Make it easier for youths to volunteer, especially with seniors & overseas: PM Wong

More can be done to encourage young people to volunteer, especially since youths already have many things on their plates, said Prime Minister Lawrence Wong.

He was speaking at the 10th anniversary carnival of the Youth Corps, a youth movement he helped to establish back in 2014 when he was the Minister for Culture, Community and Youth.

The occasion has "very special meaning for me", said PM Wong.

"I believed that our youths would have the idealism, the energy, and the passion to make Singapore, and even to make the world a better place," he said.

He added that he was "glad" to see the Corps' growth over the past decade: from a small group of 90 volunteers, to its current size of over 30,000.

Growing up

As the Youth Corps moves into its second decade, PM Wong shared a few suggestions to help it "refresh its approach to engaging young people".

For one, more bite-sized volunteering programmes, with lower time commitments, could encourage youths to take the first step into volunteering.

This is especially as youths already have many things on their plate, like schoolwork, internships, and co-curricular activities, PM Wong said.

He also suggested that youths do more to help seniors. While programmes already exist to help the elderly, such as with health screenings, "ageing well goes beyond physical health", PM Wong said.

"We know that there are many seniors staying alone, and they face mental health challenges or the risk of becoming socially isolated if they are not engaged.

So Youth Corps volunteers can also do more to befriend these seniors, to encourage them to go out of their homes, and to help them stay meaningfully engaged."

PM Wong also encouraged the Corps to explore more overseas expeditions.

Since the Covid-19 pandemic, the number of youths going on overseas expeditions has dropped and not quite recovered, at only 2,000 last year as compared to 4,000 pre-Covid.

"So we will do more, we should do more to design attractive overseas programmes in the region, and encourage more young people to take this up, so that they can benefit from the overseas experience," he said.

"Then you can forge close relationships, build networks and friendships with your peers."

Top image from MCI