Mr Desmond Lee, Minister for Education;
Mr Tan Cheng Gay and Mr Khaw Boon Wan, Singapore Hokkien Huay Kuan Board of Governors;
Mr Thomas Chua, President, Singapore Hokkien Huay Kuan,
Colleagues from Ministry of Education and the Singapore Hokkien Huay Kuan
Judges and Recipients of the LEAP Award,
Distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen

Good afternoon and a very warm welcome to the 14th Singapore Hokkien Huay Kuan LEAP Award Presentation Ceremony!

We are deeply honoured to have Minister Desmond Lee with us today. This is the first time the Minister is gracing our Huay Kuan event as Minister for Education and I trust that it will be the first of many going forward.

Education has always been at the core of the Huay Kuan’s mission. All our 6 SHHK schools precede Singapore’s independence and have, apart from producing many illustrious alumni, left an indelible mark on Singapore’s education history. example Tao Nao the oldest child “born” in 1906 was the first modern school in colonial Singapore to use Mandarin as the medium of instruction. Chongfu School’s first incarnation was an all-girls’ school Chong Hock Girl School established in 1915, an era when very few females were able to get an education. Nan Chiau High and Primary Schools had its roots in the teachers’ training college the Huay Kuan set up in 1941 to help address the need for locally trained teachers. Interrupted by WW2, it reopened in 1947 as Nan Chiau Girls’ High School with an affiliated primary school.

Post independence, the Huay Kuan continued to support mainstream education with its six schools. As all schools benefited from a national curriculum and better resourcing from the Ministry of Education, the Huay Kuan found new ways to add value to the students enrolled in our schools. This gave birth to new programmes in our schools such as the Bicultural Chinese Elective Programme (BiCEP) which aims to develop effectively bilingual and bicultural students from our SHHK primary schools, and the Thinkers’ Programme which exposes our students to subjects such as design thinking, AI, coding etc with the aim of applying them to improve real life issues. In fact, the BiCEP programme has expanded beyond our SHHK schools with us sharing our curriculum with schools such as Qihua Primary and Poi Ching Primary.

Today, the SHHK education footprint goes beyond our schools and includes pre-school, before and after school programmes, and enrichment classes such as Chinese speech and drama. The Hokkien Foundation has also been supporting education causes over the years, which includes bursaries and scholarships at different levels for deserving students. We also organise several national level competitions and awards, including the LEAP award for teachers, which we are gathered here today to celebrate.

LEAP – which stands for “Listening Educator for Advancement and Progress” was launched 15 years ago by the late President SR Nathan. It was an effort by the Huay Kuan to recognise teachers nationwide for their commitment towards education. Although this is not the only award recognising educators locally, it is unique because it was initiated by the people sector and has been long running. This year in celebration of SG 60 and the Huay Kuan’s 185th anniversary, we will be conferring the leap award to 20 outstanding teachers this year. For the first time, junior college teachers will also be included in the awards. The 20 educators, painstakingly selected by the Panel from 329 nominations, have proven not only to be good teachers, but also good role models and served as inspiration to their students. On behalf of SHHK, our most sincere congratulations to the judging panel and all LEAP Award recipients – we thank you for your dedication and passion.

In addition to the LEAP Award, we will also be presenting the Long Service Award to the dedicated staff of our affiliated schools, as well as congratulatory trophies to outstanding graduates from our affiliated schools.

It would be remiss of me in closing not to acknowledge and thank the Ministry of Education for the strong support extended to Singapore Hokkien Huay Kuan and our affiliated schools over the years. This close partnership has enabled us to advance our shared mission of promoting values-based, holistic education. Together, we have made strides in shaping resilient, grounded, and forward-looking students. With the support of Minister Lee, I am sure our partnership will grow from strength to strength in the years ahead.

尊敬的教育部李智陞部长、新加坡福建会馆监理员陈精毅与许文远先生，会长蔡其生先生，各位师长、各位来宾：

新加坡福建会馆自1840年创会以来，长期致力于资助教育、培育下一代。在2011年推介的飞跃教师奖，体现了福建会馆对教育工作者无私奉献的敬意。为欢庆新加坡独立60周年，飞跃教师奖筹委会今年特别颁发20份奖项，表扬教师们对学生所付出的关心和爱心。今年也首次接受初级学院老师的提名。

在此我也要代表福建会馆教育组，感谢参与飞跃教师奖评审工作的评委同仁，大家投入了大量的时间。审视了进入复选的50多份提名资料和视频，最终从329份提名当中选出20位老师。因为有您们的协助，飞跃教师奖才能持续发挥影响力，帮助推动本地教育水平的发展。

最后，再次恭贺第14届飞跃教师奖的20位得奖教师！也感谢在座每一位来宾的踊跃出席和支持。下星期就是教师节，我在这里预祝所有的老师，教师节快乐！

谢谢大家！