A total of 442 students were the proud recipients of bursary awards and merit book prizes at this year’s Union of Telecoms Employees of Singapore (UTES) - U Care Fund Bursary Awards 2012. Held at the Kallang Theatre on 2 September 2012, the event was jointly organised with SingTel and SingPost. The award is given to the children of members of UTES and employees of SingPost and SingTel who have the potential to complete their education but face financial difficulties.
This year, the total award value was $145,200, an increase from last year’s $124,800. The award was put together by contributions from SingPost, SingTel, UTES and the NTUC U-Care Fund.
NTUC Competency Director (Care and Share) Zainal Sapari, who was the Guest-of-Honour for the event, urged the parents of the award recipients to be supportive of theirchildren. He said: “Raising a child is not easy... but I think as parents there are ups and downs and I hope you will continue to give the moral support to your children in whatever ways that you can give.”
Earlier, UTES General Secretary Thuvinder Singh delivered the opening address. He noted that it is through education that students are given the opportunity to develop their young minds and reach their full potential. “They are our future leaders and much effort should be placed in nurturing and cultivating them to take over the role of bringing Singapore to greater heights,” he added.
UTES First Vice-President Rahmad Chik, whose son and daughter were among the recipients of the bursary award, was grateful to the union for the award. “I feel very happy, even though it’s a small amount from the union but it means a lot to staff like us who are low-wage earners,” said Mr Rahmad. His son, Muhammad Syafiq, said that he would make use of the money to buy school stationery to help ease his parents’ burden.
