The Copyright Licensing and Administration Society of Singapore (CLASS) awarded $60,000 worth of bursaries to forty local tertiary students from polytechnics and universities on Tuesday, 21 December. This marks the second year the award ceremony was held virtually online by CLASS due to social distancing measures in place to combat the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
Mr Edwin Tong, Minister for Culture, Community, and Youth, and Second Minister for Law, spoke to the award recipients in a pre-recorded message presented during the ceremony. Congratulating the students for receiving the CLASS bursary award, Mr. Tong encouraged students “to continue to work hard and believe in (themselves)” and go beyond the constraints of their circumstances to pursue their passions and dreams.
“Any action, every action, big or small, can make a real difference,” said Mr. Tong as he reminded the students to “pay it forward” by contributing back to the community in whatever way they could in the future.
The CLASS bursary award scheme was created to help Singaporean students with financial difficulties as they went on their pursuit for tertiary education. Since its inception in 2010, over half a million dollars in CLASS bursaries have been given to approx 500 deserving students.
CLASS CEO, Mr. Andrew Fong, says the award “recognizes more than academic performance” as well and serves as an acknowledgment of the “resilience of students who have overcome the challenges they faced” during their education journey in Singapore.
Eligible candidates have to be Singaporean tertiary students. Under the CLASS bursary award scheme, polytechnic students were awarded $1200 whilst university students were awarded $1500.
The award recipients were selected from a pool of participating tertiary education institutes which includes: the National University of Singapore (NUS), Singapore Management University (SMU), Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD), Singapore Institute of Technology (SIT), Singapore University of Social Sciences (SUSS) and, polytechnics – Nanyang Polytechnic, Ngee Ann Polytechnic, Temasek Polytechnic, Singapore Polytechnic, and Republic Polytechnic.
Since its conception in 1999, CLASS licenses and collects the rightful royalties from educational institutes in Singapore and protects the creators of copyrighted works that have been used within these institutions. This includes universities, polytechnics, government schools and colleges, government-aided institutions, and private education institutions (PEIs).
A congratulatory message by Mr Edwin Tong, Minister for Culture, Community and Youth & Second Minister for Law.
