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Role of Student Tamil Societies
Author : Mr Saravanan Rathakrishnan
Background
• Student organizations in universities started out and grew in influence as community organizations power waned .
• At the beginning , community organizations held great sway and binding power because of the racial enclaves in Singapore . As such , it was easy for a particular ideology to spread and be instilled within that group .
• However , with the introduction of the racial quota system for HDBs , these enclaves were broken up and correspondingly , the permeation and diffusion of ideas by our community organizations became less easy .
• However , this was not the end , as universities became the new platform for like minded Tamil students to get together . This then formed the basis for university student organizations . They were the forerunners of the organizations that we see today in our educational institutions .
Movement from the emphasis of academia to cultural events
• At the outset , due to the diminishing voice of the community organizations , the members of the student organizations namely NUS TLS felt that they had a duty to be the voice of the community .
• Incidentally , they decided to take the academic route in their objective to serve the public and attempt to deal with the problems of ordinary Tamils .
• However as time went by , and community organizations once again rose in influence , and there were other avenues for Tamils to voice their concerns . Hence the purpose and function of student organizations shifted to a more culture centric function .
• This change was further exacerbated by the internal changes such as leadership and correspondingly the vision of the what TLS was meant to be .
The emergence of a new trend
• We have seen how the evolution of NUS TLS started from an academic centric to a more culturally oriented organization over the years . Thus , at each juncture they fulfilled their purpose effectively .
• However , with the creation and NTU ’ s and SMU ’ s student organizations , what was predominantly a NUS TLS platform is now shared amongst the 3 universities .
Collaborations Pros Cons Solving the Cons Manpower
Sharing of Expertise
Diversity of opinions
Unified vision
Streamlined communication
Loss of flexibility
Confusion of stakeholders
Resistance to change
Conflicts between people and organisations
Focus on the big picture
Focus on collaboration and still retain individual organization ' s strengths
Focus on the ultimate objective
Map out the stakeholders of individual organizations and incorporate their interests
Strong and Fair leadership
Growth of NUS TLS
It started off with conducting academic seminars which brought to light many issues pertaining to the Tamil community . The very first seminar was attended by former president , C . V . Devan Nair and it proved to be a turning point for him . It motivated him to work hard for the growth of the Tamil Language from 1978 to 1982 . It is noteworthy that during the 1980s , all the Indian politicians in Singapore were part of these seminars . In the year 2012 , the seminar was remodelled into a conference to encourage greater youth participation and this paved way for the World Tamil Youth Conference 2016 , after which the Singapore Tamil Youth conference 2014 followed suite .
After the formation years , the subsequent leadership of TLS took new directions and brought TLS to great heights in other spheres . In 1984 , the members started the ‘ A ’ level tuition project with undergraduate students as tutors . In order to cater to the growing demand for quality tuition , experienced and qualified tutors were brought on board in 1995 . In 2003 , a new milestone was achieved by partnering with SINDA and SIET who cofunded the project . This was followed by the naming of the tuition programme as Saadhana in 2004 . Over the years , Saadhana has increased its student intake as well as enhanced the quality of its tuition project .
In order to raise money for the seminars , Sangae Mazhangu saw its inception in 1987 . It proved to be a successful venture as it grew in grandeur and significance to become a household name and a benchmark Tamil stage production among the tertiary students . In 2013 , it made history as the first Tamil theatre production to be staged at the Esplanade Theatres . In 2015 , it once again transcended boundaries by staging a 2 day show in front of a 3000 strong audience at the University Cultural Center .
In 1994 , Sports Spectra saw its formation as NUS TLS aimed to also inculcate a healthy lifestyle among the Indian Youths . Over the years , it has expanded from tertiary based competition to an open category one to encourage greater participation . New segments such friendly matches with celebrity players and kabaddi has been introduced in recent years .
Source : NUS TLS 2016 Magazine
Elmiraa , former President of SMU Tamizha
With a stronger force in terms of manpower and talented individuals , we will be able to inspire and materialize many more events which will be very useful for our community With the participation of JCs , Polys and ITEs , we can foresee bigger scaled events and activities to be conducted .