MEDIA ADVISORY 13 NOVEMBER 2008

“Spirited 58-year old ‘Grandma’ Mok bridges generation gap to lend helping hand to daughter and her student-charges in National Pushcart Challenge 2008”

Teacher’s mom rallies 20-year handicraft experience to contribute homemade pencil cases, hand-phone covers, card pouches, coin purses, and LAPTOP bags

Republic Polytechnic (RP), the Singapore tertiary institution that approaches learning with a difference, would like to invite your journalist and photographer/camera crew to the official launch of the National Pushcart Challenge 2008 organized by its Centre for Innovation and Enterprise.


* Please note the final judging of the Challenge will be conducted on 18th November between 10.00 am and 1.30 pm.

The event has attracted many participants, but the story about Madam Mok Mee Kew and her daughter, Daphne Chong, a teacher from North View Secondary School, is inspiring. Madam Mok, a home-maker and part-time home tutor, has pitched in enthusiastically to make a wide range of handicraft items to contribute to her daughter’s pushcart at the competition. Ms Chong and her six students hope to clinch the first prize with the help of ‘Grandma’ Mok.

The National Pushcart Challenge was initiated as a platform for all secondary schools who have participated in the Entrepreneurship Education Programme (EEP). Through this competition, 132 students from 22 secondary schools will be given the opportunity to pit their entrepreneurial skills against each other in a two-day nationwide competition. There will be a variety of unique products sold by the schools from customized shoes to herbal plants.

This competition seeks to raise the profile of the EEP as well as to bring together schools on a common entrepreneurial platform to enhance students’ learning. Seven categories of cash prizes will be awarded: National Pushcart Challenge Champion (S$3,000), First Runner Up ($2,000), Second Runner Up ($1,000), Most Creative Business Idea ($500), Most Promising Business Idea ($500), Best Visual Display Pushcart ($500), and Most Patronized Pushcart ($500).

Teams in the Challenge are judged in five key areas: Sales, Product, Creativity, Services and Marketing & Promotion.

Building on last year’s success, Republic Polytechnic National Pushcart Challenge 2008 has been invited to be part of a global entrepreneurship initiative titled Global Entrepreneurship Week (GEW). Concurrently with various institutions /organizations in 74 countries around the world, National Pushcart Challenge will be the key highlight for the opening ceremony of GEW in Singapore.

For media RSVPs and interview opportunities, please contact the following by Friday, 14 November 2008:

Republic Polytechnic
Benjamin Chow
Tel: +65 31001779
Email: benjamin_chow@rp.sg

Mileage Communications Pte Ltd
Ooi Kelly/ Ronald Wong
Tel: +65 62221678
Email: kelly@mileage.com.sg / ronald@mileage.com.sg

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About Republic Polytechnic

The first educational institution in Singapore to adopt the Problem-Based Learning approach for all its diploma programmes, Republic Polytechnic has six schools and one centre offering thirty diploma courses in Information and Communications Technology, Engineering, Applied Science, Technology for the Arts, Sports, Health and Leisure, Events and Hospitality, Innovation and Enterprise, and Culture and Communication. Republic Polytechnic is committed to nurturing innovation and entrepreneurial learning in an environment that develops problem-solving process skills and a life-long learning attitude. Its holistic, broad-based curriculum, covering culture, enterprise development and cognitive processes, prepares students for an active and meaningful role in society. Republic Polytechnic strives for excellence by achieving various national and international accreditations, including People Developer Standards, ISO9001, ISO14001, OHSAS 18001, Singapore Quality Class, Singapore Innovation Class, and the Singapore Health Awards (Gold). For more information, visit http://www.rp.sg.