Racial Harmony Day

Every year on 21st of July, schools in Singapore commemorate Racial Harmony Day to mark the anniversary of the 1964 racial riots. This year’s theme, “Multicultural Singapore,” encourages our pupils to value Singapore’s cultural diversity. Thus, a series of assembly programmes were lined up to educate pupils about the importance of preserving racial harmony in Singapore.

While the format of commemoration differs from past years’ programmes due to the safe management measures in place, pupils remained engaged as the team brought forth the objectives of Racial Harmony Day. On 13th July, Yangzhengnites came to school in their ethnic costumes and a class assembly was held in place of the usual mass assembly. There were two parts to the class assembly. The first part focused on the purpose of commemorating Racial Harmony Day, and pupils were engaged in different activities for the second segment of the commemoration.

Pupils in Primary 1 to 3 were engaged in various hands-on craft activities related to a cultural aspect from the Chinese, Indian and Malay community. Pupils in Primary 4 had the opportunity to gain a better understanding about Singapore’s hawker culture, while the Primary 5 and 6 pupils went on a series of virtual trails of three ethnic sites in Singapore, and learned how the communities co-exist harmoniously since the early years of Singapore.

To consolidate pupils’ learning experience, the commemoration concluded with the NE reflection lesson held on 15th July. While the Primary 4 pupils were engaged in the Orange Ribbon activity, form teachers from the other levels facilitated the reflection session and elicit pupils’ understanding about preserving racial harmony. From their awareness of cultural aspects such as food and languages, to understanding the importance of unity, pupils were reminded about maintaining the multicultural social fabric of Singapore, and play their part to ensure we do not repeat the mistakes from yesteryears.