Puvan Ariaratnam

University of Winnipeg alumnus, Puvan Ariaratnam, has held a variety of positions in the Singapore education system for the past 30 years. In his current role as director of Character and Citizenship Education at the Singapore Student Development Curriculum, Ariaratnam works to build a national curriculum that aims to enable young Singaporeans to lead purposeful lives.

In 1987, he graduated from The University of Winnipeg with a both a Bachelor of Education degree and a Bachelor of Arts (Hons) degree in English.

After graduation, he taught the General Paper at a junior college in Singapore, before taking an assignment with the Government of Singapore's Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1990, where he spent four years in the United States covering student affairs. Upon his return, Ariaratnam was posted to the government's Ministry of Education where he was involved in Scholarships Development.

He was later appointed as a vice-principal and then principal of a secondary school in the country, before he took on a position as cluster (or school division) superintendent. In 2009, Ariaratnam was promoted to deputy director of National Education and Planning at the Ministry of Education’s Planning Division.