2023 Y4 JIP World Readiness Programme Symposium

This year’s Year 4 World Readiness Programme (WRP) Symposium navigated the world of tomorrow, exploring themes of diversity and inclusivity. For the first time, the symposium was held at Eunoia Junior College (EJC), and included not only students from the Joint Integrated Programme, but also facilitators from EJC and students from other schools. This highly anticipated event was kicked off with an opening address by the Principal of EJC, Mr Andrew Tan, who expressed his hopes for students to engage in meaningful discussions and come up with solutions promoting inclusivity in our diverse society. 

Following the opening address, Mr Desmond Choo, Mayor of the North-East District and Assistant Secretary General at NTUC, shared some rules that he lived by to be more inclusive towards others. In his speech, he included his own life experiences, such as solving cases as a police officer. The first rule was to be unafraid of failure, to acknowledge that however painful, it is an inevitable part of life, and we should simply learn from failures and move on. Secondly, he shared that working together is important to make meaningful progress, and thirdly that extending help to others need not be in big ways, because even small actions of kindness can make someone else’s day. Fourthly, we have to take the initiative to be visible before helping others, because if we are not visible ourselves, we cannot in turn help others. Lastly, to conclude his speech, he shared that we should do something bigger than ourselves. 

With these valuable insights gained from Mr Choo’s sharing, we then broke out into discussions within our respective groups. Studying several case studies of how low-wage workers in Singapore are often treated as ‘invisible’, we shared our opinions on social mobility and the dismissive attitudes and rude behaviour of the public towards these workers on a daily basis. Guided by the overarching question “How to make the invisible visible?”, we were tasked to draft a project proposal to promote the inclusion and integration of such ‘invisible’ groups into our society. 

After engaging in robust group discussions, we proceeded with the Q&A session where we had the opportunity to pose questions to Mr Choo. Students from each school took the initiative to stand in front of the crowd to voice their questions clearly and confidently, which ranged from what kept him going to how the government could ensure acts of service were carried out with heart. In response to this barrage of questions, Mr Choo gave sincere and deeply introspective answers, encouraging us to apply our learning and take action by acknowledging the invisible people in our society, such as thanking the bus driver on our commute home that day. 

The Year 4 WRP Symposium was a fruitful learning experience for all of us. We learnt about being inclusive to ‘invisible’ people in our society while improving our communication skills with people whom we had not met before. The thought-provoking questions made us realise how preoccupied we are with our lives that the contributions of others often slip by unnoticed. In a nutshell, the event was not only well-organised, but filled with an abundance of learning opportunities. Each one of us has a part to play in promoting inclusivity in a diverse landscape to ensure that no one is left behind as we progress together as one society. We hope that after this event, our society will grow to become more inclusive, starting with us and the next generation of leaders. 

2023