To learn and remember Chinese language characters, teachers at Guangyang Primary School in Bishan taught lower primary pupils simple hand and body movements to "act out" the different strokes of various characters.

The project, called Learning Chinese Characters Through Movement, was one of three projects that won the Gold award for Most Innovative Project/Policy at a ceremony held on Thursday to recognise innovative ideas and projects by public officers and agencies.

The teaching method, initially conceptualised by the school's teachers in 2010 and inspired by 1970s American disco group Village People's hit song Y.M.C.A, has resulted in better spelling test scores and made pupils learn Chinese characters faster.

The two other Gold award recipients were Khoo Teck Puat Hospital for its community centric model of care project and national water agency PUB for its Kallang River @ Bishan-Ang Mo Kio Park project.

At the ceremony, Head of Civil Service Peter Ong also launched Project Tomorrow, an internal crowd-sourcing initiative to gather ideas from public officers.

A new "Post 'n' Poll" mobile app will now allow officers to give suggestions on issues that matter to them, across the boundaries of their own agency.