Speeches
Speech by President Halimah Yacob at Teachers Day Celebration and Virtual Award Ceremony 2020
3 September 2020
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Mr Lawrence Wong, Minister for Education,
Distinguished guests,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Good afternoon. I am happy to join you at the Teachers’ Day Celebration and Award Ceremony. Even though we are not able to gather physically to celebrate this year’s Teachers’ Day due to the COVID-19 pandemic, I hope we can still use this occasion to show appreciation to teachers for their hard work in educating our future generations.
The pandemic has no doubt disrupted the way we live, learn and work. It had also presented some challenges to our educators, when schools adopted a full home-based learning approach during the circuit breaker. I am glad that many of you have embraced these changes readily despite the challenges that you faced in juggling your work while looking after your families.
Teachers are at the forefront of educating our future generations. You play an integral role in the holistic development of students. As a teacher, your work has a lifelong impact on your students. Beyond academic teaching, you are also role models for your students. It is therefore important that we continue to develop our teachers with the right values and skills, to meet the evolving demands of our education system.
Today, we gather to honour educators who have been exemplary in their service towards moulding our future generations. A total of 13 educators will be recognised for their outstanding contributions – seven will receive the President’s Award for Teachers and another six will receive the Outstanding Youth in Education Award. Congratulations and thank you for your dedicated contributions to the education sector!
This year, we also celebrate the 70th anniversary of National Institute of Education (NIE). Over the past 70 years, the robust partnership between NIE and the Ministry of Education is key to nurturing our past and future generations of educators. To this end, a special orchid bloom, Papilionanda NIE SG, has been cultivated to commemorate this occasion – a tribute to generations of educators and NIE graduates who have contributed to Singapore’s education service.
In closing, let me once again congratulate all the award recipients. As we celebrate Teachers’ Day tomorrow, let me wish all educators a Happy Teachers’ Day! Thank you.