Saturday, August 9, 2008
National Day Speech
ky @ 5:08 PM
As we celebrate our nation’s birthday, we should also take time off to look at what are some of our problems we could be facing in the future. St John that is.
Singapore now, in the 21st century is a developed country, so is the Hwa Chong St John Ambulance brigade, a well developed EP3. But our fertility rate, or rather sec1s intake rate have been very low in the recent years, in fact it is actually under the replacement rate, as the number of new sec1s in St John is unable to replace the number that is passing out. This would eventually lead to a shrinking population.
Here are some reasons that contribute to Hwa Chong St John Ambulance Brigade shrinking population
- Post war baby boom
In 2005, after the Hwa Chong St John Ambulance Brigade won a tough battle at the annual National First Aid and Home Nursing Competition. Many NCOs felt the need to have more cadets so as to increase the chances of winning in the future. As a result, in 2005, they have a massive 28 sec1s intake.
- 2006 rising living cost
But due to the rising living cost, most notably, high IOUs and there were a lack of welfare services, many of the 2006 sec1s quit St John and joined other EP3s, resulting in a huge lost of talents.
- 2007 encouraging more sec1s to join
After what happened in 2006, the next batch of NCOs saw the need of careful secondary 1 cadet’s intake planning as they continue to attempt to increase the intake. But the response was poor, and there were only a slight increase of 5 cadets.
- 2008 “Great success!”
Again, the need for a high sec1 intake was evident, if the Hwa Chong St John Ambulance Brigade ever wished to continue their great performance at National’s competition. Thus many incentives were given to sec1 students who were interested in St John. For example, more recreational facilities, or activities rather have been implemented during training. There were also a lot of feedback sessions to allow cadets to have better communication between NCOs. The response were relatively good but was still unable to reach the replacement rate.
If we do not do something in response to all this that is happening, it would lead to dire consequences. And this is most evident in the recent school NDP parade. The corps had a shortage of manpower, and was even unable to form a full 30 marching contingent. Retired and passed-out Sirs had to be called back to assist. “Back to work” scheme has to be implemented to ensure the Corp can operate properly.
The Corp’s Payment Fund aka CPF have also been implemented to help salvage this situation. Where all members are to pay $2, and they can draw up their funds on occasions like passing out parade, promotion parade and buying CPB badges.
But all this may not seem enough. Therefore more must be done. And I therefore urge all St John cadets to co-operate with their NCOs and bring Hwa Chong St John Ambulance Brigade to greater heights.
Minister Mentor DCSM CPL KY
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FUTURE EVENTS
ANCOC
June Day Trainings
SJAB Day
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ABOUT
The Hwa Chong Institution St. John Ambulance Brigade has had various awards, which recognizes the corps’ ability to train platoons of cadets, who are highly disciplined and well versed in First Aid. Following the motto of ‘For the service of mankind’, we also provide and render first aid coverage during events such as the combined sports meet, MUNs etc. As of 2009, the Hwa Chong Corps is one of the three schools in Singapore to have a record number of 10 consecutive CAA Gold. |
RULES
#1' No posting of irrelevant topics
#2' No spamming on tagboard and blog
#3' No vulgarites
#4' Be a bit formal while posting, this is after all a corp blog
#5' Include your name after every blog post
#6' Please inform the moderator of any major changes
#7' Observe the above rules
#8' Donate Corps Fund Every Month
#9' Never skip trainings
#10' Greet All NCOs in and outside of training
#11' Always report to cadet's/NCO's room unless otherwise stated
#12' Honour the Cadet Code of Chivalry
*Offenders will be strictly punished
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