Before he went up to Oxford after his secondary school education in Edinburgh, former British prime minister Tony Blair took a year off to work as a rock music promoter in London. Prince Harry, the younger son of Charles and the late Princess Diana, took a gap year in 2004 to work as a volunteer in South Africa before he joined the military.

Over in Singapore, a small but growing number of youth are taking a gap year before university. For those who can afford it, it can be enriching, if the time is spent fruitfully. 'Gappers', as such young people are called, will often gain confidence and become more mature.

Gappers who plan to get out of the country should not just think of Europe or the United States, which are where most young Singaporeans go to at the first chance to travel. Instead, they should begin by exploring their 'backyard'. Indonesia and Thailand have rich cultures and histories that go back hundreds of years. There is a lot that Singaporean youth can learn from them. They should also spend some time in India and China. There is even more they will learn and discover travelling in these huge countries of stunning contrasts.

Doing volunteer work in 'hard' places like Nepal and Laos is also a good idea. This will be no holiday, but one of the aims of the gappers must be to get out of their comfort zone to broaden their outlook.

What they will gain when they spend some time in the region is a sense of perspective, and the recognition that Singapore is not the centre of the universe. The experience is really part of their education.

It may not be a coincidence that all the gappers quoted in the Straits Times report are young women. Males have to go for full-time national service. Their NS years are, in effect, invaluable gap years.

This article was first published in The Straits Times.