Service Learning & Community Involvement Programme
Introduction
The Community Involvement Programme, or CIP for short, was launched on 1 October 1997 with the aim of educating local students such that they will understand that each and every Singaporean has the role and capability of improving and enhancing our society and community.
Through the CIP, students would be exposed to the community that are less fortunate than them, and be motivated to become socially responsible citizens, helping out those who are in need. It is also hoped that through CIP, the students would take a more proactive approach in the moulding of our nation’s future.
CIP aims to prepare our student populace to be active citizens through building up their social cohesion and civil morality. Through the CIP, the students would learn about civic-mindedness and caring for Singapore as a whole.
Activities
A variety of activities are carried out as part of the Community Involvement Programme. These activities are practical applications of what the students learn from their teachers and peers about the CIP. Through these activities, they would be able to gain first-hand experiences about CIP.
CIP activities could be categorized into two distinct groups, the fund-raising activities and the non fund-raising activities. Fund-raising activities are generally activities that involve students performing or collecting donations from the public for charitable uses. Non fund-raising activities, on the other hand, are activities that would have direct non-monetary form of impact on the beneficiaries.
Fund-raising activities are performed by the students of local schools very frequently. Flag-selling is one of the most common forms of fund-raising activities, where students would ask for donation from the public in the streets. Busking is also another form of fund-raising activity, albeit being less popular. Busking involves students performing in the streets in an effort to raise funds. Other forms of fund-raising activities include Newspaper Collections and Jumbo Sales. Funds raised from these activities would be channeled in whole to the beneficiaries as stated beforehand.
Non fund-raising activities are in comparison, less popular forms of CIP activities. However, it is highly encouraged by local schools for the students to take part in non fund-raising activities, so as to better expose students to their beneficiaries. Beach cleanups are frequent and the students involved would be directly involved in the cleaning up of litter on the beaches. The students would be educated about the adverse effects of the litter as they perform the activity. Other forms of non fund-raising activities include performances at orphanages and cleaning up of flats for the elderly.
All CIP activities performed by each student are clearly documented so as to accord the appropriate CCA points to him or her. CIP activities are logged based on the number of hours that the student performs the activity for.
Service-Learning
Service-Learning, or S-L for short, is a recently introduced initiative that is meant to add value to the existing Community Involvement Programme. Service-Learning is essentially a framework that incorporates the ideas of CIP, allowing students to learn while serving the community.
It is believed that students would be able to benefit in the new learning environment created by Service-Learning. Valuable lessons would be learned by the students as they embark on the service-learning activities. Every act of service would serve as a teaching tool to the students, educating the students about social responsibility and national pride and belonging.
CCA Grading
Community Involvement Programme contributes to a significant portion of one’s Co-Curricular Activities (CCA) record. The points awarded under the Community Involvement Programme are recorded under the Service component of the LEAPS grading scheme.
5 CCA points, which is the maximum attainable points, would be awarded for 100 hours of CIP activities clocked over the 4 years in secondary school.
