Date Published: 02 Aug 2008

Mr Low Eng Teong, Principal of ,

Distinguished Old Victorians and Guests

Parents

Staff and Students of Victoria School,

Ladies and Gentlemen

1. It gives me great pleasure to join you in marking Victoria School's 132nd Speech Day. Victoria School has indeed come a long way from its humble beginnings. You started in 1876 as Kampong Glam Malay School with just 12 boys. Today, you are one of our top schools, counting amongst your alumni many distinguished Singaporeans. I am confident than amongst you here today, a significant number will go on to make a mark in the national front in the future.

Victoria Thy Triumphs See

2. The theme for today's celebration is "Victoria Thy Triumphs See". This verse from the school song aptly illustrates how you have made a tradition out of the drive to excel. You have a fine record of academic and CCA achievements and you continue to build on it.

3. For three consecutive years, Victoria School has garnered the Academic Value Added Award. Last year, you received the National Education Development Award, the Character Development Award as well as the Sustained Achievement Awards in Uniformed Group, Aesthetics, Physical Fitness and Sports. This year, VS has been accorded the Friendly School Award by the Asian Women's Welfare Association for the whole school effort in successfully integrating the learning needs of two wheelchair- bound students.

Emphasis on the Environment

4. As Environment Minister, I am also happy to hear that VS has also played its part in conserving the environment, being certified as a Water Efficient Building and successfully achieving the Orchid Award in the School's Green Audit by the Environmental Council. These awards augment the increasing emphasis in the school curriculum on heightening students' environmental consciousness. For example, your Secondary Three team not only garnered a Commendation Award at the National Weather Study Project (NWSP), it also presented its project findings at the Earth Day Exhibition held at the Science Centre last year. Such hands-on efforts help students to explore and understand our environment better. More importantly, it seeds in them the desire to cherish the environment we have and safeguard it, so that future generations can also enjoy the same. Indeed, we want to nurture young Singaporeans who are able to look beyond their textbooks, and who want to use their energies to create a better society.

Understanding the region and beyond

5. If Singapore is to prosper and succeed as a global city, we need our young to be culturally versatile, yet confident of their own identity and rooted in Singaporean values. Victoria School has established a host of teacher and student exchange programmes with , , , and Abu Dhabi. These experiences broaden the horizons of our young and enable them to understand the world better.

6. This year, Victoria School, is one of four schools, and the only non-independent School, selected by the Ministry Of Education to offer the Regional Studies Programme (RSP) to its secondary one students. 25 students were selected for the RSP which also offers Bahasa Indonesia as a third language. This offers an excellent opportunity for the students to better understand our region. The spirit of the programme came through when the boys performed the gamelan earlier, thanks to VS's close ties with Sekolah Indonesia. Tied to this programme is a prestigious MOE scholarship. I am glad to note that 19 deserving students will be receiving the scholarship award later.

7. I understand VS students regularly go for learning trips in the region and beyond. They also compete at the international level. Take the School Choir for example. The Choir attained Gold awards in the last few Singapore Youth Festivals. This year, at the Festival of Songs held in Olomouc of the Czech Republic, it won two Gold medals and came out as the top Boy's Choir. Opportunities to connect in an international arena will allow our students to become more conscious that beyond their individual self, there is a wider community around them. I am glad to see that the VS education exposes students to a global perspective.

Future leaders of society

8. In its 132 years as an education provider and nurturer of youth, Victoria School has gone through many trials and tribulations. The success that you enjoy as a top school today did not come on Day One or by chance. It is a result of many generations of headmasters, principals, teachers and students putting in consistent work, building on the efforts of previous cohorts, and painstakingly living up to your motto "Nil Sine Labore". Today, you are better outfitted, better supported and better staffed than ever before compared to your humbler predecessors that President SR Nathan - a most distinguished old boy - recollected when he opened your new campus here two years ago. When you get used to success, it is easy to dismiss the lessons of the past and rest on our laurels.

9. Similarly, Singapore as a nation, has achieved much on the vision and determination of the first and second generation of leaders and citizens. Now that we have seemingly arrived from being Third World to First World can we afford to rest on our laurels? Just like the previous generations who had faced challenges of the day, we too will face our challenges. And as students belonging to a future generation of leaders, you must also take an interest in these challenges. We may be different in the way we do things, but our vision of seeing Singapore through as a peaceful, cohesive and progressive society must be shared by all of us.

10. Like many countries, Singapore is not immune to the challenges pose by globalization. Globalisation brings forth a better quality of life - more products, better technology and knowledge being spread a lot faster. It brings more rewards to those who have talents as they can move quickly onto the international stage and reap the rewards. Many of you here will benefit from globalisation. At the same time, there will be others who may be left behind and feeling the impact of a widening income gap. This can lead to many social and political problems unless we address them appropriately. If our best and brightest do not apply their minds to the future of Singapore, we cannot sustain our success. While we see many paths to success, many things can wrong if we take our eyes off, or if our talented are satisfied with their own personal quality of life. Just as your school benefited from the philanthropy of an early generation of pioneers, I hope among the cohort here would arise leaders and philanthropists of new generation - not just to give money, but to lend passion and effort that will see our nation succeed.

11. A new generation must also come up with ideas for the future. In order to succeed, Singapore has to consistently invent and re-invent ourselves to remain relevant to the world. Singapore is at a stage of development where there are not many significant examples for us to follow as we use to do in the early days of our development. We need to chart out new paths for our future. We need to experiment and explore ideas never tested before. It is an exciting project to continue to take on these challenges, seize opportunities and see Singapore thrive and succeed, even as we remember to ensure that no one is left behind so that we succeed not just as individuals but as a society and nation. My call to younger Singaporeans such as yourself is to step forward and be a part of this exciting project for the future of Singapore.

12. On this note, I remember the selfless contributions of Dr , my parliamentary colleague of many years who worked quietly and passionately in the interest of his constituents - young and old, and of all races, religions and abilities. He was a voice of reason in Parliament and also contributed much to Singapore's defence and heritage as a military historian. In your school, he had been active and visionary in many ways and continued to be a mentor to the school management and dedicated to the cause of Victorians. Indeed it was he who invited me to join you all at this important event. We will all miss him. I understand from your principal that Dr Ong's name will live on in VS with the launch and presentation of a student's leadership award today.

Conclusion

13. In closing, allow me to extend my heartiest congratulations to all the prize recipients today for your achievements and contributions. You have done your school and your parents proud. Let me also applaud the good work of your principal and staff - both teaching and support, whose dedication and selfless efforts have played a significant role in fulfilling the school's vision of nurturing Victorians into gentlemen, professionals and sportsmen. Let me also congratulate old boys - many holding appointments of distinction - who continue to support the school, as well as community leaders and partners who have supported the school. To all of you I offer my very best wishes to the school for 132 years of outstanding progress. May VS scale greater heights in the future and enjoy many more years of success ahead.