Students learn about Total Defence through GOTC card game

Secondary Two student Hilmy Ismail, 14, was excited as he played the Guardians of the City (GOTC) card game during a workshop in school.

He was part of a group of students learning the 15-minute game under the tutelage of student facilitators from the uniformed groups .

The workshop was held yesterday in Greendale Secondary School, with Secondary Three facilitators guiding their younger peers.

The card game was tried with the uniformed groups earlier.

Hilmy said: "I've learnt a lot by playing this game, as the events that they reference have happened before. It makes the whole experience feel more real."

The GOTC strategy card game was officially launched last year, although its release was limited to students in the uniformed groups.

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It was co-developed by Nexus and Mr Wan Junyan, 43.

It aims to help young people recognise that the impact of terrorism is not confined to just physical acts.

In doing so, it will also help them realise the importance of Total Defence, which is being celebrated today.

Mr Wan, a former civil servant, left his job to pursue passion projects. These include game design and writing.

He said: "I wanted to get students interested in the topic of defence. I feel that Singaporeans are too complacent with regard to our current security situation, so I wanted to give them a glimpse of possible threats we had to be concerned about.

"But most importantly, I wanted them to learn about what we can actually do as a nation."

In order to facilitate that line of thinking, 38,000 sets of GOTC were distributed to Sec 2 students islandwide.

New blank "Action" cards were also introduced to allow students to design their own cards and showcase their interpretation of Total Defence.

In addition to the workshop, a revamped Total Defence Programme for uniformed groups was also unveiled.