35 long years in Education

As I reach the big six-Os in June this year, I could not help thinking back the 35 years spent in schools. By now, some of my first pupils would have been fathers or mothers or maybe even reach  father/mother-in law status.

When I started teaching, I never thought that I would last this long, given the ever changing education landscapes, thus needing to adapt constantly or else become irrelevant. Things were so simple then......just do your best and teach knowing that we will never reach the SEO status, thus no backstabbing or school politics.
However, whatever they changed, the souls of pupils do not. Maybe their outlook and expectations are different through the ages but their innocence and naviety are always the same, ready for the teacher to mould them.

Through my experiences, it is not what I have achieved but what I learnt from these experiences which no one could ever take away from me.
Earlier, I have blogged about my experiences in the schools which I was posted to. Here I included images and highlights during my journey.

School 1  :  Kim Seng Technical School (1973 - 1975)

Highlights : Badminton sessions organised by the late Mr Wong Seng Kwong every Saturday afternoons followed by food and drinks at Zion Road coffee shop. I could never forget the time that we have to go across to the old Great World to look for pupils loitering in the billiard saloons.

Downlights: Nil as teaching in school was so simple then.

The Metalwork teachers headed by Mr Winston Teo (back row centre) 
Standing left to right : Ms Goh S B; Yeo T H; Winston; Woo P F; Wong K S
Seated : Wong S H; Yue C S; the late Wong Seng Kwong 

One of the largest group of technical teachers

School 2 : Raffles Institution (1978 - 1986)

Highlights: Daily lunch (usually porridge and fruits) with fellow teachers at Zion Road market; weekly badminton or squash sessions; in charge of RI Soccer; NCC officer, many halfday off school because of achievements in sports and academic

Downlights:  When the rugby team hijacked most of the C Div soccer players in 1981

RI Staff photo 1981 ( I was at the back row 3rd from right corner)

Mr S Rajaratnam, DPM ; former Foreign Minister was the GOH for the 160th Founder's Day

 1983 - RI 160

ECA in RI were NCC(Land) and Soccer

National 'A' Div Soccer Champion 1978 at the old National Stadium

  Photo with pupils from Anderson Secondary. Other schools which used RI workshop facilities included Crescent Girls, SCGS and Fairfield Methodist 



RI C Div Soccer team in the early 80s. Nearly all the players were later roped into the rugby team


Ortega Cup revival

Ortega Cup 2007 held at RI Bishan. The rivalry between RI and SJI in soccer was revived after more than 2 decades. Former Singapore National Team captain Au-yong Pak Kuan in front row extreme right and above receiving the trophy from Mr Abdullah Tarmugi, a RI old boy.

Fong K H; the late Teo S B; Wong G C; Kwang T H; Sng J S; Lim C H; Lee K H;

Ang S T (Metal Instructor); Suhaimi (Wood Instructor); Woo P F

Technical Department Raffles Institution 1984
left to right : Kwang T H; Fong K H; the late Mr Teo S B; Ms Lee W K;
Sng J S (Head of Department); Lee K H; Lim C H; Woo P F

Updated 2016

It has been more than a year since Mr Tan Kim Cheng passed away. He was a legend and an institution in RI during those days at Bras Brasah and Grange Road campus. Capt Tan's commanding booming voice from the office could be heard along the corridors of Grange Road. I found out that he was a NCC officer before I became one. As a young teacher then, I looked up to him as a model teacher, feared but fully respected by every RI students. I would often found him in charge of the school when the Principal was away, since he was a Senior Assistant, and matters would still run smoothly.

RIP Mr Tan

School 3 :  Woodlands Secondary School (1987 - 1989)

Highlights:  Visited National Stadium for second time with B Div soccer team; meeting Gordon Banks with the boys; form teacher of 4D; VITB night class supervisor; conquered Mt Ophir

Downlights : official protest against Principal


The few girls of 4D who took Metalwork in 1986

 Woodlands 4D Class of 86 - My form class

Woodlands 4B Metalwork Class 1986

Sec 4D of Woodlands Sec 1986

The A Div Woodlands boys playing at National Stadium

Camp Commander of St John's Island Camp 1989

The A Div Soccer Boys took the Championship in 1987 at Jln Besar Stadium



Woodlands A Div Soccer Team in 1987 before the finals

A Div Soccer team with the legendary England goalkeeper Gordon Banks at Jln Besar Stadium

Woodlands teachers at St John's Camp 1988


School 4 : Si Ling Secondary School (1989 - 1992)

Highlights:  appointed Head of Department; organised St John's Camp; conquered Gunung Tahan with the school's first expedition team

Downlights: a messy, choatic school during that period

 Teo Y J (2nd left); me (3rd left) & Gowri (right) were the three teachers who successfully brought the group up to Tahan 

With Teo Yong Joon on top of Gunung Tahan June 1992

At Sungai Pahang river, before departing for the mountains

 Teo Y J and me with the two support staff

Organising the food supplies before heading to Tahan

 Mr Kenny Jones and me supported the 4B interclass soccer team 1990

Si Ling Secondary Sec 4B 1990 or was it 1992?

