SPEECH BY RADM TEO CHEE HEAN, MINISTER FOR EDUCATION & SECOND MINISTER FOR DEFENCE, AT THE OFFICIAL OPENING OF NAN CHIAU HIGH SCHOOL AND NAN CHIAU PRIMARY SCHOOL ON SATURDAY 8 MARCH 2003 AT 20 ANCHORVALE LINK @ 7.50 PM

Mr. Wee Siew Kim, MP for Ang Mo Kio GRC

Mr. Wee Cho Yaw, Chairman of the Singapore Hokkien Huay Kuan and School Management Committee

Mr. Ng Lee Huat, Principal of Nan Chiau High School

Mr. Chia Soo Keng, Principal of Nan Chiau Primary School

Distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls

I am happy to join you at the Opening of Nan Chiau High and Nan Chiau Primary. This is a significant event on two counts. Firstly, it celebrates the fact that the two schools have settled comfortably and integrated themselves successfully into Sengkang New Town. Secondly and more importantly, this event acknowledges Nan Chiau’s continuing contribution to education in Singapore since it was established more than half a century ago.

Founded by the late Mr Tan Kah Kee, a renowned entrepreneur and philanthropist, deeply committed to the cause of education, Nan Chiau has consistently exhibited attributes ascribed to its founder. I am sure you are all familiar with Tan Kah Kee’s history. An enterprising individual and a humanitarian, he ventured enthusiastically into uncharted waters by establishing schools to educate the largely illiterate Chinese population in Singapore. A school after Tan Kah Kee’s own heart, Nan Chiau has, time and again, also gone valiantly into areas which were yet untried and untested. Armed with a keen foresight, innovative spirit and dedication to the cause of education, Nan Chiau has continually remade and developed itself to better educate the young in Singapore.

It has been said that change is the only permanent thing in life. This truism cannot be better expressed than in the history of Nan Chiau. Started as a Teachers’ Training School in 1941, Nan Chiau evolved into a Chinese-medium school for high school girls after World War II, and developed into a full school encompassing both the primary and secondary levels. Subsequently, to meet the changing social and economic needs, it adopted English Language as its main medium of instruction and became co-educational. Most recently in 2001, in response to the shifting housing profile in Singapore, and the demand for school places in new HDB townships, both the primary and secondary sections began functioning as two separate schools in their new location in Sengkang. This relocation into a new township, with new premises, has given Nan Chiau renewed vigour.

The goal of education is more than academic achievement. Education is also concerned with moulding character, developing people as whole persons, imbuing them with a passion for life-long learning and nurturing in them a desire to serve nation and society. In short, education aims to inculcate in our young people effective skills and the right attitudes for taking on the future with all its challenges and opportunities.

I am pleased to note that besides delivering a rigorous and responsive curriculum, both Nan Chiau High and Nan Chiau Primary also provide their pupils with broad-based learning. To promote an appreciation of the aesthetics, Nan Chiau High offers its pupils opportunities to learn Chinese calligraphy, Chinese painting, Chinese opera, or wushu through its Life Enrichment Programme. Nan Chiau Primary, on the other hand, offers its pupils a chance to learn to play the guzheng or the violin, dance ballet, perform acrobatics, wushu, contemporary dance or drama.

In addition, the schools value the importance of creating a conducive and nurturing learning environment. Nan Chiau High, for example, allows its pupils to decorate and paint their classrooms so that the pupils can have a place to call their own. Nan Chiau Primary has also designed and set up creative language game areas, including twelve different versions of hopscotch, for pupils to engage in academic learning through play. In these ways, the two schools have created a conducive learning environment for their pupils with the happy result that the pupils enjoy coming to school.

If effective programmes and beautiful buildings are the software and hardware of a school, committed teachers and motivated pupils must be the heart-ware. Our school leaders and teachers are instrumental in developing our pupils to their highest potential. Both Nan Chiau High and Nan Chiau Primary pride themselves on having dedicated teachers and school leaders who have shown deep commitment to their vocation and are passionate about educating the young. To the principals and teachers, I encourage you to keep alive your zeal and enthusiasm for education. Through your hands will pass scores of young people who will be touched by your lives and be inspired to be the best they can be. To the students, I would like to remind you that you are the honoured recipients of a proud tradition that is Nan Chiau. Upon your shoulders rests the responsibility of keeping Nan Chiau’s flag flying high.

For children to develop their potential and grow, the home and the school must work together. I am heartened to hear that Nan Chiau High and Nan Chiau Primary have very supportive Parent Support Groups that have helped to enhance the teaching and learning environment in the schools. It is my hope to see more parents giving their time and expertise to help make our schools carry out more innovative programmes that will benefit the pupils.

Nan Chiau High and Nan Chiau Primary are also privileged in that they enjoy not only the co-operation and collaboration of their alumni but also the support of the Hokkien Huay Kuan. Both the alumni and the community have contributed significantly to the progress and development of both schools. These links with the alumni and community will help the students of Nan Chiau develop a deep sense of identity with society and encourage them to also give back to society what they have received.

I urge both Nan Chiau Primary and Nan Chiau High to continue to provide education of the highest quality to your pupils. I congratulate both schools, the Singapore Hokkien Huay Kuan, the School Management Committees, alumni, parents, teachers, students, and all supporters on the schools’ official opening.

Thank you.

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