children to learn through play. This is different from leaving children alone to play by themselves. Instead it is structured play. For example, a visit to the neighbourhood mini-mart can teach children many things - discipline (lining up), new vocabulary (learning names of shop items), handling money and maths (by buying a sweet and counting the change).

Play stimulates children’s imagination, intelligence and language ability. It helps them become confident and sociable through interaction with other children. This is especially important when they start formal schooling and later as adults.

Therefore parents should not only focus on academics but also allocate time to engage and teach their pre-school children through purposeful play. It would be good not to have other distractions eg the TV shouldn’t be on at the same time, so the child can focus fully on the learning play. This is also a good way to teach values.

Many Pre-School Options

The pre-school landscape has evolved in recent years. There are many options to meet varied preferences and needs.

Working parents prefer whole-day childcare. Families with adults at home may prefer half-day kindergartens.

There are a wide range of operators within different price points to cater for different household budgets. These include private operators, and anchor operators like PCF and NTUC My First Skool. There are also MOE kindergartens (which have a childcare option) providing high quality affordable pre-school education. There are government subsidies for pre-school fees.

Parents who have difficulty getting pre-school places for their children can approach the Early Childhood Development Agency (ECDA) for assistance.

SINDA Pre-school Enrichment Programme

To complement our children’s pre-school education, SINDA offers a quality pre-school Literacy and Numeracy (LYNN) enrichment programme for children aged 3 to 6 at very affordable rates. These classes are available island-wide at accessible locations. Learn more and sign up now for 2018 classes at http://sinda.org.sg/lynn.

How our children will fare as adults depends a lot on the quality of their relationship with their parents when young and on their pre-school education. We must invest in both to give them the best chance to succeed in life.

A monthly column where pertinent themes and concerns relating to the Indian community are discussed by Ms Indranee Rajah, Senior Minister of State for Finance and Law and President, SINDA. Look out for it in Tamil Murasu on the first Sunday of each month.

“If you would like to see a positive change in society, do something about it. Don’t blame society for the way the world is, because YOU are part of the society and you have the power to make a difference.”

This very piece of advice that Yashaswini R, 21, received from one of her mentors made her want to do her part for the community. She signed up as SINDA’s Project Read volunteer earlier this year.

Project Read is a home-based reading programme that provides children aged between four to nine a head start in schools by equipping them with basic reading skills and instilling in them a reading habit from an early age. She was paired with a K2 student and made time to make regular home visits to read to him and help him improve his linguistic skills.

Yashaswini had to go back to basics and teach him phonics very thoroughly for a good three months before progressing into other stages of reading as her student was having much difficulty in comprehending even simple words. She knew she had to brush up his reading before he starts Primary 1 next year and she worked hard at it.

“Towards the end of his K2 year, his teacher cited that his reading and oratorical skills had improved drastically. Hearing that was truly satisfying - knowing that the child now had the confidence to speak in complete sentences while being able to read and pronounce words eloquently made me feel like I really was able to make an impact.”

Yashaswini realised she enjoyed this experience of being able to positively impact the lives of others. She volunteered to be a part of SINDA’s Door Knocking Exercise as well. Being a final year university student meant that she had to juggle school work and other commitments too but she did not let those stop her from wanting to help others. It is indeed possible to do your part for the community, in ways within your means, as long as you have the desire to make a difference.