For the kids, it was great fun, but there’s a serious purpose in these Homeskills sessions. The Homeskills Programme was launched to equip pupils to become less dependent on caregivers such as domestic workers. “We wanted them to learn simple skills to support themselves when their parents were not at home, like cooking a simple meal and mending buttons,” said Vice-Principal Mdm Santhi d/o K Ramachandran.

From hemming and mending buttons, pupils progress to cross-stitching and making their own bags.

The programme kicked off in 2000 with cooking and sewing classes for just twenty Pri 6 pupils after the PSLE. When the school moved to its current location in 2005, it took the opportunity to expand the Homeskills programme to involve all levels. With a fully-equipped kitchen boasting seven ovens and ample workstations, every pupil now has the chance to learn homeskills throughout his or her time at Fuchun Primary School. To make it a fun and relaxing experience, Homeskills sessions are scheduled in the final two weeks of each term after the exams, just before the holidays.

In sessions that range from 30 minutes to two hours, pupils are coached in skills suitable for their level, from sewing a simple running stitch in Pri 1 to making cheese rolls and cross-stitching in Pri 2. “Pupils gradually learn how to sew buttons, hooks and, in Pri 6, learn how to make a sling bag using the sewing machine,” notes Mdm Zarina Abu Bakar, the school’s Head of Department for Pupil Management and the coordinator for the Homeskills programme. “These lifeskills teach them to be more self-reliant as they grow up.”

Fuchun Primary pupils are now better able to take care of themselves at home.

Putting parents through their PACES

About 15 parent volunteers take turns to conduct the classes as well as share recipes and plan the lessons. With parents increasingly convinced of the programme’s benefits, more have signed up to help through the school’s parent support group, PACES (Parents Assisting Children’s Education in School).

Mdm Doreen Tan, who chairs PACES, has supported the Homeskills initiative from the very start, when her daughter Gladys began Pri 1 six years ago. “We thought of helping the children cook simple dishes and do some simple sewing,” she said of the programme’s origin, “We don’t want them to end up eating Maggi mee or fast food when their parents are not around.”

With her fellow volunteers, Mdm Tan meets every month to provide feedback to Mdm Zarina, co-develop lesson plans and train new parent volunteers. Many of the PACES volunteers are homemakers, while some, like Mdm Tan, work full-time. For the parents who get involved, it is also an opportunity to bond and pick up new skills. Mdm Zarina reveals that Malay parent volunteers, for example, learnt how to cook black sauce chicken from Chinese parents during kitchen demonstrations.

Mdm Doreen Tan, a Homeskills volunteer for nearly six years, demonstrates how to make simple pizzas.

Mdm Tan finds a feeling akin to “job satisfaction” in seeing the result of these years of effort. “The pleasure is there when you see that the children are happy to learn something new.”

In turn, the children are giving back what they gained. For the school’s official opening ceremony, the Pri 6 batch made cookies for over 300 guests as door gifts. And they’ve got something special up their sleeves for this year’s Teachers’ Day.

“Pupils are proud of their achievements and bring some of the cooked food home for their parents,” adds Mdm Zarina. “Pupils often ask when the Homeskills Programme will be carried out and some even ask for extra lessons. The smiles on their faces say it all!”