SINGAPORE - Three students from Christ Church Secondary School had to prevent a cyber-security attack and analyse how hackers were able to access sensitive websites.
For successfully tackling the simulated scenario, the team won the first prize in the Cyber Warrior challenge, which was part of the ignITE Skills Challenge held at the Institute of Technical Education (ITE) earlier this month (May 19).
The three students - all of whom are in Secondary 3 - are Liang Zhen Yu Javen, 14, Allen Soh Jun Hong, 14 and Joshua Abraham, 15.
All three agreed that they learnt to be more confident in their abilities after the competition.
Joshua said: "I stopped playing games after school so that I can study and focus on the competition for at least 5 hours every day."
All participants had to undergo a 1.5-hour workshop related to their competing category before the preliminary round to familiarise themselves with the skills involved.
The ignITE Skills Challenge aims to excite students about the value of skills education through enjoyable and memorable learning experiences.
Now into its sixth year, the competition was held face to face this year, after going virtual last year. It was not held in 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
This year's turnout was the largest since the challenge first started, said ITE.
It featured 16 skills challenges, including 10 new challenges such as the Creative Maquillage, or cosmetic make-up challenge, which requires students to market a make-up palette through designing a unique and creative make-up look.
Crest Secondary students Samuel Elijah Foo, 15, Muhammad Ruminawam Asmawi Bin Sainal, 15, and Ambere Loh Jia En, 15, were the only ones to use a male model to show off their make-up designs.
Samuel said: "We stayed back every day after school for more than a month. We are proud to be here as it is a really good learning experience, especially since we did not know much about make-up."
Asmawi said: "I clipped on Samuel's eyelid a few times when trying to curl his lashes. Now, I understand why the girls take longer to get ready."
At the prize presentation ceremony, Mr Eric Chua, Parliamentary Secretary for Culture, Community and Youth, and Social and Family Development, touched on the importance of tech skills such as programming and artificial intelligence.
He said: "Such skills are very useful in the digital economy, a high-growth area in Singapore's economy and globally. They are in demand and are transferable across different sectors as more businesses embark on digital transformation."
He also spoke about the importance of soft skills such as creativity, critical thinking and teamwork, which are now in demand more than ever.
More than 1,500 students from 69 schools took part in the challenge this year, with 429 students from 51 schools moving past the preliminary round into the finals.
