Youth Olympic lane for YOG

BM0022: Effective Writing Skill ICA4
Posted by: Tang Wen Xiang (103016C)
9th Post: Youth Olmpic lane for YOG

Can you guess what event will have about 3,600 young athletes between 14 and 18 years old, 5,000 athletes and officials, 205 National Olympic Committees, 1,200 media representatives, 20,000 local and international volunteers and 370,000 spectators?

Yes! It is the upcoming Youth Olympic Games (YOG) 2010 held in SINGAPORE!

YOG are planned to be an international multi-sport event held every four years in staggered summer and winter events consistent with the current Olympic Games format. Athletes between the ages of 14 and 18 will be feature.

With the upcoming YOG, Singapore's government have stepped in by setting up at the YOUTH Olympic lane to facilitate timely arrival of Game participants and officials at competition venues. The Youth Olympic lane is based on a give way concept, which means that motorists only need to give way when they see Youth Olympic vehicles approaching.

Polytechnics have planned holidays for students during the YOG. While this will be useful for polytechnic students volunteering at the games, those still in polytechnic are not the ideal audience at the YOG events, since most of them are older than the competitors. However, primary and secondary school students aged between six and sixteen, especially those in school or national teams who could qualify to compete in future games will not be able to watch the YOG events.

Since Singapore is playing host to the first YOG, shouldn't the Ministry of Education create an environment in which students are able to experience this event taking place under our roof?

I strongly believed that the best scenario that Singapore's government is able to do is to cancel the lesson so that no lessons have to be missed. Doesn't the Singapore' education system teach students to contribute to society and participate in Community Involvement Programmes (CIP). Even though, there will not be any CIP hours for students who volunteered for the YOG with the Singapore Youth Olympic Game Organising Committee, students are still willing to commit their time and energy to the next month's games!

I believed that to reward these outstanding students and to practise what has been preaching since the implementation of CIP, the Eduaction Ministry should consider doing more for the students of Singapore at the upcoming games.

If students are able to embrace the volunteering spirit, I strongly believed that the adult motorists will give their full support and co-operation to make the YOG and the Youth Olympic Lane a success.

All Singaporeans can do their part to create a pleasant and memorable YOG experience for the visitors!

URL: http://www.straitstimes.com/BreakingNews/Singapore/Story/STIStory_542255.html