SINDA Youth Awards 2024

Speech by Mr Eric Chua, Senior Parliamentary Secretary for Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth, and Ministry of Social and Family Development, at the SINDA Youth Awards 2024 on 26 October 2024

Vice-President Mr Sarjit Singh and SINDA ExCo Members,

CEO, SINDA, Mr Anbarasu Rajendran,

Award Recipients, Parents,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

1. A very good morning to one and all. I am very happy to join you, as we celebrate our youths at the SINDA Youth Awards.
2. Firstly, congratulations to all 150 award recipients for your remarkable accomplishments in SINDA’s youth programmes. The awards you will receive are a recognition of your resilience and commitment to excellence.

Supporting our youths to thrive and succeed

3. SINDA has been and will continue to be committed to inspiring and nurturing the potential of our young minds. 
1. Programmes like the SINDA Youth Leaders’ Seminar, SINDA Youth Club and the SINDA-IBR Corporate Mentoring initiative cater to the various needs of our youths. Some cultivate leadership skills and values through immersive camps, and others provide real-world experience and insights through mentorship.
2. Collectively, these programmes provide youths with the resources to navigate a brittle, anxious, often nonlinear and at times, incomprehensible world.
4. We recognise the need to embrace broader definitions of success right here in Singapore, therefore, the Government is committed to providing more opportunities for our young ones to chart your own paths and pursue diverse aspirations.
1. On the education front, Full Subject-Based Banding has been fully implemented in secondary schools this year to cater to different strengths and learning needs. 
2. We are also supporting youths who want to develop their interest in fields like the arts and in sports.
1. For instance, Singapore’s first arts university, the University of Arts (UAS), welcomed its first cohort in August this year. 
2. We have also enhanced support for our athletes through various schemes, such as increased allowances for spexScholars as well as a new spexEducation Undergraduate Scholarship to play sports a more viable career pathway right here in Singapore.
5. I hope our youths realise that the world is indeed your oyster. 

Highlight of Valedictorian’s Journey

6. At this juncture, I also want to take a moment to recognise this year’s valedictorian, Rakshanaa Pandian, let’s give her a round of applause. She is an inspiring role model who embodies the spirit of resilience and determination. 
7. Rakshanaa first joined SINDA’s programmes in 2018 and has since come a very long way. SINDA’s programmes have allowed her to develop her skill sets, both technical skills like coding, as well as other soft skills that have shaped her into the leader that she is today.
8. Having personally benefitted from SINDA’s youth programmes, she is eager to pay it forward and support others in their journey. Driven by her passion for community service and leadership, Rakshanaa continues to take time out to mentor her younger peers despite her demanding school schedule at PSB Academy.

Giving Back to the Community

9. In fact, I am very glad to hear that just like Rakshanaa, many of our award recipients in the audience today have also given back to the community in various ways. 
1. Some have paid it forward by returning as peer mentors and volunteers. Whereas others are actively involved in community activities.
10. At a much larger societal level, it is this exact same spirit that will drive us forward as One Singapore. Recognising that even as we pursue our individual aspirations, each of us has a part to play, a meaningful stake in Singapore’s society and that we are collectively invested in our shared future.
11. In addition to supporting SINDA’s programmes, you can also contribute in other ways.
1. For instance, consider joining the Youth Corps Singapore to serve causes and communities that you care about. I know our young ones care about a variety of issues in the world today: mental health, sustainability, disability-inclusion, income inequality, social inequality, and many more.
2. Another way is to contribute your ideas and views on national and policy issues by participating in dialogues and engagements, such as the Joint Youth Dialogue organised annually by the Self-Help Groups.
3. Such platforms offer the opportunity for you to meet and interact with people from diverse backgrounds and different races and backgrounds, hear varied viewpoints, and be inspired to put on different thinking caps.
12. First of all, I would like to say that I’m very happy to see so many youths, more than 150 of you in the hall today. As I look back on my younger self, I often think what I would tell myself. What I would actually say, is, “Don’t hold yourself back.” Because many of us, especially in Singapore, may be shy in expressing ourselves. In that same vein, many of us don’t give ourselves enough credit for what we have achieved, for what we are talented in, and that we also forget what we can do in life.
13. We may think, “I cannot, I’m not so talented”, but I’m here to tell you that, let none of these factors and considerations hold you back. At a certain point in life, right about your age now, I was also thinking to myself, “Maybe, I cannot.” However, by and by, I have met mentors, different people in society, and they urged me to slowly crawl out from my shell. I think I gradually did. You’ll be surprised at what you will find when you see more and more of yourself, figuratively and literally, in the mirror. Then, you will realise that you can actually achieve a lot in life. 
14. I see many parents and family members in the room today and I feel very heartened. Families are our society’s bedrock. Families are each and every one of our safe harbours, our anchors in life. Here, I hope that in the context of our families, we can always talk about the most difficult, and sometimes perhaps, even the most taboo topics, in life. Take, for instance, the issue of mental health. I know that many Singaporean families don’t talk about that. But I also know that our youth in Singapore’s society, and many other countries around the world, have quite a hard time. Being a youth today, is very different from when I was a youth, in the 1980s and 1990s. Our youth today have a whole barrage of stressors in life. I think many of us, in the context of the family, have not plucked up sufficient courage to talk about these sensitive and dicier issues that we hesitate to confront. It seems a little thorny for me to raise this, but I really hope that within the context of our families, we can all start having mindful, thoughtful, and heartful conversations.

Conclusion

15. To all award recipients, your achievements today symbolise just the beginning. I am confident that you will continue to grow and uplift others around you, in the same way your parents, teachers, mentors and the SINDA community have uplifted you.
16. Congratulations once again, and I wish you every courage to dream big and to turn your dreams into reality. Thank you very much.