OWIS Digital Campus’ Shravya poses an interesting question to H.E. Dr S Jaishankar

On Sunday, 24th March 2024, His Excellency, Dr S Jaishankar, Minister of External Affairs of India, visited our OWIS Digital Campus for an exclusive interaction with the Indian diaspora in Singapore. 

At the event, which was jointly hosted by OWIS and Global Schools Foundation, students from OWIS Punggol and Nanyang and GIIS, our sister school, had the opportunity to ask the minister his views on global matters and education. 

Shravya, our Secondary student from OWIS Digital Campus, asked the minister, “How can international schools promote cultural awareness and inclusivity and what actions can students take to create a more inclusive environment?”

Here is Dr Jaishankar’s response – 

“All of you students must understand that you have a phenomenal opportunity of studying with students of multiple backgrounds in an environment which itself is much more globally exposed than other students would tend to get. This really can shape your life. When I look back, I was once doing a media interview with my American counterpart and this question popped up – “How did you become interested in foreign policy?” And I gave the instinctive answer. When I was a child, we used to listen to international music on our records. And then we had books written by foreign authors that told us something about foreign countries. In fact, I travelled out of India for the first time when I was 24 years old for a job in the foreign service.

Today, children who are getting this global exposure in their schools have the ability to better understand the nuances of the world. In particular, languages are very helpful, not just as a communication skill, but as a cultural skill as well. You can deal with others more effectively when you are somewhat immersed in their culture.”

The recording of the event can be viewed here –

We were honoured to host Dr Jaishankar at our new state-of-the-art campus in Punggol and look forward to presenting our students with even more of such unique learning opportunities from esteemed dignitaries in the future.