Speech by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong at Pathlight's 10th Anniversary Partners' Appreciation Event

Mr Kang Puay Seng
Chairman of Pathlight School Board

Ms Denise Phua
School Supervisor from the Pathlight School Board
President of Autism Resource Centre

Board Members

Ms Linda Kho
Principal of Pathlight School

Distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls

Good afternoon and congratulations on Pathlight’s 10^th anniversary - well done! In just ten years, Pathlight has made a very big difference to children and youths with Special Needs and to our education system in Singapore. It is the first school for children with autism to offer a mainstream academic curriculum leading to PSLE and GCE “N” and “O” levels. It provides a holistic education, e.g. Artist Development Programme which brings in art specialists to nurture students’ talents in art and helps students earn some royalties from their art works. It promotes meaningful interactions between children with Special Needs and students from mainstream schools through satellite partnerships. They have satellite partnerships with all our other schools in the neighbourhood, e.g. with Townsville Primary, Chong Boon Secondary, Bishan Park Secondary, Peirce Secondary. You have raised the bar in SPED education, e.g. IT & Design Academy which provides high-quality courses in digital literacy, animation and 3D design for your students, and hopefully one day for students from other SPED schools as well. No wonder your enrolment has grown to 800, and is on track to expand further to 1,000 students.

Pathlight has transformed the lives of many of your students. I will just name a few of them. Sherman Ho, who was diagnosed with autism and ADHD, overcame his learning difficulties in Pathlight, did well in his PSLE, and is now in NUS High School. Muhammad Noh Arjuna, who took “N” Levels in Pathlight, got a NITEC in Digital Animation from ITE, and he is now an award-winning artist pursuing a Diploma in Digital Animation in Singapore Polytechnic. Low Quan Jin, who will graduate with an ITE Certificate in Baking this year under Pathlight’s Vocational Programme, and already has three job offers! Sherman, Muhammad Noh and Quan Jin are here today – well done! Congratulations! Thank you.

Credit for this success, for Sherman, Muhammad Noh, Quan Jin and for all the other students, goes to the School Board, the Autism Resource Centre (ARC) board, the management and the teachers. You have served Pathlight with passion and energy, and without your vision and hard work, Pathlight would not be here today. I would like to mention in particular, Denise. I remember discussing about SPED with her when she first became an MP in 2006. She felt very strongly that the Government should do more for the SPED sector, and not leave it primarily to volunteers and activists. On our side, we made the argument, I made the argument, that the Government’s policy was many helping hands, based on the belief that volunteers and activists were best placed to support SPED. Denise did not agree with us. As it turned out, we were both right. The Government has put in a lot more resources in SPED education, not least because of strong encouragement and effective lobbying from Denise and others like her. But at the same time, I think we have not lost the argument. Because the real reason Pathlight has succeeded is because of the passion and dedication of activists like Denise and her colleagues – none of which could have been ordered by fiat. This combination of Government support and community activism, and a shared desire to deliver the best results, is the correct way forward for SPED. So I would like to thank Pathlight and the ARC Boards, Denise, Linda and all the staff for their hard work! Well done, thank you very much!

Giving Hope and Opportunity to All

Pathlight reflects our commitment to give hope and opportunity to all Singaporeans. We will help every child to achieve his potential through education. Therefore, this year at NDR, I talked about how we were going to keep paths upwards open for all through education. Just last week at the MOE Workplan Seminar, Minister Heng Swee Keat described what more schools will do to give every child a strong foundation for lifelong learning, e.g. setting up Student Development Teams, launching the Learning for Life programme. These investments by the Government in education, especially in SPED schools over the past few years, have supported this broader objective. Our spending per capita for SPED schools is already substantially more than mainstream schools, to take into account the higher resourcing needs of SPED students. SPED students now also get Government financial support, similar to mainstream students, e.g. Edusave contributions, funds to help low income students, assistance to buy uniforms, textbooks etc. The SPED Curriculum Framework has raised curriculum standards and enhanced character and citizenship education. Students now have more opportunities to learn vocational skills – hence a quarter of SPED students graduate with a recognised vocational certificate and find regular jobs in the open job market.

But the Government will do more. We are studying how to expand vocational education and support school-to-work transition pathways for more SPED students. In other words, set things up, so that from the SPED school environment - controlled, orderly, managed - we can prepare you gradually to work in an open environment for an employer in a job. We will twin every SPED school in Singapore with a mainstream school to promote purposeful interactions among the students. We will do more to develop our SPED teachers, e.g. provide more scholarships for Masters in Special Education and forming professional learning teams in all SPED schools.

Beyond the school system, we must build a fair and just society which respects every person, which treats everyone with dignity, especially those with disabilities. Hence, Singapore ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in August this year. We have an Enabling Masterplan to provide a roadmap for the disability sector, which reflects our desire to see “Singapore as an inclusive society where persons with disabilities are empowered and recognised, and given full opportunity to become integral and contributing members of society”. This includes programmes to support people through life, from early intervention to adult care, on to caregiver support. One important platform is SG Enable, what we used to call the Centre for Enabled Living. It is a one-stop agency for persons with disabilities. It provides financial assistance for the needy, works with companies to enhance employment opportunities and encourages families and persons with disabilities to make full use of its programmes.

Forging Strong Partnerships

We are doing our best to support persons with disabilities, but this is not just the Government’s job. Families play a critical role – providing emotional and financial support, partnering the Government and VWOs to maximise their children’s potential. The public too must do its part – embracing persons with disabilities as one of our own, maintaining a culture of egalitarianism and inclusiveness. We can see this here in Teck Ghee, where many of our residents have interacted with the Pathlight students and learnt from them - their special needs but also their special talents. In turn, the Pathlight students feel a part of our larger community, and it should be like that for all our SPED schools. The private and people sectors can also make a substantial contribution, and are doing so, e.g. companies like Mr Bean (whose founder Mr Kang is Chairman of Pathlight), Starbucks, Cake Glace and Professor Brawn Café provide training and work attachments for students. Others like Ngee Ann Kongsi, Lee Foundation, MILK Fund and Wee Foundation donate generously to Pathlight. So I am very happy that Pathlight’s partners are here with us today to celebrate this 10^th anniversary. It would not have succeeded without your support. Thank you all!

Conclusion

I wish all your staff and students well. You inspire us with your grit and perseverance. Your journey is a story of possibility and potential. Do well, go forth and overcome. Show the world what you can do. Congratulations, happy 10^th birthday and happy Children’s Day to you all!

Thank you very much!