Gan Eng Seng School
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1 Henderson Road Singapore 159561 Tel 64745594 - Fax 64732479 Contact Us |
Return to Our Origin
Address by Mr Chua Kim Yew
It is an honour for GESS to have been selected by the National Heritage Board as the first established school to be marked for its historical significance. It is also an honour for me to have been invited by the GESS Alumni and Ms Ho Peng, former principal of GESS, to participate in this Marking Ceremony. The spot chosen for Marking is as close as possible to the old school. That spot was the playground of the Methodist Church, still standing owver there. The children of the church congregation, and the children of the neighbourhood, like myself, came here to use the swings and see-saws everyday. I was staying two doors away from the church and lived there for more than ten years in the 1930s. |  |
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In later years, I still could not get away from this area. In the 1970s and 1980s I worked in the CPF Building with the Ministry of Finance, and later, in the DBS Building with the Development Bank of Singapore. |
The early 1930s were the years of Depression. When I joined GESS in 1933, school fees were $ 2.50 a month and I had only 2 or 3 cents a day pocket money. School fees were therefore very expensive for most of us students from the poor neighbourhood. Wages for office peons or thambies were then about $ 3 - $ 5 a month. Clerks in the offices were paid about $ 15 a month.
GESS in those days was a primary school, feeding students mainly to Raffles Institution. First you would spend 2 years in Primary 1 and Primary 2; then you would go on to Std 1, II, III Iv and V, before graduating to RI - a total of 7 years.
The school consisted of a two -storey building beside the Church just behind a row of houses in Telok Ayer Street, and a long, single-storey building stretching from Telok Ayer Street to Cecil Street where the main entrance was. There was a small playing field bordered by these two structures. Somehow at that time, physical activities were not encouraged, and as a result we were never outstanding in that area. In games, playing against other feeder schools, like Serangoon Road, Rangoon Road and Telok Kurau Schools, our football team was always trounced badly.
If only we had a Borhan or two with us in the team, then. Our goalkeeper was an Indian boy whose father had a Ford lorry which ferried our team and supporters to away matches for free. Maybe, because of this, our goalkeeper was always on the team despite his poor performance in goal-keeping. Before every away match, we would always pray that we would be spared with a more decent defeat. However, in academic studies, we excelled. For a number of years, most of the Std V boys made it, as a class, to Std VI at RI, whereas other feeder schools managed to send only their top 2 or 3 boys of Std V to RI. The formative years in GESS gave an excellent foundation in education and produced many outstanding students who eventually emerged tops in their careers, notwithstanding their poor origins and environment. I will always remember GESS for the seven early, impressionable years of my school life. And with an additional two years schooling in RI, I received a solid and excellent education which helped me a great deal in advancing my career in later years. Life then was very simple, no TV, not even radio, and opportunities in education were limited but life's complications were few. To the present students, I would urge you, despite the many complications in your lives, to make full use of the many opportunities in education now available to you. I only wish I had, in my time, half as many options as you have now. |
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Finally, my congratulations to the Organising Chairman, Png Cheong Ann, the Old Students'Assosciation, and particularly those who were involved in the commemorative sculpture. This sculpture will not only have a special meaning for the many thousands of GESS Alumni, but should also serve as an inspiration to all Singaporeans.
Thank you.