Chinese education — by which we mean education in schools where Standard Chinese or Chinese dialects were the medium of instruction — existed in Singapore for nearly a century. It played an important role in improving the education levels, cultural development, and quality of life of the Chinese.

Education as social responsibility

According to the Census of Population in 1920, for every 1,000 Chinese males in Singapore, Malacca, and Penang combined, only 59 were attending school. This meant that less than 6% of Chinese males at the time had the opportunity to receive an education. The proportion of educated females, as one might expect, was lower.1 This was the situation in the relatively developed areas of the Straits Settlements — education levels in other parts of British Malaya could possibly be much lower.

Chinese school students standing in rows during physical education lesson, circa 1950. Physical education was introduced into the Chinese school curriculum between 1910 and 1920. Gift of Mak Wai Har, National Museum of Singapore Collection, courtesy of National Heritage Board.

Fast forward to 1949, and approximately 70% of the more than 100,000 school-aged children in Singapore were enrolled in 319 Chinese-language schools. These schools were run by civilian organisations without any funding from the colonial government.

The hundreds of Chinese-language schools established all over the island offered general education to the masses before the authorities started to provide free primary education in the 1950s. They gave children from average and low-income households the opportunity to receive basic education. In the long interval in history before the government provided compulsory education, these schools took on the social responsibility of educating children.

The general education provided by Chinese-language schools opened up the minds of the local Chinese community, transforming their overall mindset and outlook on life.

‘I write what I speak’: A modern language for the masses

In China at the beginning of the 20th century, the confluence of the Vernacular Language Movement (Baihuawen yundong) and the National Language Movement (Guoyu yundong) had an epochal impact. The former was advocating a new, unified written language, while the latter called for a common spoken language. The confluence of the two movements gave rise to the modern language of “I write what I speak”. It became a powerful education and communication tool that children and adults alike could easily master with reasonable effort in learning. The key role modern language played was enabling education for the masses. Widespread education provided everyone with the opportunity to acquire knowledge and immerse themselves in culture, which promoted class mobility and transformed society. Education was no longer limited to the rich and powerful.

Mandarin was the medium of instruction in local Chinese schools. Although the language originated from the northern part of China — and initially had little relation to the vast majority of Chinese in Singapore who were of southern China origin — education in Chinese schools allowed them to master this language, which was rapidly developing into the lingua franca of the Chinese community. Mandarin soon became the language used in the newspapers, magazines and books of the Chinese world to spread ideas and promote learning. Singapore’s local Chinese, who had mastered the language in Chinese schools, were able to absorb knowledge from those publications without difficulty. They could broaden their horizons and develop an understanding of the world — which promoted social mobility and transformed the community.

Moreover, Chinese education reinforced the collective identity of the Chinese community. In Singapore, the Hokkien, Cantonese, Teochew, Hainanese and Hakka immigrants formed communities so they might look out for their own — people with whom they shared geographical and blood ties. The colonial authorities’ strategy of “divide and rule” strengthened the clan structures in the Chinese community. However, Chinese schools standardised the medium of instruction, and Mandarin was able to transcend dialectal differences and clannishness to unify the Chinese community. Chinese education, as well as the mode of Chinese language education that followed, allowed the Chinese in Singapore to form a collective unit in society through a common mother tongue. They worked together with the Malays, Indians and Eurasians to make a new country home.