Speech by Minister for Foreign Affairs George Yeo at the Xinmin Secondary School Gala Dinner, 28 July 2010

[Photo: MFA]
 

Xinmin School has a long but rather checkered history. It was established (as Sin Min High School) a few months after the Japanese surrender as a primary school, meaning new people or new citizens. As we were still a British colony then, the word 'citizen' was not yet a reality and only a hope to strive for.

In 1956, it became an aided school with both primary and secondary classes. The objective was to help nurture a Chinese-educated elite. Students of the school participated in the anti-colonial struggle. Many of the brighter ones went on to Nanyang University.

Chinese education in Singapore went through many twists and turns. In 1986, Sin Min High became an English-medium school. In 1990, the school shifted from the 5th Milestone Upper Serangoon to Hougang Avenue 8 and was renamed Xinmin Secondary School, pinyinized with an 'x' instead of an 's'.

With all these changes, the school lost its original character in many ways. But, somehow, it kept a certain spirit which refused to die or go away. This is very interesting. Without that spirit, the school would not be what it is today and we would not be celebrating the 65th Anniversary with a fund-raising gala dinner.

What is that spirit which the founding principal, Yap Fun Hong, gave to the school in 1945? It was the focus on the child, to educate him for society and make him an upright person and a good citizen. Curriculums can change; the school can be relocated; but the emphasis on forming young individuals was maintained and became an inseparable part of the school tradition and spirit, and this, despite the switch from the Chinese to the English medium.

Xinmin has always been a neighbourhood school, not in the nowadays often negative sense of a school which can't be better, but in the positive sense of a school which is organically integrated to the community around it, raising the standard of that community and being supported by it.

Till today, Xinmin has the reputation of being a 'turnaround' school where students from the neighbourhood could look to for a good education and be set on the road to a bright future. It remains a bastion of community self-help, expressing the idea that it takes a village to educate a child, and the child as an adult remembering this and giving back to the school and community.

The school song and the school motto 'Leading Hearts, Leading Minds' express the School's equal emphasis on imparting knowledge and forming character. Because the school has retained some of its original Chinese education culture, it participates actively in our national objective to create a bilingual, bicultural elite. Xinmin's Bicultural Exchange and Immersion Programme with schools in 8 cities in Asia is open to students from all streams and enables them to gain insights into the way of life in other countries.

Xinmin is the only school in Singapore with all 3 streams to become a School Excellence Award winner. It is able to achieve this because of the school's commitment to an excellent all-round education for all students and not just for the better students.

What Xinmin is able to do for its students, we must try to do for everyone in Singapore. Singapore is well-positioned to benefit hugely from the growth of Asia, from the re-emergence of China, India and other Asian countries on the world stage. Many Singaporeans will do very well in this new world. But some will not because of low education, poor health or just bad luck. This year, Singapore's strong recovery will benefit many individuals but not all. If we are to be a strong country, we must extend helping hands to those who are not doing as well so that no one is left behind. This has always been the spirit of Xinmin School and the same spirit should drive us forward as one Singapore.

It is part of Xinmin's tradition that important anniversaries are celebrated by a commitment to new projects which benefit students and the surrounding community. Tonight's gala dinner is also intended to raise funds for a Performing Arts Centre which will provide a wonderful new facility for students and for those living around the Hougang area. I know how warmly Xinmin alumni feel for the school and thank you for your support of the school and the ideals it represents.