Students to be offered more language options
Article : Business Times 08/03/07 Page 12
In an article on the 8th of March in the Straits Times, the Ministry of Education has set out plans to include more languages such as Arabic and Bahasa Indonesia in the 3rd language curriculum in a bid to broaden language diversity in students. By offering more languages, Singapore will hopefully build on its key strength in language and culture.
In doing this, it shows that the government is aware that many business opportunities arise from countries all over the world, and knowledge of the language of other countries is crucial to effective communication between parties. MM Lee has often talked about Singapore having to capitalize on our strengths as we have limited natural resources. Hence, language diversity will definitely aid in making Singapore an approachable and marketable country.
Not only this, such a move will enhance the reputation of our education system. Scholars from all over the world come to Singapore to pursue education. From a student’s point of view, I would feel that Singapore’s education system is holistic and all rounded, and provides equal opportunities for all. If I was an Arabic scholar, I would be extremely happy as I could pursue a good education while at the same time, learn my own native tongue! However, from an outsider’s point of view, such education might seem to me as having breath but not depth. However, the strength of such a move by the MOE is that the new languages are electives. People can choose if they want to take the subject, and hence it is a win-win situation for all.
However, there can be cause for objection. My understanding is limited as the views of students shape my opinion. To a student, learning extra languages would be fun, but to another ordinary person, they might wonder. Is that what they lack for success in the working world? There is a possibility that the government is going in the wrong direction, for English is more often than not used by many countries including Arab. It is somewhat ironical as such countries are turning towards proficiency in English while Singapore is trying to diversify language. If I approach this from such a perspective, then Singapore should be working more on developing the public relation skills of our students. Students should be engaged in oral speaking classes and beefing up their presentation skills. This is because in the working world, first impressions last, and Singaporeans have to give others a good impression to project ourselves on the world stage.
In conclusion, I welcome the move by the government to diversity language in schools. The prospects of our future look bright. In the future, Singapore would be a multicultural IT hub, and it may be possible that important ties will be established with many countries, boosting Singapore’s reputation. What is crucial now, is to make sure Singaporeans strike a good impression in people overseas, and establish ties which will hopefully benefit our country greatly for the foreseeable future.
In doing this, it shows that the government is aware that many business opportunities arise from countries all over the world, and knowledge of the language of other countries is crucial to effective communication between parties. MM Lee has often talked about Singapore having to capitalize on our strengths as we have limited natural resources. Hence, language diversity will definitely aid in making Singapore an approachable and marketable country.
Not only this, such a move will enhance the reputation of our education system. Scholars from all over the world come to Singapore to pursue education. From a student’s point of view, I would feel that Singapore’s education system is holistic and all rounded, and provides equal opportunities for all. If I was an Arabic scholar, I would be extremely happy as I could pursue a good education while at the same time, learn my own native tongue! However, from an outsider’s point of view, such education might seem to me as having breath but not depth. However, the strength of such a move by the MOE is that the new languages are electives. People can choose if they want to take the subject, and hence it is a win-win situation for all.
However, there can be cause for objection. My understanding is limited as the views of students shape my opinion. To a student, learning extra languages would be fun, but to another ordinary person, they might wonder. Is that what they lack for success in the working world? There is a possibility that the government is going in the wrong direction, for English is more often than not used by many countries including Arab. It is somewhat ironical as such countries are turning towards proficiency in English while Singapore is trying to diversify language. If I approach this from such a perspective, then Singapore should be working more on developing the public relation skills of our students. Students should be engaged in oral speaking classes and beefing up their presentation skills. This is because in the working world, first impressions last, and Singaporeans have to give others a good impression to project ourselves on the world stage.
In conclusion, I welcome the move by the government to diversity language in schools. The prospects of our future look bright. In the future, Singapore would be a multicultural IT hub, and it may be possible that important ties will be established with many countries, boosting Singapore’s reputation. What is crucial now, is to make sure Singaporeans strike a good impression in people overseas, and establish ties which will hopefully benefit our country greatly for the foreseeable future.
Article
YESTERDAY IN PARLIAMENT
ENGLISH and Mandarin, plus Malay and Tamil, might no longer be enough. To helpstudents prepare for a global future and take advantage of opportunities beyondSingapore, the Ministry of Education intends to take steps to boost the country's key strength of cultural and language diversity. The Ministry of Education will broaden student access to conversational Chinese and Malay enrichment programmes and offer Bahasa Indonesia and Arabic as third languages at the MOE Language Centre. Announcing this yesterday in Parliament, Education Minister TharmanShanmugaratnam outlined the key skills and traits that young people inSingapore would have to develop in order to prepare for a globalised future. 'We know that we have to work smarter - rather than work cheaper - in order to thrive amidst the competition with China and India, and before too long with new players like Vietnam,' he said. This means preparing the young to think for themselves, to work in teams, tobe able to communicate clearly and being totally comfortable with IT - keyskills for the future, in any industry and at every level of an organisation,Mr Tharman said. Besides providing students with more opportunities for stints abroad to helpdevelop a global outlook, the government also intends to build up Singapore'slanguage advantage. It will do this by improving the effectiveness of bilingual languagelearning, introducing more third language options and giving more students thechance to learn languages other than their own mother tongue at aconversational level. In line with these moves, the MOE is adding BahasaIndonesia and Arabic to the existing third languages at its language centrefrom 2008. 'Having a pool of young Singaporeans who are well versed in the culture andlanguages of the region is crucial for our long term engagement with ourclosest neighbours,' Mr Tharman said. On the introduction of Arabic, he pointed out that the Middle East is a fastgrowing region, with opportunities for Singaporeans. The government will also do more to promote conversational Chinese and Malayas enrichment programmes for students who are not native speakers of theselanguages. It was also announced in Parliament yesterday that the MOE is exploring thefeasibility of introducing a licensing system to ensure that private schoolsmeet certain standards of academic rigour, financial stability and studentwelfare, before they are allowed to operate. Minister of State for Education Gan Kim Yong, responding to questions fromMPs on private education in Singapore, noted that the number of private schoolshad grown from 267 in 1996 to 1,125 last year. The country has also acquired a strong global reputation in education due tothe quality of its education programmes in publicly-funded schools and tertiaryinstitutions. 'It is important for us to preserve the reputation of our education system,'Mr Gan said. 'Therefore, there is a need to enhance the regulatory frameworkfor the private education organisations to assure quality in this fast-growingsector.' He added that the MOE was also looking into an accreditation system torecognise high-quality private education providers and to help students toselect the most suitable school. 'MOE will consult with industry to work out the regulatory framework, tosupport Singapore's development as a quality education hub,' he said, althoughhe did not give a timeline for when such a framework could be in place.
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