Times of My Life

This is my old Chinese Composition exercise book, 31 years ago when I was in Sec.3 (1977);

Note that this old Chinese Composition exercise book was turned from left to right as it was binded on the right side instead of on the left side.

Take a look at the inside;

The unique part is the pages are joined in this manner;

Nowadays I don’t think the school is still using such Chinese Composition exercise book. My Sec.2 son’s Chinese Composition paper is in the form of foolscap paper type;

Of course I prefer the new type which is more convenient!

If you were to ask me what’s my National Language when I was in Primary or Secondary school, I may be able to answer you then. When I ask my son (Sec.2) and daughter (Pri.3l) what’s their National Language, guess what they said?

Listen to the below recording to hear what my children said about their National Language;

I wouldn’t blame them for not knowing. I myself do not know the answer too now! What’s my National Language now? Is it still Malay? I guess even the teachers or MOE didn’t want to mention or promote Malay as our National Language openly.

Malay was not taught as a National Language in Singapore to Non-Malay students for many many years but now, MOE wanted to re-introduce Malay back to schools (Primary and Secondary) for Non-Malay students. It’s good to learn another language if the students are able to cope with it and the schools are not just implementing it because so and so said so…

I was taught Malay as a National Language in Primary School and right up till Secondary 1. It was even recorded our Report Book as National Language and teachers then told us so too. Though Malay was not an examination subject then, it was taught during curriculum time. Yes I’ve blogged about this report book before.

See the school’s letter to my Primary 3 girl;

Here is my Secondary 2 son’s letter from the school;

Note that both have to pay for the book ourselves though the Primary School one is a free course and non compulsory. My son’s Secondary school said it’s compulsory and have to pay for it ourselves though subsidised and the rest by Edusave. Both are taught outside curriculum time! Total only 10 lessons - approx. 2hrs per lesson per week.

See both did not mentioned that Malay is our National Language regardless of what objectives are given. Also see this speech from MOE site.

Actually what is taught in Primary School and Secondary School are the same, more or less based on the textbooks they used.

The inside;

Now below is my old textbook used for my National Language in 1973 (Pr.4);

See inside;

See I even wrote the meaning on top of the words;

See the price then;

Did you see the difference in the picture illustrations compared to nowadays. Which you prefer?

Oh btw my son told me that even his teacher (in his 20+) is not so sure whether Malay is still our National Language…

Beatty Integrated School was my Primary School and back then, it wasn’t called Beatty Primary School. To understand this, probably we need to go into a bit of history on the past educational system.

Beatty Integrated School was officially opened by Mr. Chan Chee Seng (a popular figure in Jalan Besar area at that period), the then Parliamentary Secretary to Ministry Of Home Affairs in 1963. During the year 1959 to 1968, all those schools built were integrated schools. The purpose is to achieve social cohesion via integrating 2 or more language streams in one school.

That was because before World War II, and under the British rule, they only focused on English and Malay schools. Chinese and Tamil schools were run privately. It was during the Japanese Occupation that the education system in Singapore was then changed.

The Japanese introduced daily flag raising ceremony followed by physical exercise. They also forced to have a common language Nippon-go. After the Japanese left, our education system started to change - a free universal primary education to meet the country’s need. So the meaning of Integrated means Chinese, Malay and Tamil was the mother tongue language for the English stream schools. Most of the Chinese schools then were privately run. For more detail, please read the following;

Educational Innovation In Singapore by Ruth H.K. Wong.

The photo below shows the Opening Ceremony by Mr. Chan Chee Seng;

Photo credit : National Archives of Singapore

Note : Those 2 buildings behind were Block 6 (2 storey flat) and Block 7 (4 storey flat where my godmother’s family stayed).

The school ground now has been used by SINDA and some childcare center. Sad to say that the Beatty Integrated School was a school of the past; but the Secondary School is still around.