Sec 5N class, FT Mrs Ngoh

Staff at the 1991 St John's Island camp

School 5 : Chua Chu Kang Secondary (1993 - 2001)

Highlights : Pioneer batch of teachers to start the school; Discipline master for 3 years; Camp Commander for the school's first Sec 2 Camp which has 17 classes of pupils using Camp Bahtera & Camp Christine (we pulled it off without incidents; Camp Commander of St John's Island camps; pioneering NYAA in 1994; Assistant District Commander for NCC West

Downlights :  School leaders' show of power during the last few years;

CCKS circa 1996

First picture of CCKS when I reported to Ms Sum Chee Wah in Nov 1992. They were on the verge of taking down the Cross (scaffoldings) as the school was originally built for St Margaret Secondary

Pioneer batch of CCKS staff with Ms Sum Chee Wah seated centre

1998 photo of CCKS Craft & Technology Department

Left to right: Zukliflee; Ong H T; Mrs Ngoh C F; Woo P F; Mrs Helen Tan;

Koh F L; the late Yeo Seng Piow

CCKS Staff at St John's island Camp

Mt Ophir Expedition 1994

First batch of CCKS pupils at Mt Ophir 1994

CCKS Teachers and friends at Mt Ophir 1994

CCKS Taman Negara Trip 1997

School 6 : Jurongville Secondary School (2001 - now)

Highlights: survived 35 years in education service; Eden School project

Downlights:  Met worst professional crisis exam related; stepped down as HOD

DT Sec 5NA 2009 at the old workshop





Sec 2 Level camp at Tg Piai March 2013, with 2T1

Winning a design competition at Ngee Ann Polytechnic 2011

2T1 at Yellow Ribbon Project 2012

My Teaching Career (Si Ling Secondary 1988 - 1992)

It was in Si Ling that I became a Head of department circa 1991. Then, there was no salary scale for a HOD, only a monthly allowance of $300. There were no clear job scope. I was asked to deal with estate management stuff, like being in charge of the school servants, repairs, grass cutting, etc. I have to deal with a variety of character among the group of school servants. There was the 'mandor' or foreman, Alwi who was a resourceful person. Then there were servants who borrow money here and there. One will disappear after lunch. Then there was the multiple repair jobs around the school esp patching up holes on the wire fences.
Technical staff at Si Ling :
the late Mr Kenneth Pereira, the late Mr Ahmad Rahman, Mr Lee See San. Mr Wong Meng, Mr Idrus (Instructor)
When I arrived to Si Ling, the staff filled me in on the happenings in and around the school. The first thing I did was to dismantle a private 'room' on the ground floor store. It was used for some 'hanky panky' by the previous head. The store in a workshop on the 1st level was a 'sacred place' as the teacher who used that workshop died earlier. I left it alone and one of the technical staff would pray there once a year.
The technical staff was also a mixed lot, just like the rest of the Si Ling staff. Each tolerated the other but good friends they were not. One thing which was regularly done was to have break or lunch at the coffee shop across the road.

Mr Singh was too 'humanistic' that many people took advantage (eg coming late, leaving early through the back gate) and there was a mess, discipline-wise. Once there was a parang wielding boy who came to school to look for a rival, one pupil who was in trouble with 'girls' was allowed to come back to school to help in organisation of activities, one boy was caught sleeping underneath the shelter of an expressway, etc.

Memories : of a pupil who died of brain tumour when he was in Sec 4. He would seek me out often to talk and would also join me once a while during my early morning run before the school starts (the route passes along the beach area). In an interclass soccer tournament, me and Mr Kenny Jones, an expat English teacher sponsored the class jerseys. They remembered us for it. Sadly, he did not survive the brain operation.
Was a PE teacher in Si Ling as well.
Built a garden behind the workshop. It is still existing after 20 years. I noticed it when passing by the school last week - early Dec 2010)
Mr Tony Tan's (the Education Minister then) car was vandalised during the 15th anniversary celebration dinner.
By 1992, things in school were so bad and topsy turvy that I thought it was time to leave the place, did not care where. There was no way I could continue in such a messy school. Again I seek the help of the late Mr Soon Eng Lee and he got me out, at the expense of giving up the HODship in Nov 1992.

My Teaching Career (Si Ling Secondary 1988 - 1992)

Si Ling Secondary Part 1
When I met Mr Barjan Singh on the first day, his first sentence was " Were you lost in the Woods?"
The next four years in this unassuming school was an eye opener as well as frustrating. Mr Singh was trying to be ahead of his time all the time but I believed that most of us were not too sure whether we were on the right route or direction. Some of his initiatives include having Class Home Room. Every teacher had their own room where pupils would make their way to for lessons. As there were more teachers than rooms, some teachers have to share. The teachers were urged to stock all their resources in the room. the disadvantage was the loss of time when pupils dilly dally on their way to the next classroom. It was abandoned after 2 years.
Anothe initiative was TAP known as Teachers as Parents. At-risk pupils were identified and matched with teachers - about 3-4 pupils to a teacher. In the morning, these pupils would go to specially arranged venues to meet the teachers and discussed about their school progress and problems, if any. It was done with good intentions but it did not last too.
Bangra Dance and hockey were given prominence and promoted in the school.
The biggest project then was to decorate the whole school's walls with 'quotes and inspirational sayings' Lots of acrylic sheets were ordered and many pupils were taken from classes to make these signs on the acrylic sheets which will then be hung up along the walls and parapets and any blank space around the school. It was a nightmare as pupils lost curriculum time and there was not enough budget (it weas not even budgeted, I think) to purchase the acrylic sheets. A lot of pupils were not supervised and as a result, there was mayhem. There were even pupils camping up at the water tank area during curriculum hours. They were discovered only when some people at the neighbouring blocks called the school to expose the roof top dwellers.
However, in such a turbulent time, the school produced a national soccer player in the form of Nazri Nasir, who became the Captain of the national team. I remembered him to be a well behaved and quiet boy even though he was in the National team then.