Pasir Ris Secondary School
390 Tampines Street 21
Singapore 529400

21st July 2008

Minister Mah Bow Tan
Minister of National Development
Member of Tampines GRC

Suggestions on how Playgrounds in Tampines can be Improved

Dear Minister Mah,

Tampines is a home and place for everyone to live in and enjoy, particularly the playgrounds around the neighbourhoods, where children of all ages come together to make friends with children of different races, religions and communities. Friendships start at a young age and are influential in their life.

However, children who are terminally ill may also be shunned as they have a 'contagious disease' and concerned parents are worried their children might get infected, thus resulting in these terminally ill children feeling lonely or left out.

My class has done a class project for literature, and we have researched on playgrounds for the terminally ill around the world, and we have found ways to make playgrounds more accessible to these children. We also have realized that most playgrounds in Tampines are not very user-friendly to the terminally ill, and this led us to think that the playgrounds in our neighbourhoods can be modified for the benefit of these children, and expose them to more things.

The playgrounds in Tampines are catered more for normal children, but
from a handicapped child's point of view, it is inconvenient and hard to play in. The playgrounds are also sometimes vandalised and dirty, with cigarette butts and litter. Some children run around playgrounds barefooted, and stepping on a cigarette butt may cause burns to their feet.

I suggest that the playgrounds get cleaned up more often, so as to avoid mishaps like the matter mentioned above. The playgrounds nowadays are more brightly-coloured and cheerful, and it is ideal that all playgrounds are like that as it is more interesting for little kids to interact with. But certain areas are high up, and sometimes children may be careless and fall, hurting themselves in the process. Playgrounds are intended to be child-friendly and the height of certain play areas and the cushioning should be adjusted for safety reasons.

My group and I have also noted that few playgrounds in the Tampines region are sheltered, and as a result, most children are unable to access the playgrounds even when it is raining. Even when the rain has stopped, children still cannot use the playground equipment as it is still wet and slippery from the previous shower earlier in the day. If the playgrounds are sheltered, children are able to go to the playground as often as they want, without any worries.

I sincerely thank you for taking time to read my proposal, and I hope that you can consider making these changes and improvements to the playgrounds in Tampines to suit the children in the neighbourhood. Thank you, I look forward to your reply.

Yours Sincerely,
Tay Xinyi
Student of Pasir Ris Secondary School