Our achievements as a homegrown Singapore company would not have been possible without the solid foundation laid by the nation’s early leaders. Singapore’s founding prime minister the late Mr Lee Kuan Yew believed that People are Singapore’s only valuable resource and saw education as the means to maximising this potential and building the nation. During his tenure, he dedicated significant resources to build an education system based on meritocracy so that every young Singaporean, regardless of their background, could have equal access to high-quality education.
2023 marks the 100th anniversary of Mr Lee Kuan Yew’s birth and to pay tribute to Mr Lee’s legacy, we are furthering our support for education, a cause close to his heart. This May, SingLand and UOL made a $2.5 million donation each to the LKY Centennial Fund (Fund) which supports the development of Singapore youths to be future leaders.
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance Mr Lawrence Wong launched the Lee Kuan Yew Centennial Fund on 30 May, and we attended the launch together with other corporate and individual donors.
“Mr Lee Kuan Yew was a visionary who dedicated his life to nation building. He strongly believed that education was key to nurturing young leaders for the future of Singapore. We share his belief and are committed to creating more inclusive learning opportunities through our corporate initiative SingLand Elevates. As we celebrate 60 years of shaping Singapore’s skyline this year, we have been scaling up our efforts to support causes that allow children and young adults to focus on their studies.”
– Jonathan Eu, CEO
During the event, Deputy Prime Minister Lawrence Wong also launched the Singapore Young Leaders Programme which will support 1,000 student leaders across institutes of higher learning to participate in leadership modules held throughout the year. The programme, funded by the LKY Centennial Fund, seeks to advance their appreciation of the values that guided Singapore’s founding leaders, such as resilience, multiculturalism, openness and integrity, which continue to be relevant today.
Apart from this programme, the LKY Centennial Fund will support the Lee Kuan Yew Scholarship Awards and Lee Kuan Yew Post-Graduate Scholarship for Urban Greenery and Ecology. The fund will also provide financial aid to up to 1,000 Institute of Technical Education and polytechnic students from disadvantaged backgrounds who demonstrate resilience and potential.
Mr Lee believed that education goes beyond formal schooling. Adds Mr Eu, “We share Mr Lee’s view that learning never stops. At SingLand, we actively encourage our employees to embrace a continuous learning mindset. By doing so, we stay competitive while building greater resilience in our business.”
The LKY Centennial Fund is managed by the Ministry of Education. To contribute to the Fund, click here: https://www.giving.sg/web/education-fund/lkycf_2023.