MOE honors 163 students for innovation, resilience
18 Aug 2017
Today, 18 Aug 2017 - Article featured SP student Raynard Chai and NP student Tok Joo Tat who received the Lee Hsien Loong Interactive Digital Media Smart Nation (LHL-IDM) Award, one of the two new awards at this year’s Ministry of Education (MOE)’s Special Awards ceremony. The LHL-IDM award recognises the work of polytechnic students who have contributed projects towards Singapore's Smart Nation vision. Five projects from the four polytechnics were selected. Using the long-range wireless technology, Raynard developed a prototype “Bus, STOP” that allows commuters to press a button at bus stops that will alert them when their bus is approaching. He was inspired to develop it after seeing his grandmother struggle to flag buses at the bus stop because she could not see clearly. Raynard hopes to approach the authorities to check their interest in implementing his model at the bus-stops. Another award winner Joo Tat developed a device that could be mounted on the wheelchairs to help the disabled elderly living on their own with arm-flexing exercises, so that they could do these exercises at home. While doing community service as part of his CCA, he noticed that these elderly struggled to go to rehabilitation centers for their physiotherapy sessions and thus wanted to help them with this device. Once he completes his poly education, Joo Tat will build more devices, such as those that help with wrist movements and elbow-flexing exercises. Raynard and Joo Tat were among the 163 students received awards in 11 categories from Mr Ong Ye Kung, Minister for Education (Higher Education and Skills) at the award ceremony. Article also featured one recipient for the other new award - the Lee Kuan Yew Exemplary Student Award. Similar story in Channel NewsAsia featured another LHL-IDM Award project - the interactive mobile app “KinderSign” developed by four NP students (Terence, Jasper, Rachael and Lynette) to teach Singapore sign language. Similar story in The Straits Times featured NYP student Lim Kok Fong who also received the LHL-IDM Award for developing the CodeBlue Response, an app which lets hospital staff instantly alert their CodeBlue team in emergencies. Currently, staff have to locate emergency buttons to activate the team. Kok Fong hopes to pursue computer science or information systems in a local university. Similar story was reported in Berita Harian and Lianhe Zaobao.