5. My Career
- MingCherng Chiang
- Aug 7, 2024
- 29 min read
Yusof Ishak Secondary School (1972–1979)
I met Jesu when I was a senior teacher at Yusof Ishak Secondary School from 1972 to 1979. He came in as the principal of the school in 1975. We didn’t get along well at first. Jesu would talk non-stop every morning for 15 minutes during assembly about how to improve the school. It was a big difference from the previous principal, who was quite lacklustre. I was already the secondary four level head, form teacher of a secondary four class, Head of English and the Librarian. Jesu told me that I had no Extra-Curricular Activities (ECA) – he did not consider being a Librarian as an ECA – and that I had to take on one of the outdoor ECAs. I told him I was already so overwhelmed and if he asked me to do more work, I would ask for a transfer. He told me to go ahead. I was so angry that I stormed off and didn’t speak to him. I avoided him for the next two years.
Around 1977, he summoned me to his office and asked me for help. He said that I would be able to help him because my English was good. He explained that he was appointed the chairman of the Singapore Youth Festival (West Zone). He asked me to be the secretary for the festival. I accepted his request. We went together for the regular meetings and our relationship grew better.
New Town Secondary School (1980)
I was promoted to vice-principal of New Town Secondary School in 1980. The principal there was very authoritative and conniving.
He would invite me to have a cup of tea in the canteen while classes were in session, and then invite any teacher he met along the way who was available to join us. When it was time to pay, he would make a big show of searching for money in all his pockets and after not finding any, would invariably ask me to pay for everyone on his behalf. After a few times, I grew wiser and politely turned down his invitations. He also did not give me my own office but made me sit at the back end of his office while he sat near the front of the door. In those days, there were only two phones: one in the Principal’s Office and the other in the Teachers’ Common Room. The phone in the Principal’s Office sat on his table. When his phone rang, he would not answer it, but would make me get up from my table to answer it, knowing that the call would always be for him. Thus, I became his personal phone-answering assistant.
The school was very big and had more than 3000 students and about 150 teachers. It occupied two different campuses along Commonwealth Avenue. I therefore asked him permission for me to move out of his office into the other campus so that we could supervise both campuses more efficiently. He agreed and I moved into the other campus and furnished my own office. When he came to see my office, he remarked that I had decorated my office very well but had neglected to decorate his.
He had also instructed me not to talk to outsiders. One day, he saw me speaking to a lady in the canteen and called me up to admonish me for talking to strangers, not knowing that the person was a part-time teacher of the school.
Crescent Girls’ School (1981)
After one year, I was moved out to be vice-principal of Henderson Secondary School. I went to the Ministry of Education to request that I be assigned back as a teacher instead. At that time, the new principal of Crescent Girls’ School, Mrs LK Sigamoney, was also at the ministry, clamouring for a vice-principal to assist her. She saw me and, having heard of me, immediately requested that I be assigned to her school instead. The staff officer agreed and I followed Mrs Sigamoney back to Crescent Girls’ School. Being one of the best schools in Singapore, the school was very competitive and fast-paced. I thrived in this environment and instituted several new ideas. At a time when the teaching method was still chalk & board and individual questioning & answering, I made my students study in groups and present their ideas to the whole class in a competitive way. I would award the best group $10 out of my own salary as first prize and the second best, $5. For my literature class, I made the students read the stories in groups and develop a skit to be performed in class. Their skits were so well acted that it inspired each other’s imaginations, and the students even made their own costumes. For my geography class, the students would make models out of the topics learnt and give a presentation on their models. Because my responsibilities as a vice-principal were already heavy enough, making the students do the work not only freed my time but also allowed the students to enjoy themselves while learning and aspire to do better the next time.
