Commentary: Today’s Raffles Institution is different from the one I attended, but same fundamentals should endure, including contributions to society

RI’s bicentenary is not so much about the venerable institution itself; it is certainly not about the founder of Singapore and RI, Sir Stamford Raffles. In fact, until the 1860s, RI was known as the Singapore Institution.

But if this is the only benchmark, then our top schools would be underperforming. Much more is expected of them. Given finite fiscal resources to share among schools, it is crucial that the effort to cater to different learning needs must be directed at levelling up rather than levelling down our schools.

In the meantime, popular schools like RI must be the vanguard of this generational shift. Our top schools must remain beacons of hope for social mobility in Singapore and its pupils representative of Singapore. Minister Chan at a recent lecture at RI, his alma mater, stressed that our schools must cultivate a strong desire for service in our students, to give back, and act to address the needs of the times.

Obviously, today’s RI is different from the RI I attended in the 1980s, in the same way that the Singapore of yesteryear and today are.

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