Four junior colleges to be rebuilt and upgraded by 2025

SINGAPORE — As the campuses of several junior colleges (JCs) are “somewhat dated”, Education Minister Ong Ye Kung announced on Tuesday (March 5) that three of them will be rebuilt, while a fourth will be upgraded by around 2025.

This will come under the first phase of the JC Rejuvenation Programme, which will start from 2022, he told Parliament during a debate on his ministry’s budget.

Temasek JC and two other colleges that merged this year — Anderson Serangoon and Jurong Pioneer — will be rebuilt.

Yishun Innova JC, which also merged this year, will be upgraded.

The Ministry of Education (MOE) is already planning the second and third phases, Mr Ong said, adding that these will involve upgrading the fourth of the merged JCs — Tampines Meridian — as well as Victoria JC and older Government-aided colleges.

There are 12 colleges in Singapore, of which eight are Government JCs and the rest Government-aided.

In choosing which colleges to rejuvenate first, Mr Ong said that his ministry considered factors such as the age of the buildings, the state of existing facilities and availability of suitable holding sites.

Most of the JCs were built or upgraded before 2002, and several are now well over 30 years old.

In January this year, eight JCs were merged into four, resulting in students having to shift campuses. 

Three of these newly merged JCs, Anderson Serangoon, Jurong Pioneer and Yishun Innova, will benefit from the first phase of the rejuvenation programme.

Mr Ong acknowledged that the students and staff of these schools, who have already had to deal with the hassle of the mergers, would now have to bear with the upgrading and rebuilding of their campuses as well.

“The MOE will need to trouble them some more, and I seek their understanding,” he said.

The new campuses will be “fit for the future”, he added.

“The new premises will support the evolution of JC education, where lessons are becoming a lot more interactive, and learning more holistic. So instead of just the classrooms we have today, we will have seminar rooms which are modular and flexible, to support more interactive pedagogies. We will make the campuses more digitally-enabled.”

The campuses will also have facilities such as indoor sports halls, which Mr Ong said will be designed for community use as well.

Here’s what will happen when the JCs are rebuilt and upgraded:

Temasek JC: Built in 1976, the college’s campus is the oldest among the Government JCs at 43 years old. It will temporarily move to the former Tampines JC site, which is now vacant, while the current one in Bedok is rebuilt.

Anderson Serangoon JC: Students and staff will move to the former Serangoon JC location while its current campus at the Ang Mo Kio site — which is 36 years old — is rebuilt.

The decision to rebuild the JC there is because it is next to Yio Chu Kang MRT station.

Mr Ong said that it is not an “ideal arrangement” to have students and staff to move to and fro but his ministry will try to “minimise the hassle”.

Jurong Pioneer JC: Currently, the college is located at the former Pioneer JC site in Teck Whye. But a new campus will be built at the site of the former Jurong JC in Jurong West  — which is 35 years old — because of its “convenience and accessibility”, Mr Ong said.

He noted that the new campus will be located near the Jurong Lake District and will be served by the future Jurong Region MRT Line.

Yishun Innova JC: After upgrading works are completed, students and staff from Yishun Innova JC, currently situated at Yishun Ring Road, will move to its newly furnished campus at the former Innova JC site in Woodlands.

The current campus which is the former Yishun JC is 34 years old.

The former Innova JC campus, set up in 2005, will be upgraded as it is “not old enough to be rebuilt”, said Mr Ong.

The decision to make Woodlands a permanent site for Yishun Innova JC is because it will be served by the new Thomson-East Coast MRT Line.