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As the world is becoming more globalised, the ability to perform well in a multi-cultural environment is crucial to our youth, the Director of the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Affairs in Singapore, Mr Fong Ngai, said today (July 22).
Mr Fong was speaking to exchange students from Hong Kong and other guests at the Closing Ceremony of the Singapore leg of 10th Singapore-Hong Kong Exchange Programme held at a Singapore secondary school. The Director-General of Education from Singapore's Ministry of Education, Ms Ho Peng, was the guest of honour at the Closing Ceremony.
"Information is at our fingertips as technology continues to advance. The skill to acquire and utilise the information is what I believe is the knowledge of today. The aptitude to interact with people of diverse cultural backgrounds with the knowledge we acquire is perhaps the ultimate goal of learning," Mr Fong said.
He added that the Singapore-Hong Kong Exchange Programme fits very well with such an objective, providing Hong Kong's students with an invaluable opportunity to better appreciate and learn to respect different cultures, values and perspectives.
The Singapore-Hong Kong Exchange Programme started in 2000 after an agreement was concluded between the education authorities of Hong Kong and Singapore during the Asia Pacific Education Ministerial Meeting. So far, more than 1 000 students from Singapore and Hong Kong have participated in the annual exchange programme.
For the programme this year, there are six secondary schools from Singapore and nine from Hong Kong, with 60 students from each place participating. The students will stay with host families whereas the accompanying teachers will be attached to regular teachers in the respective participating schools.
The first leg of the programme was the visit by the Hong Kong delegation to Singapore this month, which will be followed by an exchange visit by the Singapore delegation to Hong Kong in November.
Ends/Friday, July 22, 2011
Issued at HKT 19:19
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