SINGAPORE: Minister of State for Community
Development, Youth and Sports Halimah Yacob has stressed the
important role parents play in ensuring their children's success in
education.
Speaking at a community event on Saturday, Mdm
Halimah also lauded the Indian community for working together to
reach out to needy students.
The Tamils Representative Council, Singapore Indian
Education Trust, and Indian self-help group SINDA (Singapore Indian
Development Association) have been pooling their resources to reach
out to poor families since 2002.
80 students from low income families received bursaries of up to
S$120 each at a ceremony on Saturday morning.
Next year, 2,000 bursaries worth more than S$1 million are expected
to be distributed.
Some 400 students also received their "Back To School" kits worth
over S$100 each to help them prepare for school next year. The kit
consists of a school bag, sports water bottle, stationery, vouchers
and shoes.
Mdm Halimah said: "Despite all this support, whether it's
bursaries, back to school bags and so on, if parents are not
interested, (if) they don't take a keen interest, don't participate
in their children's education, it will have a very minimal
impact.
"I hope that parents will continue to give strong support to their
children in the Indian community so that the Indian community can
continue to do better and better."
-CNA/ac
