NATIONAL EDUCATION LESSONS COME ALIVE AT MARINA BAY

Some 40 students and two teachers from Shuqun Primary School were up close and personal with the people behind the making of this year's National Day Parade (NDP) on 21 May.

Among the key organisers for NDP 2007's parade and ceremony segment, 165 Squadron (SQN) of the Republic of Singapore Air Force (RSAF) sought to educate young Singaporeans on the efforts that had gone into preparing for the nation's birthday bash.

The Air Force unit treated students to a "behind the scenes" tour of the NDP sites where the 11-year-olds discovered lesser-known facts about the parade proceedings and infrastructures.

In what National Education (NE) Officer, Ms Loi Huey Shing of the Ministry of Education calls the "NE Learning Journey", the tour was an attempt to inculcate nationalistic values in the young beyond the boundaries of the classroom.

Chairman of Parade and Marshalling, Lieutenant-Colonel (LTC) Chia Chien Wei who is also the Commanding Officer (CO) of 165 SQN, described the initiative as an "evolution".

He revealed: "This year, we won the National Education award the CAF (Chief of Air Force) Award which is given in recognition of the work we've been doing for national education within the squadron.

"So as we talked about it; asked ourselves why we restricted ourselves to within the squadron and why not open it up and benefit the larger population?"

The primary five students from Shuqun Primary School catching an exclusive "sneak preview" of the viewing gallery and floating platform at Marina Bay ahead of the country's 42nd birthday.

Emphasising the importance of integrating the five pillars of Total Defence, LTC Chia felt that community involvement in nation-building was essential to maintain a cohesive and stable society.

"The key idea is to leverage on whatever we're doing now in order to benefit the larger population," he explained.

From the viewing gallery, the visitors headed towards Suntec City, tracing the route taken by the parade participants from the performance site to the holding areas in the mega convention centre.

While walking through the various marshalling points, students were briefed on interesting logistical aspects of the parade before returning to the floating platform at Marina Bay. Mdm Zurinah Hasan, one of two teachers accompanying the group, and an NE Coordinator for Shuqun Primary School, found the excursion "a very wonderful learning experience" for her pupils who made up the pioneer batch of students involved in the NDP tour.

With NE messages conveyed through the tour, Mdm Zurinah was certain that her students now knew that "they can depend on Singapore for their future".

The students themselves were enthusiastic and full of praise for the tour.

"It's very enjoyable; very fun and educational. We're going to have a very good parade!" exclaimed Clamus Pang Guo Rui.

His schoolmate, Muhammad Walid Bin Hamdan, was eager to share his knowledge: "I learned that the floating platform is 470 tonnes!"