Singapore Immersion Programme 2014

Learning beyond Boundaries

“Learning beyond boundaries”, Christ Junior College team of teachers and students exemplified this by a visiting Catholic Junior College (CJC) at Singapore in the month of March 2014, being part of Singapore Immersion Programme. The week-long programme provided an insight into various areas like economy, cultural heritage, new areas of innovation & research, new paradigms in education etc. During their stay at Singapore, students and teachers visited National University of Singapore, Fusionopolis, Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA). Christ Junior College students also participated in classroom immersion sessions at Catholic Junior College.

The classroom immersion programme exposed the students on various education systems prevalent in Singapore. Of the many education systems, choice-based system stands unique, where students can opt for subjects of their choice either Physics, Mathematics, Biology and Economics or Physics, Mathematics, Biology and Geography among other combinations. This choice system enables students to study varied subjects, be it science or non-science.

The contingent also visited the National University of Singapore, a University that has a global approach to education & research. The campus has a blend of various courses from pure sciences to architecture and environment. The campus houses beautiful gardens, landscapes & study corners all of which pave way for the holistic development of a student.

One of the best cities in the world, Singapore is considered as a city to live, work & play. The Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) facilitates perfect planning in catering to the needs of growing population keeping in mind scarcity of land. The URA works in tandem with the Land Transport Authority (which concentrates on providing the people a safe, efficient & comfortable transport system through public transport, MRT (Mass Rapid Transport), efficient centralized traffic system etc.) The Housing and Development Board helps Singapore citizens in providing housing facilities with ethnic diversification & cohesive communities living together. From the statistics, it is understood that around 92% of Singaporeans own a house.

The team visited Fusionopolis, “The Fusion world” a wonderland for technology integration, which show cases amazing inventions & research models. It displays a gamut of inventions that benefits lifestyle of people in terms of live, work & play.

Conservation of Water is a common problem. Singapore is not an exception to this. Marina Barrage is an exemplification to conservation of water by Singaporeans. A visit to Marina Barrage by the Christ Junior College team proved worthwhile as it learned how Singaporeans are self reliant in conserving water through water reservoir. Not only does Marina Barrage serves as a recreation point but also aims at water conservation and flood control.

Singapore is rich in preserving its cultural heritage as witnessed by the students at National Museum of Singapore portraying the history of Singapore, how Singapore grew from rags to riches. The museum is a national treasure with old monuments, portraits, jewels, coins, art, architecture depicting the growth of Singapore from past to present.

Singapore is truly an amalgamation of cosmopolitan culture with different religions and people – a liveable place for people to be in peace and harmony. Singapore Immersion Programme has indeed motivated students to think differently and take on the lead to change the world.