S'pore school teaches 'angklung' and computers<\/p>\n
By Endy M. Bayuni<\/p>\n
SINGAPORE (JP): The distinct sound of bamboo being shaken from
\nangklung hailed our arrival at the school yard. As the 20 or so
\nfourth graders played Somewhere Over the Rainbow and Eidelweiss
\nwith the traditional Indonesian bamboo musical instruments, the
\nprinciple of Yio Chu Kang Primary School and members of her
\nteaching staff greeted the visitors from Indonesia.<\/p>\n
The school visit actually was intended to showcase Singapore's
\nincorporation of IT (information technology) into its education
\nsystem. But the angklung reception illustrates the importance
\nSingapore schools place on the arts, including traditional music,
\neven as the government pushes schools to make computers part and
\nparcel of the teaching and learning process from as early as the
\nfirst grade.<\/p>\n
This particular case shows tradition, an Indonesian one at
\nthat, can blend with even the most modern technology in schools.<\/p>\n
\"Angklung is very popular here,\" Toh Boon Keng, the proud
\nprinciple, said.<\/p>\n
Taught as a cocurricular subject, not every pupil is allowed
\nto study angklung. Like the choir, those who performed during the
\nvisit were selected through auditions.<\/p>\n
The angklung orchestra at the school has played for various
\nlocal events and organizations. \"Their next performance will be
\nfor the upcoming APEC meeting,\" Toh said, referring to the
\nmeeting of education ministers of the Asia Pacific Economic
\nCooperation next month.<\/p>\n
Toh takes particular pride in teaching the arts, which she
\nsays is part of the creative thinking process for children.<\/p>\n
The school also teaches the performing arts, including dance
\nand drama, and visual arts. And Toh is looking into organizing
\nChinese orchestra classes.<\/p>\n
And the school also can be proud of the superb physical
\neducation it offers pupil.<\/p>\n
\"Fandi Ahmad was one of our students,\" she said, referring to
\nthe famed Singapore soccer star who played in Indonesia in the
\n1980s.<\/p>\n
But while art lessons are optional, computer classes are
\ncompulsory for all pupils. Not only that. Students also are
\nincreasingly using computers as tools in their studies.<\/p>\n
Marking its 50th anniversary this year, Yio Chu Kang Primary
\nSchool was selected by the Ministry of Information and the Arts
\nto showcase the government's Master Plan for IT in Education for
\nthe group of visiting Indonesian journalists.<\/p>\n
Launched in 1997 at a cost of some S$2 billion in the first
\nfive years, the government's plan calls for increasing the use of
\ncomputers in the learning and teaching process in schools. By
\n2002, the government hopes that all schools will be fully
\nnetworked. More specifically, the goal is to have one computer
\nfor every two teachers, and one computer for every two students
\nat all primary and secondary schools.<\/p>\n
Schools also have been told to ensure that students spend
\nabout 30 percent of their entire curriculum time using or working
\nwith computers. And there is even talk of a laptop scheme by
\nwhich portable PCs would become part of a pupil's school
\nsupplies.<\/p>\n
Yio Chu Kang is already well on its way to meeting the targets
\nof the master plan, thanks in no small measure to generous
\ngovernment grants to help the school buy the computers.<\/p>\n
The school has \"three-and-a-half\" computer laboratories with
\n40 PCs each. With class sizes limited to a maximum of 40
\nstudents, that means each pupil has a computer to themselves
\nduring the lab.<\/p>\n
Beginning in the fifth grade, students also are given access
\nto the Internet.<\/p>\n
Many pupils, however, have already mastered the basics of the
\ncomputer and the Internet before receiving formal lessons at
\nschool. Most households in Singapore have two PCs, and the cost
\nof access to the Internet through home phones has been cut to
\naffordable levels.<\/p>\n
The early part of the master plan has been geared toward
\neducating teachers, rather than students, about how to use
\ncomputer.<\/p>\n
\"It has not been easy,\" Toh admitted, noting that children are
\nmuch more adaptable to information technology than adults.<\/p>\n
Besides learning various computer application programs,
\nteachers are taught about the uses and advantages of the
\nInternet, which offers them abundant resources to tap from.<\/p>\n
Singapore certainly looks the most prepared in Asia, if not
\nthe world, for the advent of e-business, which many believe will
\nrevolutionize not only the way people conduct business, but also
\neventually how they run their lives.<\/p>\n
As if to confirm its lead, the city-state this month hosts
\neFestival Asia 2000, the chief attraction of which is the
\neLearning showcase.<\/p>\n
The interactive sessions, which the Raffles Institution and
\nthe Raffles Girls School -- two of Singapore's top secondary
\nschools -- are intended to show students that Internet learning
\ncan be rewarding and fun.<\/p>\n
And in keeping with the official motto that Every Singaporean
\nMatters, the poor and \"technophobes\" will be assisted in
\nmastering computers and the Internet. Earlier this month, the
\ngovernment announced it would spend S$25 million over the next
\nthree years to bridge the \"digital divide\", according to the
\nStraits Times newspaper.<\/p>\n
The Master Plan for IT in Education is part of the
\ngovernment's program to implement its mission statement in
\neducation, which is to Mold the Future of the Nation.<\/p>\n
\"IT literacy will be a basic competency in tomorrow's
\nworkplace,\" states a Ministry of Education book which outlines
\nits vision of Learning to Think, Thinking to Learn.<\/p>\n
Rear Admiral Teo Chee Hean, Singapore's minister of education
\nand second minister for defense, said the rapid development of
\nthe Internet and multimedia technology had opened up new
\npossibilities for making learning interesting.<\/p>\n
Teo recalled that in his primary school days, his whole world
\nwas the school yard, including the soccer field, which seemed
\nvery large at that time.<\/p>\n
\"If I go back there now, of course, it looks so small. But now
\nwith the Internet entering schools, a child's world is a lot
\nlarger. You can go beyond the school compound.<\/p>\n
\"You can communicate with students from other parts of the
\nworld,\" the former Singapore navy chief of staff said.<\/p>",
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