Racial Harmony Day 2019

By Ada Fong

Family@Barker’s Food Ministry committee planned a recess extravaganza for this year's Racial

Harmony Day (RHD), featuring delectable local dishes from the four main ethnic groups - Chinese,

Indian, Malay, and Eurasian.

The 1,500 mouth-watering portions of food ranged from all-time favourites – such as Shepherd’s Pie,

Nasi Lemak, Roti Prata, Roast Meat Rice, and Burgers – to hard-to-find authentic traditional fare –

including home-cooked Nasi Ulam and Roti Kirai.

This extraordinary array of food provided yet another opportunity for our boys to discover and appreciate 

Singapore’s cultural diversity, and it evoked many heartfelt comments from the boys:

“Wah, so many choices, how to pick only one?” - Mark, Sec 4

“I’ve never seen this before…what does it taste like?” - Ian, Sec 3

“I appreciate that the parents contributed such a wide variety of ethnic foods for us to choose from

during recess.” - Seth, Sec 2

“I enjoyed the burger and seeing my mum volunteer and interact with the students.” - Muhammad

Nazim, Sec 1

Tremendous Team Effort

The planning kicked off in mid-May with more than 50 parent volunteers (PVs). They called on other 

parents for contributions as well as cooked, bought and served food on the actual day. Several parents 

of alumni also chipped in by mentoring and helping with food collection early that day. “With just a few 

weeks to organise the event, our Barker parents came through, as always, to bless the school with their 

labour of love,” shared PV Carol Wong. A first-time RHD parent volunteer gladly commented: “I found it 

fulfilling to see the boys embrace the experience by choosing to try foods from other ethnic groups. Our 

nasi biryani was ‘sold out’ within minutes as many Chinese boys joined the queue for Indian food!”

“As a school, our goal is to inculcate a sense of honour and worth in every student - as an individual, a

Parents' Support Group not only blesses our students and staff with good food, it also provides a platform 

for fellowship that helps break down barriers and increase mutual understanding across communities. 

Together, we will build a shared future in Singapore.” - Ms Heike Boon, Subject Head, CCE.

To show that we take pride in preserving our culture, several students, teachers, and parents came to school 

clad in traditional ethnic outfits. What a colorful showcase of Singapore’s cultural vibrancy and diversity!