Henderson Secondary School (1982–1988)
In 1982, after only one year in Crescent Girls’ School, I was made the principal of Henderson Secondary School, the very same school that I had rejected the position of vice-principal just the year before. At age 39, I was one of the youngest persons to be made principal of a secondary school at that time. The school, being in Redhill which at that time was notoriously known to be the centre of secret society activities, had a reputation of being the secret societies’ breeding ground. There were three other schools in the vicinity, all headed by male principals. I was the only female principal of the four schools in Redhill. When I received my posting, I was surprised that I was being sent to such a dangerous location. I thought my superiors did not like me for being such a difficult person to deal with and therefore sent me to a difficult school so that I would fail. However, on my 80th Birthday dinner celebrations, Mrs Kam Kum Wone, who was the deputy director of secondary schools at MOE during the time of my posting, explained to me that I was made principal of Henderson Secondary School because MOE felt that I would be the most capable person to bring the school up.
Upon taking over the school as principal, I asked the clerk what had caused the previous principal to leave this school. The clerk recounted how secret society members had boldly entered the school during lesson-time, freely made their way into the classrooms and threw chairs and tables off the upper floors. A fight then broke out in the quadrangle between members from different secret societies. I enquired the whereabouts of the principal during the disturbances and was informed that the principal had locked himself in his office, ostensibly calling the police. Based on this information, I knew I had to take immediate action to prevent this from happening again.
Back then, there was no security in the school. Fences and school gates could be easily scaled at night. Although the offices could be locked, the corridors were open and people had unrestricted access to all other areas of the school, including the canteen and classrooms. I went to the Ministry of Education (MOE) to ask for money to install lockable collapsable gates at strategic locations of the school, such as all entrances to the school buildings and the foot of all staircases. The ministry replied that they had no budget for such gates. I appealed to the School Advisory Committee (SAC) and explained to them the importance for such security measures. The committee was very supportive of this. Although the committee members were not rich, they donated money to this and many other projects. Henderson Secondary School was the first school in Singapore to install such gates. After the gates were installed, the parents of the students voiced their displeasure that they were no longer able to enter the school as and when they pleased, and likened their children to animals caged in a zoo. When I explained to the parents the rationale of keeping their children safe from secret society activities, they grudgingly accepted my explanation. As time went by, they appreciated more and more the security measures taken, especially with the emergence of infamous kidnapping cases such as the children murdered by Adrian Lim in the early 1980s and the disappearance of the MacDonald’s Boys in 1986.
There were many fights in the school involving students. After breaking up one such fights, I was admonishing the students involved when I noticed that they were holding knives in their hands, which I had not noticed before I intervened. I was shaken by the realization that I could have been severely injured while I was pulling the students away. Although I was still shivering with fear, I summoned up my courage and dragged the students into my office where I called the police. I was asked to come to the police station many times because of students being regularly arrested for fighting. To prevent weapons from being brought into the school, I barred all students from bringing into the school compound umbrellas and combs which could be sharpened and used as weapons.
In 1984, a secondary four student was involved in a fatal road accident. It was raining and she had shared her umbrella with her friend while waiting for the bus and allowed the friend to board first. When she tried to board the bus, the bus moved off, running over her and killing her. I encouraged her whole class to attend her wake and even booked a coach to ferry the whole class to the funeral. Her father donated a sum of money to the school, which was then used to start the Liang Sulin Award that was given to the girl voted the kindest and most considerate in the secondary four level for each year. At a time when the school was rife with fights and other secret society activities, I wanted to encourage such values as love and kindness among the students.
LIANG SULIN AWARD This year, together with the usual awards given to outstanding students in Secondary Three and Four, by the SAC, a new award called the LIANG SULIN AWARD is instituted. Liang Sulin was a Secondary Four pupil in 1984. She was outstanding for her sweet nature and kind and considerate manner. Last November she was killed in a road accident whilst sharing her umbrella with another girl in the rain. In memory of his deceased daughter, the father, Mr Leong Yat Weng, has given the SAC a sum of money. The SAC is using the money to sponsor the Liang Sulin Award. The recipient of the award each year will be a girl from the Secondary Four class. She should be exemplary in conduct and exhibit kindness and consideration besides being conscientious in her studies. Henderson Secondary School 1985 Year Book, page 35.
