SINGAPORE - Rulang Primary School pupil Axil Tan, 11, sometimes finds it hard to grasp the meaning of values like responsibility when she is taught about it in school.

Under the pilot Values in Practice (VIP) programme that was launched on Wednesday (April 20), students in Rulang Primary and Xingnan Primary will go through a structured programme that encourages them to put seven core values into practice through daily tasks at home, school and in the community: respect, responsibility, resilience, integrity, care, gratitude and harmony.

This builds on the existing Values in Action scheme in schools, which focuses on inculcating values through community involvement.

Under the VIP scheme, primary school pupils will be given "missions" to carry out in specially-designed programme booklets. These include tasks like prompting Primary 1 pupils to pack their own schoolbags to learn about responsibility, while Primary 5 and 6 pupils will be asked to initiate their own community projects, instead of just being involved in projects led by the school or pupil leaders.

The $80,000 programme, led by the South West Community Development Council and voluntary welfare organisation Bringing Love to Every Single Soul, will be carried out over a six-year period and reviewed on an annual basis. It may also be extended to other schools in the South West District and beyond.

Axil, who is now in Primary 5, hopes to start a recycling project in the community with her friends under the VIP programme.

"It builds up a sense of responsibility for the environment and we can learn about the value by doing things, instead of through our teachers' nagging," she said.

Correction note: An earlier version of this article spelt Xingnan Primary School as Xing Nan Primary. We have corrected this.