I believe that an individual could not attend the Outward Bound School on Pulau Ubin, unless he or she is age 16.
I attended PU Course 70 when I was age 17 in Pre U One, during the June school holidays.
Yes I attended during Secondary 3 too.....this was in the 70s.
Youth leadership training camp.....that was during JC year 1.
Mine was in the 80s. It's a 9 day course, part of school ECA.
What is the purpose of OBS The youth of Spore can already join NCC, boy scout, girl guides,...etc
Wouldn't it be cheaper to send these kids to Malaysia or Batam & let them build their confidence there, or wait until they are ready for NS.
I remembered St. John's island camp too. Also in secondary school.
And I went back as an instructor a few years later and sian one of the school teachers.
It's an adventure camp with interesting activities like diving into sea and swimming, canoeing, dinghy sailing, obstacle course etc. Will leave the students very good memories.
We have camps every year but never go St John's island. The OBS one was the best and got to interact with students from other schools too.
OBS is fun but I doubt it will help develop the the type of youth for the future. There has to be a drastic change. You also do not need OBS if there is National Service which is lot harder, teaches you a whole range of values as well as tells you where your limit physically and mentally are.
What we need is to develop the spirit of adventure and to recognise out potential at an early edge.
Take a look at the number of Australian and Japanese kids that are prepared to sail around the World solo in their teens - both male and females. Thats takes a lot of balls. Where do they come from and why do they do it. I know ex-Singaporean families whose kids do undertake more rigorous things than their counterparts here.
Here we have people getting lost in MacRitchie Reservoir and have to call the emergency services.
You look at the children of PAP Ministers and MPs. They all have kids that game the system. They do the minimal for ECA. Just to keep up with their Joneses, they take up Piano or some exclusive activity.
Then go where to camp?
PA campsite?
I remembered the flying fox, jetty jump and round island canoe. Indeed it was very memorable.....I wouldn't want my kids to do NS but OBS I would recommend
I attended OBS when i was 15. Nowsaday you have primary school kids climbing Mt Kinabalu, so nothing new, just bragging rights like doing bungee jumps or the more tame flying fox slides in our time. Another one at Coney means garmen making the experience more accessible to lower middle income group. After all, this group will have children growing up into the same social class as their parents, but with a brave new world economy worse off than their parents ever were, so they need all the help they can get to go take some risks while we sit easy behind our ministry desks.
When I was younger I went camping with some friends on Coney Island. We were the only ones there
We also went camping in places like Tekong. Back then it was not occupied by the SAF, just some villagers.
Nowadays life in Spore is so artificial. If you want to go camping, you have to go to a designated area & book a place. While there you have to follow all the rules & regulations. I've never gone for any OBS course, but it is probably going to be the same, with all the rules & regulations.
Camp in school grounds. One camp in serimbun campsite, the name is something like that.
Saribum? You must be a guy then as the scouts campsite is there
Camping on Coney Island was one of the activities in the OBS course. After the canoeing, we camped overnight in Coney Island. Yes we were the only ones there but many of us haha.
Camping on Coney Island was one of the activities in the OBS course. After the canoeing, we camped overnight in Coney Island. Yes we were the only ones there but many of us haha.
Is that the so called solo night? Bits and pieces coming back to me now side it's been so long ago