Around this time, I had brought to the attention of Mr Lim Chee Onn, who was the Minister of Parliament for Redhill at that time, my constant trips to the police station to vouch for my students. At his suggestion, I started a Boys’ Club for boys at-risk. These boys would play football and participate in other activities that were organized by the police force. Thus, they were kept out of trouble and their studies improved with the help of the police.
Through these and many other activities, the behaviour of the students improved considerably, and academic results began to rise.
"What impressed me about Kan How is her earnestness in inculcating good values in her students through strict discipline. Outwardly, she appeared to be a tough person, not tolerating nonsense from her students. But inwardly, she had a lot of concern for them. She ensured that her students were provided with a good education and be developed into morally upright individuals that would enable them to do well in their careers later.
When I was a principal of Dunearn Secondary Technical School, I had already heard about Kan How being well-known as a tough school administrator. She was then the vice principal of Crescent Girls School. She would monitor her teachers closely and go to no ends to ensure that teachers did their job dutifully and not neglect their responsibilities to the disadvantage of the students. I remember a gossip that was circulated among the educators about an incident, which got to my ears. A teacher had requested to leave early to see the doctor. She allowed the teacher to leave but with some suspicion. She followed the teacher surreptitiously to ensure that her reason to leave was genuine. She actually found the teacher shopping in a mall near to the school and sent her back to the school immediately to report to the principal. Kan How explained that she needed to check on the teacher as she was irresponsible, leaving the class unattended to do her own shopping when this could lead to serious consequences such as fights and injury, should the students misbehave themselves. This simple incident showed how serious Kan How took her supervisory role as a vice principal, while at the same time also expressed her concern for her students.
When I became deputy director of secondary schools at MOE in 1981, I had to source for a suitable principal for Henderson Secondary School, which was then a difficult school to handle. It was infamous for student gangsterism. Knowing Kan How’s character of showing toughness in handling her staff and students in her school but warmness at heart in showing care and concern for them, I decided that she would make a good principal to uplift the school and turn it around. I was proven right.
When she took over the school, she was personally involved in ensuring that strict discipline be kept. She was tough in punishing the students for misdeeds. At the same time, she showed care and concern for them. She developed wholesome programmes and activities to nurture the students to be responsible to themselves and prepared them to be good citizens in society. Kan How made a mark as a very capable principal in running the school, turning it around from one that was notorious to one where parents showed confidence that their children would be safely nurtured and well developed as upright individuals.
Kan How would sometimes make decisions out of the box whenever she was convinced that these would benefit her school and her students. I would generally give her my support whenever I was satisfied with her rationale for doing so. We developed a respect for each other as colleagues in education and enjoyed a good working relationship with each other. We carried on with this close relationship when we retired and our friendship has been going on to this day."
A school is only as strong as its leader. When I first entered Henderson Secondary School (HSS) in 1988, I was intimidated by Mdm Lau’s strict disciplinarian approach. It was after she left HSS and when I became a teacher did I realise why she took that approach.
Nonetheless, there were some personal experiences I had of her which I still remember. There was a time when we junior prefects were walking up the stairs for our first meeting. We got a mouthful from her for making noise. We were reminded of our roles as prefects and to be good role models for others.
In a Speech Day rehearsal in her last year at HSS, she personally came for the rehearsal and directed the movements, programme flow, etc. I still remember how she told off Mrs Rajah, who was a disciplinarian herself, to not bring her handbag to the stage to receive her award. Mrs Rajah could only nod and smile sheepishly. We all understood that Mdm Lau was a strict disciplinarian and that students and teachers will either face her wrath or receive her smile accordingly, and accept them because we are HSS family.
Having said that, Mdm Lau was also appreciative and supportive of anything that showed discipline, hard work, effort and determination, either with a smile or a straight face. I still remember how she praised the Malay dancers glowingly for their performance as they had been given a short time by her to change their routine. She would drop by band practice to give feedback for us to improve, or encouragement to persevere.
We were all intimidated by Mdm Lau’s aura and presence but on it was what made us Henderson Secondary School students. It was our trademark. It was our brand. It was what made us family. It was what made the school motto “Education For Life” our life’s mantra.
