Raffles Humanities Programme

The Raffles Humanities Programme (RHP) began in the 1980s, with then Raffles Junior College as one of the MOE Humanities Scholarship and Programme (HSP) centres. Today, we continue to attract MOE Humanities Scholars as well as Raffles Humanities students selected independently by Raffles Institution (RI) through an internal application and interview process. 

Teaching in the RHP caters to academically strong students who are independent learners.  HP classes are housed in a dedicated classroom compound with an attached lecture theatre and small study spaces. RHP classes attend customised lessons in the Humanities subjects of Literature and History while joining the rest of the mainstream cohort for lessons in other subjects to maintain a connection to the rest of the school. The RHP is also a holistic learning experience that extends beyond the A-Level classroom, where programmes, such as the Humanities Assembly, the Raffles Asia Programme, the Humanities Initiative and the Overseas Enrichment Programme, engage students in exploring independently various topics in greater depth.

All RHP students gather for a 1.5 hour Humanities Assembly every week, where they interact with guest speakers from diverse fields, many of whom are our own Humanities alumni. These sessions have also helped our students to be more confident and articulate in public settings. Speakers who visited us in 2019 include Mr Alex Au from Transient Workers Count, Mr Ng Choon Ping, guest director of the Singapore Repertory Theatre, and local poet Mr Theophilus Kwek.

The Raffles Asia Programme (RAP) is a student-directed, independent research project undertaken by every RHP student, on a topic of their choice connected with Asia.  Students are guided in research skills and academic writing, and supported by mentors who are experts in their fields of interest.  The RAP culminates in a student-run symposium, where every student will have the opportunity to present their research findings to an audience of their peers as well as to students and teachers from secondary schools and other HSP centres.

The Humanities Initiative is a whole programme community project, led by a student committee and undertaken by all students in the RHP.  The committee, which is elected yearly by the student body, independently sources for meaningful projects and partners, to which they can best contribute.

We run an annual Overseas Enrichment Programme (OEP) to Asia, and have been visiting Yunnan since 2018.  The focus of the OEP is on the political, educational and cultural landscapes of countries in Asia and their similarities and differences with Singapore. Students prepare for the OEP throughout the second half of the JC1 year, researching into each of the places they are to visit, and preparing for organisations and schools we will partner with.

While we are very proud of these programmes, we have unfortunately been unable to run it in 2020 and 2021.  However, we are keeping a close eye on the developing situation and will reintroduce these programmes as soon as we can.  

Throughout the year, students are also encouraged to attend a variety of performances and exhibitions, to take full advantage of Singapore’s increasingly vibrant cultural scene. Besides using the NAC Arts grant, where applicable, we also offer students subsidies to cultivate and encourage an interest in the arts. It is our hope to widen our students’ artistic tastes and give them the opportunity to attend the world-class performances available in Singapore.