Celebrating 30 Years Of Special Assistance Plan (SAP) Taking SAP To The Next Level

This year marks the 30th anniversary of the Special Assistance Plan, fondly known as SAP. But is this 30-year-old success story still relevant today? How are we taking it to the next level?

The drivers of the SAP programme are definitely not sitting on their laurels. The theme for this year’s SAP Seminar, jointly organised by Nanyang Girls High and Business China, on 4 September is “Reinventing Ourselves”. The Guest-of-Honour for the event is Ms Grace Fu, Senior Minister of State, Ministry of National Development and Ministry of Education.

At the opening ceremony, Ms Grace Fu said, “We need to nurture bilingual and bicultural talents who are able to engage China and the western countries to ensure that Singapore maintains its competitiveness internationally. SAP schools are in a good position to take on this task with their advantages in bilingualism and biculturalism.”

This year’s SAP seminar consisted of 2 parts. Part 1 is Singapore-Shanghai Student Forum. Students involved had attended a 1 day workshop during the June holidays. Thereafter, they were divided in groups and started on their research. With the assistance from Business China, subject experts and entrepreneurs as resource persons were engaged to assist and guide the students in preparing for the seminar.

This bilateral forum was conducted on 14 July 2009, providing students from both Shanghai and Singapore a platform to interact face-to-face, promoting intellectual and cultural exchange. A total of 100 SAP students and 54 students from Shanghai participated. At the forum, the students shared their research on the economic and cultural issues facing our society today.

Part 2 of this year’s SAP seminar is the thematic forum session held on 4 September. The speakers for this session are Mr Edmund Chua, Assistant Chief Executive of Destination Experience Group, Singapore Tourism Board, and Mr Wong Peng Yeong, Vice-President of Strategic Planning, The Ascott Group. 400 students from the 10 Special Assistance Plan (SAP) secondary schools in Singapore are given an opportunity to learn from our expert speakers who have actively engaged both the East and the West in their area of work.

In addition, to celebrate the 30th anniversary of SAP, a SAP exhibition by the 17 SAP primary and secondary schools is also held at Nanyang Girls’ High School, in addition to the annual SAP seminar jointly organised by Business China and Nanyang Girls’ High School for the secondary school students.

As the West Zone Centre of Excellence (COE) for Chinese Studies and Culture, Nanyang Girls’ High School actively works with our partners to put our young people at the forefront of innovation while helping them to be deeply rooted in our traditions. And Business China’s mission is to nurture more bilingual and bi-cultural Singaporeans through multi platforms.

Venue：Nanyang Girls’ High School Siew May Auditorium

Programme