As a grassroots volunteer, I recently took part, in a small way, in organising such an event. As rightly pointed out by our MP, Mr Inderjit Singh, during the bursary award ceremony, it makes perfect sense to have the event organised at the community, rather than school, level. This is because the grassroots organisations are the fund-raising bodies that work relentlessly to generate bursary money in the first place. It is therefore necessary and meaningful for the awardees to attend the ceremony at the community level to fully appreciate the effort made by these organisations, and remember to pay back to the community.

However, is the best way to achieve this purpose to make 500 students and their parents sit for two solid hours to witness non-stop hand-shaking and photo-taking? In fact, in the ceremony I attended, most made their way home immediately after receiving their awards. I also sympathised with the MP who was kind enough to grace the occasion despite his busy schedule, but had to perform such a tiring job.

Perhaps a better way is first to let the students receive the awards in their respective schools and then participate in a short but meaningful community event. Instead of hand-shaking and photo-taking, why not let a representative from every school in the community give a five-minute presentation on the effort his school has made to contribute to the community in the past year?

Rituals are important, but they must be purposeful to achieve their desired effects.

Chang Nam Yuen