MORE teachers are doing volunteer work here and overseas, with many heading to countries such as Cambodia, Vietnam, India and China to help the needy.
They are even starting to take their students along.
'In the process of helping others, the students learn way beyond what they would have in a classroom,' said St Andrew's Junior College teacher Louis Ho, 30.
The physical education teacher has been going on such overseas expeditions at least once a year, for almost a decade.
Projects taken on by such groups include teaching needy children or training teachers in poor communities, or contributing school materials.
Volunteers also set up basic information technology infrastructure or donate computers to villages.
Other popular projects involve health care, conserving the environment, and providing the poor with skills so they can get jobs.
According to the Singapore International Foundation (SIF) and the Youth Expedition Project (YEP), which subsidise half of the costs for such teams, the projects have gained popularity in recent years.
The YEP alone has seen the number of volunteer teachers climb from 78 in 2006 to 93 last year. This year, 78 have already signed up for such trips to date.
SIF also said it has seen the biggest growth in the number of youth volunteers, including educational institutions and youth groups.
Each trip for about 20 volunteers typically costs between $20,000 and $40,000, depending on the nature of the project.
Because students want to become volunteers earlier, both groups recently lowered the age criterion for them, from 17 to 15 years.
The Institute of Technical Education (ITE) has been an active participant in volunteer efforts.
Two teachers and 72 students from ITE College West have been to a remote village in Hainan, China, about 10 times to help poor farmers there improve their lives.
They have installed 15 solar lamps in the village, which has no electricity and would otherwise be pitch dark from 7pm.
'The villagers were relying on torches at night to find their way around. Children coming home late from school couldn't even see where they were going,' said ITE lecturer Pang Sher Yoon, 49.
Installing solar lamps, he said, means the poor villagers do not have to pay for electricity because each day's sunlight can provide lighting for three days.
The teams sourced for the parts in the city, then assembled them at the village.
'This project suited the ITE students, as they learn fast due to their electronics knowledge. For the villagers, it was just like magic, as the power source seemed to come straight from the sun,' said Mr Pang.
For their next project, a team of ITE nursing students and staff will provide a $4,000 delivery bed, new medical devices and train the village 'doctor', who had no proper medical training.
Explained ITE lecturer Yam Wai Hong, 61: 'Right now, the local women give birth on a creaky, rusty delivery bed - the only one in the entire village.'
Teachers say that school support has been instrumental in getting such projects off the ground.
The schools start committees focused on such volunteer work, and allow teachers time off to make trip preparations during the school term. The extended school holidays also give teachers and students ample time to go on such trips, which last up to two weeks each time.
One team which has likely covered the most number of miles in a single trip is a Nanyang Polytechnic group.
In April, 16 lecturers and students travelled to 30 different villages around the Cambodian city Siem Reap in two weeks, distributing medicine and spreading awareness of the disease lymphatic filariasis.
They are trying to help villagers eliminate the mosquito-borne bug, which introduces microscopic worms into the human lymph system. Those who are infected get very swollen lymph glands, and their immunity to germs and infections is lowered.
Volunteers say they get hooked on what they are doing.
'I started volunteering on humanitarian grounds. Now I find it helps me grow as a person, and I don't take what I have for granted anymore,' said Mr Ho, who persuades young teachers to participate.
Those who would like to apply for funding can call +65-6309-4070 or e-mail yep-enquiries@yep.sg
This article was first published in The Straits Times on Aug 30, 2008.
This article is reproduced from AsiaOne.
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