If Friends of Children (FOC) were not as devoted as they are to quality education, its volunteers would surely not dedicate time out of their weekly hustle.

Every semester since this Welfare Services Club portfolio launched in 2003, NTU student volunteers conduct 10 sessions at each education centre.

Following the MOE school terms’ curriculum, revision and tuition sessions are planned during the study weeks, while related activities during the holidays such as how to make tangyuan (glutinous rice balls) would be introduced.

Volunteers are free to plan activities for each session and at the end of each month, the student volunteer centre heads would collate reports and the Main Committee will discuss areas for improvements.

Although much effort is put into planning each session, the real work starts when FOC executes the classes.

Gathering the cooperation of young adolescents and teens is no easy feat, and sometimes FOC volunteers even have to break up students’ fights or spend time coaxing the class to cooperate. Yet despite all these challenges, volunteers depart from each session brimming with a sense of accomplishment.

Working with children was something I used to shy away from, but through the regular interactions with them, I have formed many light-hearted friendships. Children have more in common to us than we think. Andrew Chew, Student Volunteer Centre Head

 


About NTU Welfare Services Club

Founded in 1985, Welfare Services Club (WSC) is a non-academic constituent club in NTU which provides an umbrella of voluntary activities and social work to all students. Besides growing from strength to strength in membership, WSC has also undergone incredible expansions in its activities to reach out to more service users every year. Currently, it runs 9 Regular Service Projects (RSPs) serving the Deaf, Elderly, Children of Low-income Families, Children with Chronic or Terminal Diseases, Intellectually Disabled, People with Mental Health Issues, Physically Challenged, Visually Handicapped and Youths-at-risk, which comprises volunteers engaging these service users weekly at various locations.

WSC also runs 5 Special Projects and 4 Supporting Committees. The Special Projects include Camp OutReach, Challenge ur Limits, Ignite Change, Overseas Volunteering Expedition and Volunteer Management and they provide additional support to service users both locally and overseas. The Supporting Committees include Finance, Growth & Opportunities!, Internal Relations and Publicity and Publications and they provide operational support to WSC. Volunteers engaged in Special Projects and Supporting Committees gain invaluable skills in entrepreneurship, events management, planning, coordination and many more.