Dr Janil Puthucheary, Singapore’s Senior Minister of State in the Ministry of Communications and Information and the Ministry of Education, floated the idea at the Grand Ceremony of the International Science Youth Forum 2018 at Hwa Chong Institution on Wednesday.
The forum sees Nobel laureates and Fields Medallists engaging the delegates on scientific issues. The five-day programme also lets students visit various industries, and try their hand at research activities at local universities.
This year’s forum saw 120 students from 46 different schools in 16 countries participating.
“We are, across secondary schools and all the institutes of higher learning, making a very determined push to make students and educators think about how these skills must be applied to real world problems, industry challenges and social challenges, while remaining in the education space,” Dr Janil said.
Dr Janil added that industry players, such as start-ups and multi-national companies, would be engaged to work with schools to shape curriculums or find solutions to real-world challenges.
“Here in Singapore, we are anything but anti-science,” Dr Janil said.
“We as a nation, government and society, fully believe in scientific methodology, principles that drive science and the pursuit of scientific excellence.”
The Singapore Government has invested heavily in science research, not only to increase the overall strength of the industry but also to provide students with career pathways that will be relevant to the workforce they’ll enter once they leave school.
In 2016, the government budgeted $19bn for science and technology research to be rolled out over the next five years.
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