Successful ITE graduates to be recognised as part of 3 new fellowships in President's Challenge 2025
A new fellowship to recognise Institute of Technical Education (ITE) graduates who have had outstanding career achievements was among three tracks launched under the refreshed President's Challenge on May 28.
The ITE Inspire Fellowship recognises those who have achieved success following a technical education background so as to enlist them to serve as role models and mentors to motivate others.
The fellowship was introduced by President Tharman Shanmugaratnam during a visit with Netball Singapore, an organisation receiving funding this year under the President's Challenge.
The President's Challenge was established in 2000 by then President S R Nathan to raise money for and support various social causes. It has provided funding for many social service agencies to run their programmes.
The other two fellowships launched in 2025 are the Civic Action and Springboard fellowships, which aim to develop new approaches in the social sector, and support individuals who are bouncing back from major setbacks respectively.
The Civic Action Fellowship will be open to social sector professionals and allow them to deepen their expertise and develop new approaches for the sector through full-time and part-time sabbaticals that span one to two years.
The Springboard Fellowship will help those bouncing back from adversity and provide them with education, skills and entrepreneurship training so they can embark on new career paths.
The three fellowships will tap partners like Quantedge Foundation, Singapore Institute of Management, Singapore Business Federation Foundation, Temasek and ITE for their resources and networks.
Applications for the Civic Action and ITE Inspire tracks will be open from June 3 to July 18 via the President's Challenge website. Nominations for the Springboard track in the first year will be sought through agencies in the social and civic sector.
Speaking to media at the event, Mr Tharman said the fellowships aim to broaden the "canvas" of leadership in society.
"We want more catalysts and role models for social change, and they come from different walks of life," he said.
He said he wanted the Springboard Fellowship, which helps people bouncing back from adversity, to be part of the President's Challenge to show that it is important to recognise that there are many paths in life. And very often, the path involves a setback along the way.
Singapore is at a stage of development as a country where intangibles matter greatly, Mr Tharman said, adding that the ultimate objective of the President's Challenge is intangible - to build a community of respect.
He said: "Developing that community of respect - where we respect everyone, not just respecting our differences, but respecting the effort, skill, and contribution that everyone brings - is what creates unity. But it's more than that; it's actually one of the most powerful ways in which we uplift ourselves. "It is how we motivate and uplift each other. Recognising the very different life circumstances that we each have, putting ourselves in someone else's shoes, realising the obstacles they face, encouraging and motivating them to overcome those obstacles, and developing friendships and relationships with one another that are respectful."
In 2025, the President's Challenge will support 60 programmes from 52 organisations, including six initiatives that will receive more funding.
These programmes will receive funding ranging from $715,000 to $1,250,000 over five years, enabling them to scale their impact.
These include a therapeutic horseback riding initiative for those with disabilities run by the Riding for the Disabled Association of Singapore, and a community patrol initiative that engages youth facing adversity by Shine Children and Youth Services.
New Life Stories' Family Strengthening Programme is also one of the six that will receive significant funding this year.
The programme, which helps inmates and their families, supported more than 650 families in 2024.
"The funding will not only help us increase the number of families that we support, but also allow us to go further in-depth with each family and improve the quality of service we provide so we can make really deep, meaningful impact in their lives," said chief executive of New Life Stories Saleemah Ismail.
The initiative helps incarcerated parents connect with their children through open visits and special activities like letting the parents write storybooks in prison that their children can read.
Another programme that will receive extra funding this year is Women At Work, an initiative by Yayasan Mendaki to help unemployed Malay-Muslim women get back into the workforce.
Programme lead Zuria Yusope said the programme helped 200 women in 2024, 54 per cent of whom attained a job within six months.
"With this sustained funding over five years, we will be able to reach out to even more women and increase the number of sessions that we hold to improve their employability," she said.
This year's grant call attracted applications from 272 programmes, more than twice that for 2024.
One of the three key shifts the President's Challenge has made in 2025 is to ensure the programmes it funds do not just support immediate needs, but also uplift people and develop their potential.
It also expanded to the arts and sports sectors, and made a move towards sustained funding instead of on a year-by-year basis.
Other than the six initiatives receiving extra funding, the President's Challenge will also support 54 other programmes with funding of $105,000 to $300,000 each, spread over three years.
This includes Netball Singapore's Netball Rising programme - a new initiative to provide regular coaching and competitive opportunities to potential athletes aged 12 to 17 from underprivileged backgrounds.
President Tharman Shanmugaratnam throwing a netball at the Kallang ActiveSG Netball Centre on May 28. Looking on are President Tharman's spouse, Ms Jane Ittogi (right), members of NorthLight School's netball team and their coach Liew Hin Joon (foreground). ST PHOTO: MARK CHEONG
The President's Challenge 2025 expanded its scope to include support for arts and sports.
The National Arts Council (NAC) and Sport Singapore (SportSG) will act as partners to the President's Challenge and help with talent discovery, especially among those from less advantaged backgrounds.
Under its partnership with SportSG, the President's Challenge will support the Enabling Sports Fund to expand community-initiated disability sports and support early identification of talents among young people with disabilities.
Support will also be given to NAC's and SportSG's scholarships, to empower more individuals to develop their aspirations in the arts and sports.
The logo for President's Challenge was also changed this year after a logo competition was opened to polytechnic, ITE, and University of the Arts Singapore students. The winning design among 153 entries was by Xandrea Alfie Isa from Temasek Polytechnic.
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