Mr Lee Kuan Yew placed an emphasis on educating the young ‘so they can have a future’

SINGAPORE — Despite the meagre resources Singapore had during its early years, the late Mr Lee Kuan Yew continued to place a special emphasis on education, said Telok Kurau Primary School’s principal Charis Wong to her students today (March 24).

“Even when Singapore was poor, we put in a lot of resources into educating the young children so that the young children can have a chance in future, we can build a future together,” said Mrs Wong during a special assembly session for some 1,300 students.

Taking reference from Education Minister Heng Swee Keat’s message to the Ministry of Education (MOE) community, school leaders addressed students and staff during their assemblies this morning to reflect on Mr Lee’s life and legacy, said an MOE spokesperson yesterday.

For Telok Kurau Primary School - Mr Lee’s alma mater - Mrs Wong extracted portions of Mr Heng’s speech to share with her students. Singapore’s first prime minister attended this school, back when it was known as Telok Kurau English School, from 1930 to 1935.

One of the most critical decisions Mr Lee made was to uphold billingualism as the cornerstone of Singapore’s education system, she said.

Citing her own experience of spending a year in China, Mrs Wong said she and her husband were able to converse easily with both locals and foreigners because of the bilingual emphasis here.

Speaking to the media after the morning assembly, Mrs Wong said she was not surprised that some students were affected by Mr Lee’s death.

“This is Mr Lee Kuan Yew’s alma mater, so our children are quite familiar with who he is, we do talk about (his) contributions during our school assemblies from time to time and we talk about him in lessons too,” she said.

Over the next few days, students will be able to fold paper flowers during their recess breaks before the school presents it at the tribute area in Parliament House. Going forward, stories about Mr Lee will also be included in the school’s Character and Citizenship Education classes, added Mrs Wong.

Telok Kurau Primary School student Teh Wei Sheng, 12, said he learnt about Mr Lee’s contributions from his parents and on the Internet. One of the more memorable things he read about Mr Lee was how he transformed Singa­pore from a fishing village to a green city, said the Primary 6 student.

Muhammad Shabbeen, 12, learnt about Mr Lee’s death by watching the news before school on yesterday morning. “I was very sad as he had done so much for Singapore. In the end, (before he could celebrate) Singa­pore’s 50th birthday, he passed on.”