Speech - Address by Ms Low Khah Gek, Chief Executive Officer, Institute of Technical Education, at ITE Graduation 2021, in Executive Salon 1, ITE Headquarters, on 28 July 2021, 3.00 PM

Dr Maliki Osman, Second Minister for Education

Mr Andrew Chong, Chairman, ITE

Members of the ITE Board of Governors

Graduands

Parents

Colleagues

Ladies and Gentlemen

1                Today, we celebrate the graduation and achievements of 14,137 students and adult learners from ITE’s Full-time, Part-time and Traineeship and Work-Study programmes for Academic Year 2020/2021. 7,467 graduated with Nitec, 6,497 achieved Higher Nitec, 89 graduated with Technical Diploma and 84 achieved a Work-Study Diploma. We are proud of all our graduands. 

2                Graduands, while your achievements are the result of your hard work and perseverance, there are others who have journeyed with you. The belief and dedication of the ITE lecturers, and the encouragement and support of your family members have contributed to your achievements. [Let’s thank them. They must be beaming with pride!]. 

3                The Graduation Ceremony today may be a smaller scale and many of you are attending online, I hope it would nevertheless still be a meaningful event for our graduands in three ways: i) recognition of your achievements, ii) acknowledgement of the people who have walked the journey with you and iii) expression of our hopes and well wishes for you.

4                Earlier we watch the video of the learning experiences of our graduands on campus and at the workplace. I shall highlight the philosophy and commitment of ITE and the staff. At the core of all that we do, we stay focused on Creating Opportunities for Students and Adult Learners to Acquire Skills, Knowledge and Values for Employability and Lifelong Learning. We want to enable all our students to build a bright future, secure good jobs, grow your careers, pursue further education and realise your potential. In the context of an evolving economy, rapid industry transformation and increasing skills demands for all jobs, ITE’s strategies and programmes have been growing and evolving so that we can better meet all their needs and aspirations. 

5                Whatever the starting point of our students, when you join ITE, we are committed to work with you to enable you to succeed. For some of you, your goal after ITE is to land a good job while for others, your goal is to progress into a diploma course, whether at the Polytechnic, or through ITE’s Technical Diploma or Work-Study Diploma programmes. Let me illustrate ITE’s commitment to help our students realise their goals through the stories of three graduands:

1.  Nur Syafiqah Bte Junaidi. She completed her studies in Assumption Pathway School in 2015 and enrolled in a 3-year Nitec in Beauty andWellness course in 2016. Then in 2019, she moved on to do a Higher Nitec in Service Management and graduated in March this year. Nur Syafiqah shared that the hands-on and practical training at ITE enabled her to learn effectively and the two industry attachment stints provided her good job exposure and work experience. She received compliments and affirmation from her internship supervisor and the customers she served. Given her positive work attitude as well as the knowledge and skills acquired at ITE, Nur Syafiqah secured a job fairly quickly after graduation and is now a Customer Service Assistant at a Pet Lovers Centre.  She is very happy at work and has the desire to continue to upgrade herself after a few years. We applaud her good work attitude and determination to strive higher and achieve more. 

2.  Joseph Chua Zhi Jia. Joseph enrolled in Higher Nitec in Electronics Engineering in 2019 through the Direct-Entry-Scheme to Polytechnic Programme (DPP). He excelled in his academic studies and was the Vice-President of the Cyber Games Club at ITE. He enjoyed applying his skills to innovate and develop new products. He was the Team Leader for the project to develop a fully automated, self-help and contactless temperature measuring cum safe-entry kiosk. The industry partner, Maxxmedia International Pte Ltd was pleased with the product and deployed these at various restaurants, commercial buildings and residential buildings. Joseph’s potential and capability really shone through at ITE. He achieved a Grade Point Average of 3.966. He is now pursuing a Diploma in Cybersecurity and Digital Forensics at Nanyang Polytechnic. We congratulate Joseph and look forward to his future outstanding achievements.

3.  Muhammad Iqbal Bin Nin Awi. Muhammad Iqbal’s journey is not the usual one. He started with Nitec in Mechanical Technology in 2014 and did well to progress directly to the second year of Higher Nitec in Mechanical Engineering. After graduating with the Higher Nitec in 2017, he decided to serve his National Service and then returned to ITE in 2019 to enrol in the Technical Engineer Diploma in Machine Technology. This is a diploma that ITE offers in collaboration with the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports, Baden-Wüttenburg, Germany. Iqbah completed the diploma this March and is currently working as an Assistant Engineer at Illuminate Precision Engineering Pte Ltd, a manufacturer of precision engineering parts. ITE is proud to have played a significant part in Iqbal’s journey of discovery, development and growth. 

6                These three stories of our graduands illustrate the journey of ITE students discovering their passion, igniting their determination, growing their ambition and optimising their potential. Whether our graduands choose to move into the job market or go for further education at the Polytechnic or through ITE’s diploma programmes, we are proud of their achievements.  

7                We are confident that the 14,137 graduands have built a good foundation to enable them to continue their journey of learning, upgrading and achieving as they set forth to build their future and lead meaningful and fulfilling lives. Our Congratulations to all of you for your success and may you always be a strong ambassador for ITE!

Thank you.