Ms Chew Mok Lee, Co-Chair of the ACE Entrepreneurship?Education Task Force, speaks to SPRINGnews in this sixth?instalment of a seven-part Q&A series with the Action?Community for Entrepreneurship (ACE)
Entrepreneurial students from Zhonghua Secondary School produced the Rainwater Harvesting System for high-rise apartments.
SPRINGnews: Why was the ACE?Entrepreneurship Education Task Force?set up?
Ms Chew: ACE saw the importance of?nurturing an enterprising mindset and?values in students through ?learning?by doing?. We hope to expose youths?to entrepreneurship and equip them?with skills and knowledge to translate?ideas into products and services for the?marketplace. Hence, ACE formed the?Entrepreneurship Education Task Force?to review entrepreneurship learning in?schools and to identify more effective and?systematic approaches to work with the?schools to incorporate entrepreneurship-related?programmes. Comprising?educators from the Ministry of Education?and entrepreneurs, the Task Force focused?on two groups of students ? secondary?and JC students, and those from the polys
and ITE. The programmes will target these?students, who are at different stages of?maturity, with different aspirations.
SPRINGnews: Why is it important to?cultivate an entrepreneurial mindset?amongst students??
Ms Chew: Entrepreneurs drive Singapore?s?economy, creating wealth and employment.?Through entrepreneurship education, we?hope to equip our youths with the relevant?knowledge, skill sets, and resources so?they are aware of what it takes to be an?entrepreneur. This involves inculcating?the positive values of entrepreneurs,?such as the ability to bounce back from?setbacks, striving for excellence, and?the determination to succeed. For those?who choose to work for others, we hope they would also adopt this mindset to be the?best in their respective vocations.
Ms Chew Mok Lee, Assistant Chief Executive, SPRING Singapore (left) and Mdm Liew Wei Li, Director, Student Development Curriculum, Ministry of Education (right)
SPRINGnews: What are some of the?Task Force?s key recommendations?
Ms Chew: We developed two sets of?recommendations. For secondary school?students, we are developing a three-year?Entrepreneurship Programme, to be?incorporated as a CCA. The contents will?comprise workshops, company attachments?and competitions to expose the students?to the real world of business. There are?also plans to roll out the programme to?JCs. For students in the polytechnics and?ITE colleges, they can look forward to a?holistic framework to help them convert?their ideas into businesses. This includes?funding support for their projects, a start-up?launch pad, and incubation and mentoring?programmes in their schools.
SPRINGnews: How will the?Entrepreneurship Programme help?students to adopt an entrepreneurial?mindset??
Ms Chew: Entrepreneurship is a ?live??subject, so the best way to learn is?by doing. Schools participating in the?Entrepreneurship Programme will?be ?adopted? by enterprises under an??Entrepreneur-Adopt-a-School? initiative,?where at least one entrepreneur will be?attached to each school. Local enterprises?and start-ups such as Ya Kun International
and KooBits are already on board. They?have committed to engage the students?through regular talks and events, and
provide opportunities for the students to?be exposed to the real-world of business?through company visits, internships and?project mentorship. We hope to encourage?more entrepreneurs to come forward to?engage our youths.
SPRINGnews: How can schools or?educators who are interested in?promoting entrepreneurship get?involved in ACE?s efforts?
Ms Chew: The Task Force has also?proposed to set up an informal network?for educators and entrepreneurs to?interact and exchange best practices on?entrepreneurship learning. Through this?Educators? Network, educators will be?able to build up their entrepreneurship?knowledge and hone their pedagogy skills?in entrepreneurship education. We welcome
schools and educators to join our network!
Get in touch with ACE via email?info@ace.org.sg or Facebook?www.facebook.com/acestartups
Reproduced with permission from SPRINGnews December 2012 Issue. Published by SPRING Singapore.
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