Mr K. Shanmugam, President SINDA
Members of the Board of Trustees and Executive Committee
Distinguished Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen, Students

It gives me great pleasure to be here this afternoon to celebrate the achievements of outstanding pupils in SINDA’s STEP Tuition Programme.

This Awards Ceremony recognises significant improvements of STEP students at landmark examinations. Today, 47 pupils will be receiving the STEP Awards. They have done their families and the community proud. Their performance will certainly inspire other students to excel. I would like to congratulate each and every one of them.

Since the introduction of STEP in 1992, about 42,000 students have benefited from the programme. This year, about 2,900 students have enrolled in STEP. This is about 8% of the total Indian students between Primary 1 and Secondary 4. There are two points that struck me about the profile of the students in the STEP programme.

First, STEP reaches out effectively to students who may need tuition but may not be able to afford private tuition. Most (80%) of the students come from families with below $2,000 income. I understand that about 31% receive free or subsidised tuition.

Secondly, most (90%) of the teachers in the STEP programme are trained teachers. All the STEP Centre Principals are senior teachers, ex-principals or current HODs. I understand that 25% of the teachers have been with the programme since it started. This is a measure of the strength of the Community’s resolve to help underachievers.

I am happy to see that SINDA has broadened the scope of STEP Centre activities to include reading sessions for children with a weak language foundation. Other enrichment programmes for students include building self-confidence, time management and educational visits. Workshops are also organised for parents to motivate their children. WISH classes are conducted for mothers who want to learn conversational English. Besides participating in these programmes, parents have also come forward to form support groups to assist Centre staff to organise activities.

The STEP programme would not be possible if not for the dedicated service of the Centre Principals, Tutors, Administrators and the numerous volunteers. I would like to commend you for so willingly coming forward to help.

We need to focus on the education of our children to enable them to climb the social ladder. As parents, we need to motivate and guide them to strive towards better academic performance. The government and organisations like SINDA can help to create opportunities and support programmes for students and their families to move up the social ladder. Ultimately, it is up to the students to take advantage of these avenues to heave themselves up. I believe this is achievable only with strong family support.

I urge the award recipients to remain focused and continue to excel. I also hope that many of you will come back to serve the community after completing your studies. Those who are able to do better must be prepared to help others who have not been so fortunate. Only then can we excel as a community and as a nation.

Thank you.

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