Speech - Address by Ms Low Khah Gek, CEO/ITE, at the ITE Student Achievers' Awards Presentation Ceremony at the Tay Eng Soon Convention Centre, ITE HQ on 22 May 2025

Introduction

1.  Whenever ITE does focused group discussion or survey with employers, they would tell us that while technical skills are important, what is even more important are soft skills. If there are two candidates, one with slightly weaker technical skills but stronger soft skills, they will hire the second one who has better soft skills. The reason is it is easier to train technical skills but harder to train soft skills.

2.  What are soft skills? There are many but employers have identified these six as critical soft skills that will enable employees to succeed at their workplace: i) communication skills, ii) inter-personal skills, iii) teamwork, iv) problem-solving, v) adaptability and vi) emotional regulation.  These are transferrable skills across different job roles, industries and are also useful for navigating life’s challenges.

3.  How does ITE provide for soft skills development among our students? Through CCAs, community projects, participation in seminars, competitions, hosting of visitors, overseas trips etc. We are glad that our students have actively participated in these activities and in doing so have taken the opportunity to acquire, apply and strengthen their soft skills.

4.  This morning, we celebrate the achievements of 417 students who have excelled in various CCAs (music, arts, sports) and technology projects.  These students have developed good soft skills as they put themselves in situations where they interact with people, effectively communicate with others, deal with stress and challenges, manage emotional ups and downs, adapt and perform creative problem solving.

5.  Let me highlight three awardees.

• Justin Lim Weide - Lee Kuan Yew CCA Award recipient from ITE College Central.  Justin comes from a Mandarin-speaking family. He knew it was important to build strong English communication skills. He decided to join the Gavel Club in ITE.  Gavel Club is  like a toastmasters club where one can develop public speaking skills through a structured programme and in an encouraging and affirming environment.  Justin took every Gavel Club training session seriously, and spent many hours honing his public speaking skills, writing his own scripts and practising his speech delivery. He became so good that he represented ITE in the World Speech Day competition, an annual public speaking competition where he was pitted against youth of the same age from the Junior Colleges and polytechnics.  He represented ITE in his second and third year and he won the Champion title in both years! [applause] Justine humbly attributed his success to the support he had received from his teachers and peers.

Prior to joining ITE, Justin had no leadership experience at all.  In ITE, he became the President of the Rotaract Club and had the opportunity to lead in organising large events such as the Asia Pacific Regional Rotaract Conference as well as overseas community service trips.

Justin has just graduated from our first batch of the 3-year Higher Nitec course in Accountancy and has moved on to Ngee Ann Polytechnic. We are glad Justin was able to seize the opportunity in his three years in ITE to develop and  build strong soft skills that would enable him to thrive in his future endeavors.

• Nur Aqilah – Lee Kuan Yew Model Student Award recipient from ITE College East. Aqilah pursued Higher Nitec in Electrical Engineering. She was keen to use her engineering knowledge and skills  to promote sustainability and perform community service.  She took part in several sustainability and community service projects and competitions.  She developed leadership skills, adaptability, resilience and strong work ethics. Aqilah was chosen to join the cast of students from ITE and NUS in a Channel News Asia documentary entitled ‘Growing Wild Season 3’.  Filming for the documentary spanned over one year, and Aqilah got first-hand experience of working alongside professional marine biologists and farmers from Singapore and the region to design and build a floating farm.

Despite her heavy commitments in extra-curricular activities and part-time work, Aqilah managed to achieve a perfect GPA of 4.0. This is most remarkable as she also juggled part-time work to supplement her family’s income.  Aqilah demonstrates maturity, independence and determination. She is truly deserving of the Lee Kuan Yew Model Student Award.  We are proud of you, and we wish you all the best in your further education as you move one step closer to your goal of becoming a biomedical engineer.

• ‘FoodPal’ – Lee Kuan Yew Technology Award winner from ITE College West. In ITE, we challenge our students to use the skills and knowledge that they have learnt to explore innovative solutions to enhance the lives of people.  This team is made up of students from Nitec in Mechatronics and Robotics, as well as Nitec in Asian Culinary Arts from ITE College West.  Combining their expertise in different fields, they developed ‘FoodPal’, an AI-powered food inventory app which makes it easy to identify items in the refrigerator that are near expiry date or are low in quantity.  Brandon Ng is the team leader of ‘FoodPal’ and I understand his mother tested the app and  gave it a thumbs-up! We hope this app would make its way into every Singaporean household.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the achievements of our students and the soft skills they have demonstrated are a testament of the transformative and uplifting impact of our diverse student development activities. I would like to congratulate all our award winners and we hope you will continue to elevate your ambition and strive for greater impact and success in the years ahead.

Thank you.