Latest News: Girls can join scouts as CCA

MOE allows scouts to recruit girls in primary & secondary schools from next year
(The New Paper, 13 July 2006)

FROM January next year, girls will be able to join their male schoolmates as scouts. Currently, school girls can only join the girl guides, not the scouts which accepts only boys. The Ministry of Education (MOE) has announced that it has granted permission to the Singapore Scout Association (SSA) to recruit girls in primary and secondary schools. Previously, though SSA opened its membership to both genders, it was only allowed to recruit boys in schools. Girls who were interested to join usually do so on their own accord, outside of school. In an e-mail sent to all 357 primary and secondary schools yesterday afternoon, the ministry explained that the move was to give students 'flexibility and more choices in CCAs'. Also, girls have been participating in scout activities in many countries, including Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand and Hong Kong, for many years. An MOE spokesman said parents and schools were consulted on the change, and the response has been supportive.

The announcement comes as sweet news to SSA chief commissioner Nicholas Tang. He told The New Paper that SSA had first proposed the idea to MOE about two years ago. He said: 'In this whole region, Singapore is the only one without girls in scouting in schools. 'We felt that we need to keep up with the times. The rest of world has already changed. We feel that girls can also benefit from the scout programme. It's suitable for all genders.' There are currently more than 150 young and adult female scouts, out of over 10,000 scouts in Singapore. Said Mr Tang: 'Although we told the girls they won't get any CCA points, they said it's all right.'

NOT SEPARATED

He noted that in the past few years, three girls had received the President's Scout Award, the highest scout award for youth members. Mr Tang explained that girls will wear the same scout uniform as the boys. They will not be separated in two different groups in school, as the purpose of having girls in scouting is to see them develop through an integrated and common programme. An MOE spokesman said: 'Similar to other uniformed groups, schools need to ensure that female officers are present for all overnight activities.' SSA will also be writing a letter to schools soon and organising a briefing for schools interested in admitting girls later this year. The announcement was welcomed by principals like Mrs Edelweis Neo of Dunman Secondary School. She said: 'Every year, a handful of girls would come up to us saying they are keen to join scouts. This would be a good opportunity for them.' It was good news too for Ms Joanne Lio, 20, who joined scouts when she was 17 and went on to win the President's Scout Award last year. She said: 'All along when I was in secondary school, I wished there was female scouting, but there wasn't, so I had to find an alternative and join another uniform group.' Added Madam Rafeah Awang, 34, who has seven children aged 8 to 17: 'It's good. It's more challenging, and girls can learn to be tough.' But some had reservations. Mrs Tan-Soon Eng Peng, vice-principal of Cedar Girls' Secondary, said that her school already has two strong girl guide companies. She said: 'We wouldn't want to stretch our resources by offering something similar.'

SOME UNHAPPY

Mr Tang acknowledged there are some who are unhappy about girls joining scouting. Girl Guides Singapore chief commissioner Yvonne Lim said the decision was 'regrettable'. She explained that Lord Baden-Powell, who founded both scouts and guides, had started a separate programme for girls as there are fundamental differences between boys and girls. She said the guides would remain a single-sex organisation. Said Ms Lim: 'In the long run, we are confident that parents, principals, teachers and the girls themselves will realise that we have a very established, relevant and strong programme, specially developed for girls and women - by girls and women.