Jurong Institute (1989–1990)
In 1987, on top of my duties as the principal of Henderson Secondary School, I was tasked to oversee the building of a new pre-university institute. The concept of a three-year pre-university institute was to give students leaving secondary school the chance to sit for their GCE ‘A’ Levels after three years instead of the two years offered by junior colleges.
I was given a small shed beside the construction site to supervise the construction. I submitted several possible names for the institute and the name Jurong Institute was selected by MOE. I chose the school colours, grey and pink. I also had an auditorium with theatre seating built, the first of its kind in a Singapore school. This was the only pre-university institute that was built from the ground up. The others had to take over vacant secondary school campuses.
In 1989, Jurong Institute opened its doors to the first cohort of students and I was officially appointed its principal, relinquishing my position of seven years at Henderson Secondary School. I organized the opening ceremony with a musical, The Pirates of Penzance. The students involved in the musical were trained by Sister Delores, my teacher from Convent of the Holy Infant Jesus, and Ms Cecilia Hon, my classmate from the same school who was a well-known local ballerina.
How do I describe Aunty Kan How?
The best aunt a nephew can ever have! She is generous, kind and always thoughtful. And perhaps a little bossy. With all the best intentions of course.
My mother tells me that after I was born, my mother was ill and she was unable to give me my first feed. Aunty Kan How came into the ward. She was annoyed to see that I was unattended to and hungry, and so she took charge and made sure that the neonatal nurses bottle fed me. My father tells me the nurses were afraid of her - and who wouldn't be? Don't cross Aunty Kan How is all I can say. She is a force of nature.
So from the very start of my life, she was there and looked out for me.
Fast forward a few years, I remember visits to her house on weekends and during the school holidays. It was great to be able to see my cousins. I always looked up to Ming Yu kor kor and my father says I would tag along behind him like a puppy. He was my hero! But the memorable thing for me were the chicken pies that Aunty Kan How bought from the Balmoral Bakery for afternoon tea and she knew I loved them. What a treat! Again, Aunty Kan How was looking after me.
And then, as I became a teen, I was a student of hers, when she was principal of Jurong Institute (JI). Yet again, she was there during an important period of my life, making sure that I received a good education and had the best of what the school had to offer. I spent the first year incognito. No one knew I was her nephew, certainly not the teachers. And I think we tried to keep it that way so I didn't get any special treatment or attention, but word somehow got out and some of the teachers became extra nice to me overnight. I was a bit unnerved by that.
And now, when I am back in Singapore, when we're able to meet up, Aunty Kan How would take me and my family out to lunch with Ming Cherng and Pauline. All these years and she's still looking out for me, and for this I will forever be grateful.
So, Aunty Kan How; Alison, Lucas and I all wish you a very Happy Birthday. Have a great and joyful 82nd.
Hi Mdm Lau.
I didn’t realise how time has passed but the memories of JI are still frozen in my head. In retrospect, it was indeed the best of times carved out of my somewhat delinquent times of life. But you had insisted on discipline and rules, and what I did not understand then – which is crystal clear to me now - was its purpose and importance.
What I learned through that is about rooting the attainment of knowledge through a disciplined, ethical and rules-based approach.
It is not possible to remember those good days of my JI past without remembering you in the school. You were a strong lady then, and now that you are 82, I have no doubt about that inner strength in you that kept you going.
Happy Blessed 82nd Birthday, Mdm Lau, and wishing you all the best for the day and for fruitful and fulfilling years ahead.
Take care! God bless!
Yuan Ching Secondary School (1991–1995)
After the institute was fully established, I took over Yuan Ching Secondary School as its principal in 1991. The school was a breeding ground for a secret society in the vicinity. With my experience at Henderson Secondary School, I was in a better position to steer the school towards academic excellence.
