Mr VR Alagappan, President of Sri Ruthra Kaliamman Temple
                    Patron Mr Shriniwas Rai, Trustees
                    Mr Anbarasu Rajendran, CEO of SINDA
                    Award Recipients
                    Ladies and Gentlemen
                     
                    1             It is my pleasure to join you to present the Sri Ruthra Kaliamman Temple annual scholarship and 
                    bursary awards this year.
                     
                                         th
                    2              This is the 24  year of the awards, and I understand that the Temple disburses about $75,000 in 
                    scholarship  and  bursary  awards  every  year  to  students  in  need,  regardless  of  race  or  religion.  This 
                    embodies  our  spirit  of  national  solidarity,  and  is  aligned  with  the  Commitment  to  Safeguard  Religious 
                    Harmony, which the Temple affirmed last year. I commend the Temple for upholding our treasured values, 
                    and for reaching out to families from other faiths.
                    Community Support to Help Our Students Excel
                     
                    3              I  am  also  heartened  that  many  organisations  and  individuals  have  contributed  to  the  Temple’s 
                    Scholarship and Bursary Fund over the years. The fund was started in 1996 by the late Mr S Rasiah, a 
                    former vice-president of the Temple. To this day, his family continues to make contributions to the fund. In 
                    2015, another temple devotee Mdm Alamelu Arunachalam contributed about $500,000 to the fund in honour 
                    of her late parents Mr Arunachalam Chettiar and Mdm Mangayakarasi Achi.
                     
                    4              Besides  financial assistance, the Temple also partners organisations like SINDA and the Hindu 
                    Endowment Board to conduct regular supplementary classes for students to help them in their studies. 
                    Through these classes, students bond with volunteers from various backgrounds who make the time to 
                    mentor and help them to achieve their potential.
                    The Importance of Paying It Forward
                     
                    5             Such community support is invaluable in helping our students achieve their hopes and dreams, and 
                    many of them pay it forward by helping others.  One of them is 24-year-old Mr Ginesh S/O Kasi. Ginesh 
                    received the scholarship in 2014 and 2015, and it helped to support his pursuit of a diploma in electrical 
                    engineering at Nanyang Polytechnic. Ginesh is now serving in the Republic of Singapore Navy as a platform 
                    technician and intends to study accountancy in the future. 
                     
                    6              Ginesh has gone on to help others in his community. He has been an active volunteer with the 
                    Temple for the past 12 years. In addition to regularly helping with the major temple activities, he mentors the 
                    children who attend religious classes in the temple. I encourage all the student recipients today to similarly 
                    do your best, pursue your aspirations, and help to lift others in our society. 
                     
                    Conclusion
                    7          Let me conclude. For more than two decades, the Sri Ruthra Kaliamman Temple has worked with 
                    donors, volunteers and partners to organise this annual award, which has benefitted thousands of students. 
                    This shows the good that a community can achieve when it comes together. My warmest congratulations to 
                    the 206 students from primary to tertiary levels who will receive scholarships and bursaries today. May it 
                    help you to go further and do better.
                    8          I wish you all a Happy New Year. Thank you.