REACH PRESS RELEASE

YOUTH FOR A CAUSE: STUDENTS DON “AMBASSADORS” ROLE TO SPREAD CULTURE OF ACTIVE CITIZENRY AMONG YOUTH  

Sports safety has always been an issue close to the heart of 15-year old Andy. And now, the avid sports athlete can look forward to getting his views on this, as well as other issues of concern, heard. In fact, not only can he air his own views on these issues, the secondary three student from Hai Sing Catholic School can now organise feedback activities to get his peers to do so as well. This is because Andy is a Junior REACH Ambassador.

2 REACH will be launching the ‘Junior REACH Ambassadors’ (JRAs) programme on 20 February 2008 (Wednesday), followed by a student forum with about 140 students from 14 participating schools. The launch event will be held at Hai Sing Catholic School, a JRA participating school.

 ‘Junior REACH Ambassadors’ (JRA) Programme

3 This is the first time REACH is launching an outreach initiative for youth of such a scale – a project which involves 70 students from 14 schools from the secondary level, Junior College; ITE and Polytechnic islandwide. The aim of the JRA programme is to raise the level of active citizenry among youth, that is, make youth aware of the important role they can play in the policy-making process and to engage them in the process. The JRAs will be the catalyst of change in their schools and cultivate the feedback culture among their peers. They will spearhead feedback activities in their schools to encourage youth engagement. As a pilot, the participating schools would each nominate five students as JRAs. The 70 JRAs will be appointed for a two-year term.

4 Dr Vivian Balakrishnan, Minister for Community Development, Youth and Sports and Second Minister for Information, Communications and The Arts will be the Guest-of-Honour at the launch. The subsequent student forum will provide a platform for the students to engage the Minister on current youth-related issues and issues of interest to them. This would be the first event the JRAs will be involved in, from helping to organise the event, to being part of the forum.

JRA Programme – A major milestone for REACH in youth engagement

5 The JRA programme is the brainchild of Dr Amy Khor, Chairman, REACH. The idea was sparked by Dr Khor’s earlier successful programme, the Junior Environment Ambassadors launched by the South West CDC to combat dengue. Dr Khor believes that youth are the best influence upon their peers, and the way to reach youth is through youth themselves.

Resounding support from participating schools

6 Dr Khor is pleased by the strong positive support given by the participating schools. She said: “This is a major milestone for REACH as we go one level up with our youth engagement and getting youth to play a more active role in shaping Government policies. I am very happy with the enthusiasm and support from the schools, all of whom immediately expressed keen interest and support for the programme when REACH initially broached the idea with them. In fact, the schools are already exploring how they can complement the JRA programme with their own school programmes which aim to mould and nurture students. They see the JRA programme as beneficial to developing in our youth a sense of national attachment, and the realisation that they have a stake and responsibility to play an active part in shaping the Singapore of tomorrow. Additionally, the JRA programme will also contribute to the character development and emotional growth of their students, as they learn to initiate and run programmes and in the process hone their leadership skills, and build friendships and share experiences with fellow JRAs from various schools. The high level of commitment from the schools signals the importance of youth engagement and development, and the JRA programme aims to do just that. As a pilot, we want to start on a smaller scale, hence only 14 schools across the different levels have been invited to participate. We will continue to grow and expand the programme and eventually reach out to all schools, who desire to participate in the programme.”

Custom-made training programme for JRAs

7 Going forward, the JRAs will be attending a 2-day training programme at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy on engagement, leadership and the policy making process, so as to better equip themselves with the relevant knowledge and skills to carry out their new responsibilities. They will also do so on a 1-day attachment with REACH to see first hand how REACH discharges its roles and responsibilities.

Issued by:

REACH
20 February 2008