I believe that the role of Council would be more adequately addressed through the formation of an Interest Group or a CCA. 

Accessibility 

By changing Council to be an Interest Group (IG) or Co-Curricular Activity (CCA), we can make Council more accessible to students, while maintaining the quality of members.  

This would allow for a more objective means of selection, especially for senior Council. The junior Council selection is an ideal selection process due to its rigour, with it having both interviews and a probation programme. When changing Council to an IG/CCA, the probation programme can be downscaled to a camp to allow for less logistic complexity. The precedent for interviews and practical sessions for selection is present in CCAs (Media Club AV section transfers). 

The current method of senior Council selections has been criticised for being a popularity contest, with votes mainly going to the most well-known and charismatic candidates. Through the use of interviews and probation for all levels of Council applicants, this bias will be eliminated. 

In addition, some individuals might have the intention to join or help in Council in Y4, Y6, or even Y2. However, currently new entrants can only be Y3 or Y5. By expanding the Council application range to Y2/Y3 – Y6, this allows these late bloomers an opportunity to contribute.  

Manpower 

In its current state, Council has to reject many promising and willing candidates; they might have been good, but were not good enough in the selection process. In this current system, everyone deserving would get in. This would address the manpower shortage facing Council, especially in Senior Council, which only has 7 Councillors right now. 

Commitment 

Some Councillors are able to commit for 3 years, others have external commitments which force them to be effective as a Councillor only for a year. People who are no longer interested in being a Councillor can make way for fresher faces, allowing for Council to remain fresh and dedicated. 

Structure 

By merging junior and senior Council into one singular interest group, the structure and purpose of every committee is clearer 

Under the previous system, Junior Council has welfare and spirit. Some members also create reels for an informal outreach or publicity committee. 

Senior Council does more of a supervisorial job, and does not actively contribute to welfare, spirit and reels. Junior Council organising non-leadership-oriented events like International Friendship Day, while Senior Council handles events like Student Leader’s Investiture. Both Junior and Senior Council can bring new school initiatives to fruition, but a junior councillor’s new initiative must be related to the committee they are in. Canteen infrastructure is shared by both but is not very active as a committee. I believe that this is an unnecessarily messy and bureaucratic system, burying true change under layers of committees and red tape. 

Under a new IG/CCA system, all students, whether Y3 or Y5, can choose to work on one or more of welfare, spirit, publicity/outreach, event planning and project execution. Canteen infrastructure will be solely handled by the school. 

CCA or IG? 

I believe that both CCA and IG structures would serve Council well. 

As a CCA, Council would have school-allocated 2-hour sessions twice a week, allowing for maximum dedication, and without the workload which comes with having to juggle Council and another CCA. Due to the opportunity cost which this could pose to Councillors, the number of sessions could be reduced. Younger applicants (Y2’s, potentially Y1’s) could carry out a simplified version of a Councillor’s duties, much like Council’s system of Councillor shadowing which was implemented in 2024. 

As an IG, Council would allow for more flexible timings; different committees can meet at different times, much like the English Language Interest Group. This would give Council less rigour, but the atmosphere (or vibes) in Council would be more chill.  

Personally, I believe that CCA is the way to go, as the time is a crucial element in the execution of Council initiatives; implementing a CCA system would allow for the most time for proposal writing, logistics preparation, etc. 

Transition period 

Assuming it goes through, the transition period would be one year long.  

If Council transitions to a CCA, the last junior and senior Council selections (junior: probation; senior: elections) happen at the end of one year, and the CCA Council selection interviews happen at the start of the next year. This admission cycle would have fewer admissions as subsequent cycles. Alternatively, Council CCA could be a special case where one could apply to be in it at Term 3. 

If Council becomes an IG, admission could happen in Term 3, much like the Chemistry Interest Group. 

Conclusion 

While Council has done many great things in the past, like with many things in life, there is always room for improvement. I believe that the transition of Council into a CCA would make Council Constructive, Credible, and Accessible. 

CCA: Council Can Advance