1. Good afternoon, Minister, our scholarship recipients, parents and family members, and our partners and colleagues across the MSF Family.
2. It is a privilege for me to be here with you today as we celebrate the start of an important journey, one that goes beyond academic achievement towards making a meaningful difference in the lives of others.
3. Today's scholarships recognise not only your ability, but also your commitment to contribute to positive change. This journey is not undertaken alone. To the parents and loved ones here, thank you for the support, encouragement and sacrifices that have helped your children reach this milestone. Your belief in them has brought them to this moment, and it will continue to guide them in the years ahead.
4. At MSF, we believe that Better Starts with Us. Better outcomes for families, stronger communities, and a better Singapore do not happen by chance. They happen because people choose to step forward, take responsibility, and work together to make things better.
5. As we welcome you into the MSF Family and the wider social service sector, this is the belief that I hope you will carry with you. You are joining the sector at an exciting time. Across the MSF Family and our partners in the social service ecosystem, we share a common purpose: to nurture resilient individuals, strengthen families, and build a caring society.
6. This work takes many forms. It includes developing policies that strengthen families and communities, supporting children and vulnerable individuals, empowering persons with disabilities, and building a stronger social service ecosystem. It requires people from different disciplines coming together to solve complex problems and improve lives.
7. Many speeches at occasions like this talk about passion and purpose. These qualities matter. The desire to help others is often what draws people to the sector in the first place. But I do not want you to leave with the impression that a career in the social sector is defined only by your sacrifice or altruism.
8. The social sector today offers meaningful and rewarding careers. It is a sector that has professionalised significantly over the years, attracting talented people who want to contribute while developing deep expertise and leadership capabilities.
9. The issues we deal with are among the most complex in our society. Families and individuals often face multiple and interconnected challenges. Financial difficulties may be linked to employment, caregiving responsibilities, housing concerns, physical and mental health, or family relationships.
10. Addressing these challenges requires empathy. It also requires professional expertise, sound judgement, analytical thinking, and the ability to work across professional and organisational boundaries. It requires people who can build strong teams, strong organisations and strong partnerships.
11. The sector is also home to increasingly progressive employers that invest in their people, support continuous learning, and provide opportunities to grow and lead. For those who are willing to learn and contribute, there are many pathways to develop fulfilling and impactful careers.
12. But while the sector offers many opportunities today, I would like to spend more time talking about the future. By the time you complete your studies and begin your careers, you should expect a different, and hopefully better, world. That said, it would still be a world with challenges facing families and communities.
13. Expectations will continue to rise. Resources will always be finite. Meeting these challenges will require more than your dedication and good intentions. It will require innovation. In fact, we are already seeing signs of what that future can look like.
14. Around the world, some of the most promising advances in mental health, child development and social care are emerging from teams that bring together very different disciplines. Clinicians, cognitive scientists and researchers are combining advances in neuroscience, data and technology to better understand how people learn, recover and thrive. This should remind us that the future of social service will not be shaped by any single profession.
15. Instead, it will be shaped by people who combine deep expertise with fresh thinking, and who are willing to challenge assumptions about how things have always been done. The task before you is therefore not simply to continue what exists today. It is to improve it. To ask how policies can be more effective. How services can be more personalised. How interventions can deliver better outcomes.
16. One of the most significant drivers of change will be technology. For many years, care work has been viewed primarily as a human endeavour. This will always remain true. Trust, empathy, judgement and relationships cannot be automated.
17. Yet, technology and AI are already reshaping how we understand needs, identify risks, design interventions and deliver support. Across the sector, we are exploring how data, digital tools and AI can help professionals work more effectively and enable organisations to better serve those in need.
18. At MSF, this is reflected in our Social Care Technology Roadmap, which seeks to harness technology to strengthen practice, improve outcomes and build a more capable and sustainable sector. We are exploring opportunities that would have seemed unimaginable just a few years ago.
19. But technology alone will not create better outcomes. People will always be better. The future will require professionals who are comfortable combining human insight with technological capability. Professionals who are curious enough to experiment, disciplined enough to evaluate what works, and courageous enough to rethink established approaches.
20. Most importantly, it will require leaders who can ensure that innovation remains anchored in the needs of the people we serve. That is the future we hope to build. And that is why we invest in people like you.
21. Once again, my congratulations to all our scholars today. As you embark on your studies, I hope you will be curious in your learning, ambitious in your aspirations, and courageous in your thinking. Learn deeply. Challenge assumptions. Explore ideas beyond your discipline, and seek out different perspectives and experiences.
22. Whether you study locally or overseas, what matters is not where you study, but how you apply what you learn to Singapore and the people we serve. Develop expertise in your chosen fields. Draw insights from your professors, your peers and the communities around you. Keep asking how the knowledge you gain can contribute to stronger families, stronger communities and a better Singapore. When you return, bring back these new possibilities.
23. The families, children and communities we serve will face challenges that we cannot yet fully foresee. But they will also benefit from ideas that have not yet been imagined, solutions that have not yet been developed, and leadership that has not yet emerged. Some of those ideas will come from you. Some of those solutions will be created by you. And some of that leadership will come from this very room.
24. The future of the social service sector will be shaped by people who combine compassion with capability, purpose with innovation, and human insight with technological possibility. That is why we are excited to welcome you into the MSF Family. Because a better Singapore does not happen by chance. It starts when people like yourself choose to step forward and make a difference.
25. In the MSF Family, we call this Better Starts with Us. Today, that "us" includes all of you.
26. Thank you.