In the recent issue of the ‘Beanstalk’ magazine, Mr Eugene Leong, Chief Executive Office of ECDA quoted, “For our children to thrive in this interconnected world, they need to be aware of the world around them, appreciate different perspectives and cultures, embrace new ideas, as well as acquire the skills and attitude for creative thinking, problem solving and global citizenship. At the same time, our children should be secured and rooted in their identity as Singaporeans, and in our collective heritage and culture.”
He also added on to say that research suggests that our children should have opportunities to be engaged in culturally rich and diverse experiences. Hence, NurtureStars Punggol seized one such opportunity on Racial Harmony Day this year, to mark the start of raising globally minded children in our care!
Interactive exhibitions featuring all about the 4 races in Singapore; Chinese, Malays, Indians and Eurasians! We also added a special section titled ‘Foreigners’ so that we could educate the children that our multi-racial nation also welcomes foreigners to become part of our sunny Singapore, which we call home. We also asked children to identify teachers and fellow students who were not Singaporeans. We spoke about the importance of being kind to one another and recognising the contributions by foreigners to Singapore!
Not forgetting our exclusive and nostalgic exhibit featuring multi-racial games played during kampung days! We spoke about how children from different races would gather to play all these games together harmoniously!
Thereafter, teachers spoke to the children about the importance of respecting one another and living harmoniously after a hilarious skit by our teachers and a short video clip on the 1969 racial riot: https://youtu.be/P9_l4Vp1wLA
The children even got to savour delicious food from different racial groups! Yummy! They were taught how to portray kindness while commenting on food from different races. They were also taught how to politely refuse food which they were not keen to try.
It was indeed a grand affair as both teachers and children were decked up in traditional costumes from different races and countries!
It was a week long celebration as classes took time to explore the different exhibits and play the good old multi-racial games that were played during the kampung days! Majulah Singapura! #SSDB2018
