SINGAPORE – President Halimah Yacob joined over 1,000 youth, volunteers from People’s Association and beneficiaries of the President’s Challenge to play sports such as street football, basketball, netball and dance at *SCAPE on Saturday (July 20).

The activities were held in support of the President’s Challenge Volunteer Drive 2019 – a President’s Challenge initiative where individuals, schools and organisations are encouraged to participate in a host of programmes and volunteer activities.

In support of the President’s Challenge, the People’s Association has pledged to raise $250,000.

At the event, President Halimah participated in a friendly netball game and called for youth to volunteer in support of vulnerable groups in the community.

The President’s Challenge has rallied over 6,000 volunteers to support its beneficiaries since the start of the year – more than 80 per cent of whom are youth.

President Halimah said: “By leveraging the energy of youth volunteers, President’s Challenge hopes to harness the collective efforts of everyone to provide an ecosystem of support to the vulnerable groups in the community.

“One gap that I hope to address, is the availability of community initiatives to support early reading. Most of our current reading programmes are designed for children aged four and above. I believe more can be done for younger children, especially those from low-income families.

“Research has shown that early exposure to speech and language through activities such as reading help lay the foundation for early literacy skills and better prepare our young children for future learning. I hope youth volunteers will join me in this effort.”

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