At that time, the secondary four Normal stream students would sit for their examinations in September and if they did well, would return for secondary five the following year. This caused a three-month gap of no lessons although classes were still on-going. The students therefore would blatantly stop coming for classes. I felt that this would be a good time for the students to begin their secondary five lessons to give them a head-start for their GCE ‘O’ Level preparations. To encourage them to come for lessons, I rewarded the students with a free helicopter tour around Singapore if they had full attendance for the remainder of the year. Even students who had official medical leave during class time would not be able to enjoy the reward of a free helicopter ride. As a result, I had full classrooms for the secondary four Normal stream all the way to the end of each school year. Because of the head-start, the school also achieved better GCE ‘O’ Level results from the secondary five students.
While I was in Yuan Ching Secondary School, I attended a four-day course, The Skillful Teacher, conducted by Mrs Louis Thompson from the Research for Better Teaching, an organization based in Massachusetts, USA, founded by Dr Jon Saphier. I liked it so much, I sang its praises to my assistant director who allowed me to organise the talks for the subject inspectors at the MOE headquarters.
Yuan Ching Secondary School was the last school I headed as principal. Through my journey as a teacher and a principal, I had held other positions.
My Other Positions
I was a school librarian. My childhood home at Loke Yew Street was near to the Raffles Library at Stamford Road, which was later renamed the National Library. Because of my family’s love for books, I would spend most of my Sundays in the library reading books. In 1968, I was posted as the pioneer teacher at the brand-new school, First Toa Payoh Secondary School, at Lorong 1 Toa Payoh. It was a time when school libraries were rare, and so the school opened with no library. I suggested to my principal to allow me to set up a library in the school. At the same time, Ms Hedwig Anuar, the director of the National Library, was advocating a library for every school. She invited all the schools to send a teacher to a meeting to discuss this initiative. My principal sent me. At the meeting, I revealed my knowledge of library systems. And that was how in 1970, I became the first and only President of the Secondary Schools section of the Library Association of Singapore. However, not many teachers wanted to take on the extra duties of a school librarian and did not come for meetings, so the section quietly faded away.
Around the 1980s, I was the Chairman of the Singapore Youth Festival (South Zone), a position I held until 1993. The Singapore Youth Festival was an annual festival for the Arts. There was another festival for Music and Dance, which was spread over four days. Each school zone would hold a competition that would select the best schools to perform at each festival. While I was Chairman of the Singapore Youth Festival (South Zone), I noticed that the schools would invest a lot of money in costumes and props for the Music and Dance Festival competitions. The schools that were not selected to perform at the festival would therefore have lost their investments. I voiced my concern to MOE and in 1991, and found myself appointed the first Chairman of a new initiative called Singapore Youth Festival (Fringe). This was a bi-annual event for all the other schools not selected for the four days of the main festival. I had the privilege to select from about 200 schools to perform at any venue I wanted in the whole of Singapore. I chose venues such as Sentosa, Raffles Hotel, National Museum, Chinese Garden and Singapore Science Centre, among others. It was such an honour for me to organize all these events. The Fringe soon became the more sought-after event. It was quietly told to me that some schools even deliberately performed poorer so that they would be selected for the Fringe festivals instead. I organized the three Fringe festivals from 1991 to 1995.
I was also involved in the Singapore Sports Council and the National Police Cadet Corps Council, among many other national appointments.
I had started my career with a very low opinion of myself, but with each post and responsibility given to me, I was more and more amazed with myself. I thank God for all his blessings through me. Through all that I had done over the years, I was finally moved to the headquarters.
In July 1995, I was appointed Senior Inspector of Schools (South Zone). I was surprised by the appointment but was happy for the change in responsibilities. Instead of focusing on results, I could look at a bigger picture.
I had eight schools under me. I was very conscious of treating everyone fairly according to their merits. Many of the people I worked with continued to keep in contact with me after my retirement, such as then-Principals Mr Goh Boon Long of Christchurch Secondary School, and the late, Mr Leonard Yong of Delta Secondary School. A few became close friends, such as Ms Ho Peng, then-principal of Gan Eng Seng, and Mrs Koh Sau Peng, then-head of Humanities of Delta Secondary School.
