Uniform group

Even though I may not look like it, I was once an NPCC (National Police Cadet Corps) member. Well, when I was in secondary school, I was trying to decide which co-curricular activity to join. And since a uniform group was something I have never had any experience of, I decided to join NPCC in the end. It turned out to be a rather enjoyable experience, though I must admit it was tough at times.

So here's the phrase to consider in this post. Uniform group! I would think it is a rather local thing. People who are not so aware of this type of CCA in Singapore might probably wonder what is a uniform group all about, or means.

A uniform group may mean to them a group which is uniform, or homogenous. In Singapore though, a uniform group can also be understood as a type of club or group, in which the members wear a uniform which is representative of their group, and carry out activities which cultivate self-discipline, leadership and teamwork, among others. There are many types of uniform groups indeed, and examples include the one I mentioned, plus National Cadet Corps, Boys Brigade, Girl Guides, St John's Ambulance, Red Cross and more.

I think this is a good example of how our understanding of the same phrase can differ due to the different cultural contexts that we are in. The same phrase holds different meanings to us because in the Singapore context, in this case, the term uniform group has been given a new meaning which may be seem natural to us but not something that people new to Singapore may understand when first encountering it. It is true because whenever I try to explain what kind of activities I participated in to my friends from overseas, I find a lot of difficulty in explaining about NPCC, such as what we do or what it means to be part of it. Probably also because there isn't such an activity group existing in their cultural contexts so it makes it more difficult for them to understand.

Just to show some results from Google after I typed uniform group as the search word..

Results from the web:


Filtered results to reflect searches from Singapore sites:


Results from the web show that uniform group seems to generate some kind of apparel related sites, while those from Singapore gave results which reflects our understanding of the term.


Cadets.. fall in!