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By Veena Bharwani
THE haul was solid. Nine gold medals, six silvers and 15 bronzes, fourth in the medal table, ahead of India and Japan.
But in contrast to Singapore's good performance were half-filled stadiums and few young faces among the crowds.
This was a worrying feature of the week-long Asian Youth Games, which ended here yesterday.
As the torch is extinguished, the question remains: Will we experience a poorly-supported, 'youthless' Youth Olympic Games (YOG) next year as well?
The YOG, which takes place from 14 to 26 Aug, will see about 3,600 athletes from 205 countries.
At least one group of educational institutions here have taken the bold initiative.
Three polytechnics have tweaked their time-tables to extend their vacation time during the Youth Olympic Games (YOG) next year.
This, they say, is to give their students a chance to support and be a part of the inaugural YOG, which takes place from 14 to 26 Aug.
The YOG will see more than 3,600 athletes from more than 200 countries, as compared with the 1,400 from 42 countries for the Asian Youth Games (AYG).
The fact that AYG was held smack in the middle of school term has been highlighted by some educators as one of the reasons for the poor attendance during the AYG. (See other report above.)
When contacted, three polytechnics - Ngee Ann Poly (NP), Singapore Polytechnic (SP) and Temasek Polytechnic (TP) - confirmed that they are tweaking ther vacation time-tables for the whole year to give students a two-week break during the YOG.
A SP spokesman said that it is shortening its first term holidays, which usually takes place in June, from three weeks to two.
Shorter term 2 vacation
In addition, they are cutting down their term two vacation next year from six weeks to four. This will allow them to extend the break in August from one week to three weeks.
SP students will have their break between 9 to 29 Aug next year, which consists of their one-week study break before examinations and two weeks break for the YOG. NP and TP are doing the same - extending the one-week study break in August to three weeks to let students participate and support YOG.
NP and TP will have vacation from 7 to 29 Aug.
Added the NP spokesman: 'During this window period, Ngee Ann students can be involved in the YOG or study for their exams, which will be held after the YOG.'
Both NP and SP have already reflected the special YOG breaks on their next year's calendars online. Added the TP spokesman: 'We want to encourage our students to play a part in this historic event as it is a once-in-a-lifetime learning experience for them.'
The spokesman added that so far, 1,823 TP students have signed up to be volunteers for the Games.
This includes students who will help as airport dignitary liaison officers, web reporters, photographers, recreation officers and doping control chaperones and marshals.
The spokesman added: 'In addition, a few of our staff have also been roped in to help in subcommittees that promote media engagement and culture and education programmes.'
NP student Sherwin Tay, 19, said: 'That is really awesome as we'd have two extra weeks to study and go support Singapore at the YOG next year.'
Parent Tan Eng Giak, 53, who has a son who goes to SP, said: 'I just hope students will take the time to go and support the YOG instead of just using the extra time to just study.
'It is still a good thing. Some will be interested to go down and support them when they take a break from their studies.'
Additional reporting by Shea John Driscoll
This article was first published in The New Paper.
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