MOE sets aside S$12m to develop use of Chinese language
The grant is part of the S$45 million provided by the government, to be spent on the education of the Mother Tongue Language, over the next five years.
Earlier this year in January, the ministry had announced changes to the Mother Tongue Language (MTL) curriculum, to make it more engaging for students.
Since then, schools have organised more activities to promote the Chinese language.
At River Valley Primary, students enjoy a two-week cultural immersion programme, called MTL Fortnights.
Primary 1 student, Evan The, said: "I learnt to write in the Chinese brush way. It was so much fun, I did two."
Sydney Foo, a Primary 5 student, also enjoyed his experience. He said: "I learnt how to play a new instrument, and I also learnt some new words and Chinese calligraphy."
The carnival was made possible, thanks to parent volunteers and arts groups, many of whom offered their services at subsidised rates.
Senior Minister of State with the Ministry of National Development and Ministry of Education Grace Fu. said: "Use of the language needs (to be) multi-party, all stakeholders to be involved. So we talked about the communication of cultural values. We need the buy-in, the support, and the motivation of community groups to be with us in this journey. So by having a matching grant principle, we are able to get more buy-in from the ground."
Some groups have already stepped up to the challenge. The Kwan Im Thong Hood Cho Temple donated S$150,000 to the I Love Reading Project - an effort to encourage pre-school children to start reading Chinese books. With the matching grant, this fund will now be doubled to S$300,000.
Some 400 pre-school centres stand to benefit from this programme, and the Committee to Promote Chinese Language (CPCLL) aims to inculcate the reading habit in 20,000 pre-schoolers.
Another programme is a Speakers' series, where renowned local writers like Lee Kow Feng will be invited to share how students can broaden their perspective of the Chinese language. 60 schools look set to participate in the project.
Danny Poh, Principal of River Valley Primary School, said: "We have a high percentage of 70 to 80 per cent of students who speak mainly English at home, so to engender this interest in speaking their Mother Tongue is very important. We see more of our students now speaking more Mother Tongue, even in their conversations with their friends."
River Valley Primary has also seen concrete results. There has been a three to four per cent increase in distinctions for the Chinese language paper, in the Primary School Leaving Examination.
Other racial groups also stand to benefit from the overall S$45 million fund. It was announced in March that the Malay community will receive S$3.6 million - and of this sum, S$1.5 million will go to a matching grant fund. The Tamil community will receive S$1 million - and half of this will go to a matching grant fund.
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