The National Cadet Corps
- Preparing Future Generations of Loyal Citizens and Able
Leaders
With a history that spans more than 100 years, the National Cadet
Corps trains more than 5,000 secondary school students each year,
both male and female. Many of these students have voluntarily
continued in active participation even after completing their
secondary school education.
The history of the NCC can be traced back to the formation of the
first Army Cadet Corps in Raffles Institution on 15 May
1901. A second unit was formed in St Joseph's Institution
the next year. The aim in those early years was to prepare students
for the Singapore Volunteer Corps (SVC), a military reserve for the
Straits Settlements. While the initial start-up was slow, the NCC
movement took a leap forward in the 1920s with the aggressive
recruitment of members. Among them was Singapore's first President,
Yusof Ishak. He has the distinction of being the first student
cadet to be commissioned as Cadet Lieutenant. The NCC continued to
grow by leaps and bounds throughout the 1930s and 40s, and by 1949,
there were also the Sea Cadet Corps and Air Training Corps.
In the early days, the NCC was managed at various periods by the
Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Interior and Defence
(MID). In 1969, the NCC HQ was formed, integrating the land, sea,
air and Girls' units, together with NCC Police). With the split of
the MID into the Ministry of Defence and Ministry of Home Affairs
in 1970, the police cadet corps element broke away to become the
National Police Cadet Corps (NPCC). With progressive growth and the
increasing need to improve training facilities for the effective
implementation of the NCC programme, HQ NCC moved several times
from Pearl's Hill to Tanglin and then to Haig Road.
left: Cadet Officers from Raffles
Institution
right: Cadets undergoing a proficiency test, 1954
On 30 May 2001, the NCC celebrated its 100th anniversary with the
official opening of its new campus at Amoy Quee Camp. The camp is
well-equipped to train cadets in routine military drills as well as
other joint programmes with the SAF as part of the long-standing
SAF-NCC Affiliation Scheme. The three Services of the SAF, the
Army, Navy and Airforce, unflaggingly provide extensive support for
the NCC in terms of professional advice, training means and
resources. One of the primary aims of the NCC programme in fact is
to prepare male cadets for National Service. Indeed, the whole NCC
experience is an exercise in physical training, discipline,
psychological preparedness, mental endurance and tenacity. It is
part and parcel of citizenship education which cultivates such
values as loyalty to the country, discipline and leadership.
Official opening of the Amoy Quee Campus, May
2001
The SAF believes in the
effectiveness of the NCC in preparing our youth for National
Service. For this reason, the SAF started Affiliation Schemes
between Army Divisions and the NCCs Land Districts since 1969, and
between the Navy and Air Force with NCC (Sea) and NCC (Air) since
1986 and 1987 respectively. Under the Affiliation Schemes, the SAF
provides officers and specialists to assist the NCC in training the
cadets, in testing their proficiency and organising visits to
various SAF units. Cadets also get to use training facilities such
as electronic ranges and stimulator training.
To further strengthen the link between the SAF and NCC, the SAF
Unit Advisors Scheme was launched in 2000. Experienced SAF officers
are assigned to school units to
improve the quality of training
and administration in the units.
Then Chief-of-Defence Force, LG Lim Chuan Poh
