On July 12, close to 200 youth representatives attended a dialogue session with Minister Chan Chun Sing, Minister in the Prime Minister’s Office at the SSA Headquarters. The youth had an enriching discussion with Minister Chan, themed “Challenges and Aspirations of Today’s Youths.” Wide ranging topics from youth related concerns to national issues such as career prospects, influence of social media and views on religiosity were covered at the discussion.
When asked to give his advice to young graduates and youth who would enter the workforce soon, the minister shared that one of the important skill sets the youth would increasingly need to pick up is the ability to learn fast. He also urged the youth to possess a keen learning attitude even upon graduation from school and reminded them to give a helping hand to those in society who might have problems keeping up.
On this views as to how the next generation of youth can be fostered to take on the responsibility of bringing the nation t greater heights in the future, Minister Chan said that he thought it is important to spend more time to share with them the challenges faced by the country, the options that they have and the hard work that the predecessors had out in to ensure Singapore survive amidst harsh reality.
In his candid and jovial manner, Minister Chan left the participants with plenty of food for thought at the end of the engaging dialogue. One of the participants, a university student Toh Xin Yi shared her impressions on the session, “Minister Chan gave us insights into the possible challenges that we together as a nation might face in the future and help us understand how we can contribute to the society better. I have benefitted greatly from the dialogue session and am determined to challenge myself to be equipped with the necessary skill sets and abilities so as to be a useful person to the society.”
“I would like to thank Minister Chan for the wonderful opportunity to meet him. Mr Chan has helped us gain a broader perspective of the issues and concerns of youth today. It was a light-hearted and encouraging session with him sharing some parts of his personal life. One key empowering message I took back from the session was that all of us can contribute to the overall progress of the nation and have a part to play in preserving our national security,” said Sean Yau Hon Tak, who is working in the financial sector.
