Celebrate and promote Tan Kah Kee's spirit and legacy

Tan Kah Kee Foundation Scholarships 2023

TAN KAH KEE Foundation SCHOLARSHIPS AWARD CEREMONY 2023

The 2023 award ceremony was held on 28th July 2023 at ITE College Central. The guest-of-honour was Mr Alvin Tan, Minister of State, Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth & Ministry of Trade and Industry.

Mr Alvin Tan was also a TKK Scholarship Alumnus.

This year, the Foundation also launched the Tan Kah Kee Lifelong Learning Scholarship, with the aim to encourage ITE graduates to pursue further education. Similar to the Postgraduate Scholarship, it is open to all Singapore citizens and permanent residents of all races pursuing a diploma or certified courses.

We would like to congratulate the 2023 recipients and are proud to see them furthering their studies.

A heartiest congratulations to all recipients.

Tan Kah Kee Lifelong Learning Scholarship:

Work-Study Diploma (WSDip):
Loh Guo Ming 罗国明 | WSDip in Cloud Management & Operations at ITE College East
Justin Leong Jia Weng 梁家荣 | WSDip in Arboriculture & Horticulture at ITE College East
Mas’Irwan Bin Johari | WSDip in Cloud Management & Operations at ITE College East
Lee Chee Keen 利志健 | WSDip in Land Transport Engineering at ITE College West
Eden Lai Guan Sen 黎官森 | WSDip in Applied Electronics and AI at ITE College West

Technical Diploma/Technical Engineering Diploma:
Mohammad Rizq Bin Mohammad Rizam | Technical Engineer Diploma in Machine Technology at ITE College Central
Jade Yeo Ee-Fay 杨怡妃 | Technical Diploma in Beauty & Wellness Management at ITE College East

Polytechnic Diploma:
Shantini D/O Subramaniam | Diploma in Nursing at Ngee Ann Polytechnic
Tasneem Binte Mohamad Hisam | Diploma in International Trade & Business at Ngee Ann Polytechnic
Yeo Jing Xuan Jaclyn | Diploma in Mechatronics & Robotics at Singapore Polytechnic

Tan Kah Kee Foundation Postgraduate Scholarship:

Liew Zheng Jie 刘正杰 | PhD in Chemical Engineering at University of Cambridge

Tan Ean Kiam Foundation Postgraduate Scholarship:

Md Ismail Shogo | MSc in Political Theory Research at University of Oxford
Lu Si Yinn 卢思颖 | PhD in Public Health Science at University of Toronto
Said Effendy Bin Said Iziddin | PhD in Social Anthropology at the University of Cambridge
Woh Jing Ru 符景茹 | Masters in Smart Electrical Networks and Systems at KTH Royal School of Technology
Jeremy Goh 吴杰明 | PhD in History at the University of Warwick

Li Siong Tay Charitable Foundation Postgraduate Scholarship:

Choo Su Leng, Bella 朱舒宁 | PhD Arts in Sociology at the University of Melbourne
Lim Jia Yi 林家怡 | Masters in Fine Arts in Choreography at the Beijing Dance Academy
Tay Wan Sheng Kenneth 郑万胜 | PhD in Music at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland

MDM DOREEN LIU POSTGRADUATE SCHOLARSHIP:

Ng Qian Qian 黄芊芊 | PhD in Political Science at the University of Michigan

A very good evening to Guest-of-Honor, Mr Alvin Tan, scholarship recipients and all invited guests.

I am Shantini, a Year 2 student at Ngee Ann Polytechnic, currently pursuing the Diploma in Nursing.

It feels like a fairy tale dream come true, for me to be standing here to give this speech as a recipient of the inaugural Tan Kah Kee Foundation Lifelong Learning Scholarship. Thank you so much for the honour.

My heartiest Congratulations to all the scholarship recipients who are here with us today.

From Nitec in Nursing to Diploma in Nursing … Many have asked me, why Nursing? Why not other courses? My younger brother, Durkes, has cerebral palsy. I remembered the days when my other siblings and I pushed him in his wheelchair and walked to school. We were always together but I didn’t know what he was going through until I progressed to Secondary School. After understanding what he went through, I decided to pursue my career in Nursing and to expand my knowledge. I want to learn about the diseases that people are suffering from and know how to care of them and our loved ones when they are facing such difficult situations.

Other than my passion towards attending to patients with medical conditions, I have a soft spot for elderly people. During my childhood days, whenever I saw old aunties and uncles under the block, I would get very excited and would approach them to chit-chat. I was 11 years old when I first started volunteering. I remembered it was at Yishun involving the elderly residents. We played games and did craft activities. That day I felt something towards the seniors. I felt compassion. I wanted to connect, and communicate more with them, and to assist them with their needs. As time passed, it became a hobby for me to devote my time and volunteer to help out in the community activities in my district. Every time I complete a volunteer work, I feel very happy and satisfied.

I feel that my learning at ITE and Ngee Ann Polytechnic have prepared me not only to be work-ready, but to become a holistic learner. During my studies, I was given opportunities to learn, grow and serve through the participation of many youth service-learning programmes. Education is like a passport to our future. However, it comes with a lot of expenses too. Finance has always been my biggest concern during my studying journey, then in ITE and even now. I want to be an independent child and lessen my family burden. Each day has been a struggle for myself – I have to worry about paying for my transport and my meals. I am deeply grateful to Ms Lynn Tan, Director for College Services at ITE College East, and Mr Hayden Er, staff advisor for Student Council, for reaching out to me and informing me about this Scholarship even when I have graduated from ITE. Thank you Ms Lynn and Mr Hayden.

At the same time, I would like to express my sincere thanks to the members of the Tan Kah Kee Foundation, and the interview panel for the opportunity to continue my education with reduced financial worries. To receive this Scholarship at my lowest point is beyond a dream come true. From the bottom of my heart, thank you.

Now to my dear fellow scholarship recipients, I encourage each and every one of you to take education seriously. Why? Because not many people in other countries are given the opportunity to even study, and here we are, receiving scholarships and subsidies for us to do well and excel. We should seize every opportunity.

I have worked very hard to be where I am today and I will continue to work even harder to reach many more milestones. I believe that life is full of challenges and each day has its own worries and problems. To all my fellow scholarship recipients, and everyone, continue to push yourself and work harder, and remember to give back to the society whenever you can. In the spirit of Mr Tan Kah Kee for his dedication to education, let’s continue to learn, grow and serve. All the best and thank you.

Good evening to our guest of honour, Mr Alvin Tan, chairman of the Tan Kah Kee Foundation, Mr Chua Seng Chong, distinguished members of the Tan Kah Kee Foundation postgraduate scholarship committee, including Chairman Professor Eugene Tan (who’s with us in spirit), my fellow scholars, and guests. Thank you all for being here tonight, and for giving me the opportunity and responsibility of speaking on behalf of the postgraduate scholarship recipients.

I’ll do my best to give an uplifting speech, but as a chronic overthinker, I don’t think I’m particularly optimistic.

I have however, been told that I’m really idealistic. I have been going around telling people that I don’t think women students should be sexually harassed in schools. One lady said to me: wah you’re so idealistic!

To be labelled as idealistic can mean two things.

The first is praise: the idealistic person gets behind really good causes that will benefit the world.

But it is also criticism: to be idealistic is to be unrealistic.

These two sides of idealism, as condescending praise, go together in a saying: If you’re not an idealist at twenty, you don’t have a heart. If you continue being idealistic at forty, you don’t have a brain.

To me, however, idealism and pragmatism are not contradictory, but complementary. You can, and I think we should, hold ourselves to higher standards, while working hard to find practical ways to achieve them.

Then again, maybe I feel this way because I’m young.

But Tan Kah Kee stayed idealistic throughout his life. He co-founded his first school (Tao Nan) at the age of 33 (in 1907). He argued for democracy at the risk of persecution from Qing government in 1910. He campaigned against Japanese aggression at the risk of execution during World War 2, and founded and reconstructed schools even when his businesses declined, till the end of his life in 1961.

And so I think to be labelled as idealistic sometimes says more about the world than about you: something is wrong when women students have to go into their diplomas and degrees, expecting and accepting sexual harassment. No one’s access to education should be blocked or compromised solely because of their identity. The world should change, so stand your ground and don’t stop being idealistic. Don’t stop working towards your ideals.

I don’t think it’s too much of a stretch to say it is partly thanks to Tan Kah Kee’s idealism and pioneering efforts in making education accessible that I now stand before you today. He believed that education is key to uplifting the underserved, and that education should be accessible to anyone who wanted it, regardless of their gender. I’ll highlight that the third school Tan Kah Kee set up in Singapore was Chong Hock Girls’ School, in 1915. The fourth was Nanyang Girls’ School, in 1918. Women’s education was probably not a priority then, but Tan Kah Kee didn’t let that stop him from recognising then altering the situation. And of course he didn’t let the war stop him when he converted Nan Chiau Teachers’ Training College to Nan Chiau Girls’ High School in 1947. These schools are still operating today.

But more than one hundred years since Tan Kah Kee’s first efforts, much work remains to be done. Girls are allowed into schools, but are not necessarily treated as equals in the classroom. Students from low-income families may be seated in the classroom, but carry a much heavier knapsack on their way to school.

So on behalf of all scholarship recipients, I want to thank the Tan Kah Kee Foundation, members of the organizing and selection committee, our donors, and especially my donor, Mdm Doreen Liu, for extending Tan Kah Kee’s ideals, for doing the hard work of improving genuine access to education, and for supporting our nascent ambitions by lifting us up, higher and closer to our aspirations.

And to my peers who are about to embark on new journeys with the mighty support of friends, family, and allies in the Tan Kah Kee Foundation, congratulations. I’ll leave you a quote that a dear friend shared with me, a friend who continues to remind me that girls deserve to go as far in their education as their intellect and curiosity craves: Idealism is only naïve when it lacks action, determination, and imagination. Your idealism is courageous and inspiring. Don’t let anyone convince you otherwise.

Thank you.