In fact, throughout my career, I held on to the conviction that the mark of a leader was measured by the number of people the leader pulls up to the same level or higher than the leader. I was inspired by Mr Pakir Singh’s comment in the Straits Times that in the 22 years of the University of Singapore offering a master’s degree in education, only 22 teachers graduated with the master’s degree. The twenty-second person was Mr Francis Wu, an assistant director in the Ministry of Education at that time. He encouraged me to read my master’s degree. And so, in 1978, I enrolled myself in the programme. I wrote my thesis while sitting with my eldest son, who was preparing for his PSLE at that time. I graduated on 2nd July 1980 and was the twenty-third educator to graduate with a master’s in education. Because of my conviction, I encouraged other educators to read their master’s. In my first year as principal of Henderson Secondary School, I encouraged Mrs Ooi Foong Choo, Miss Ho Kum Yin, Mrs Lim Gek Mui, Mrs See Hou Cheng, Miss Gwee Boon Hiah and Mrs Kan Geok Yan to enrol in courses to update their knowledge and skills. Throughout my career, I was also actively pushing for many of the educators to be promoted where deserving.
As Senior Inspector of Schools, I conducted the Skillful Teacher course to the schools in my zone, having been certified as a trainer by Dr Jon Saphier himself. I was so passionate about the innovative teaching ideas that after my retirement, I had set up my own consultancy, Leading Learners, teaching this course to many schools.
Also, around the late-1990s, I attended a talk by Mr Ron Kaufman on providing excellent service. It was a really good talk, not just entertaining but also full of refreshing ideas on how we should improve service standards. I felt his ideas would inspire educators and wanted to share my ideas with him. However, at the end of the talk, everyone rushed around him to have a word with him. I was not able to get anywhere near to him. While trying to figure out how I could get to the front of the crowd, I noticed his then-wife, whom he had introduced during the talk, standing all alone. I approached her and asked her to do me a favour by giving Ron my business card. I received a call from Ron early the next morning. He was amused by my “clever” antics. At the talk, he had received many business cards and did not know whom to contact first. His then-wife insisted he call me first, and so he did. That was how I managed to meet him. I invited him to conduct talks on service excellence for the schools in my zone, to which he acceded. Later, I extended the talks to schools across Singapore and even to my church which he conducted for free. Through our many business dealings, we became close friends and remain so to this day.
In 2000, I was made Cluster Superintendent of Schools. While opening a school cluster conference that year, I suffered a stroke and was allowed early retirement in 2001 at the age of 59. That was the same year that Jesu passed away.
Mdm Lau was my school inspector when I was rookie principal. She was the second school inspector assigned to my school during my short stint as principal. Her reputation had preceded her. It was therefore with a sense of trepidation as we principals in the southern school cluster awaited her arrival.
I am thankful Mdm Lau came into my life at the time I was posted to head a school. My first inspector was distant and top-down. My school had been without a principal for six months before my posting. Discipline was going to the dogs with high absenteeism among the students, mostly boys who constituted 70% of the school enrolment. The number of discipline cases was unprecedented. There was an air of resignation among the teachers, with some older ones lamenting how the school had fallen from its glorious days of old. To a 40-year-old principal taking up the post, it felt like I was walking into a time warp. The challenges were immense, daunting and manifold.
As a School Inspector, Mdm Lau was cut in a different mould. Yes, she had high expectations, and rightly so. She was also clear and unambiguous in her communications, not mincing her words at times. But what came through for many of us was her caring nature. She had run two of the toughest schools in Singapore, and understood the ground issues well. She walked the journey with us as principals. She was never fault-finding; instead, she helped us seek solutions to difficult situations. She empowered us, giving us room to make our own decisions, yet sharing with us so generously her experiences.
Into my second year as principal, the school was slated for its external appraisal. I fell ill on the second day of the appraisal period. When I returned to school a couple of days later, I found a mug on my desk with the words “Bloom Where You are Planted.” It was from Mdm Lau. My heart lifted with this wonderful gesture of kindness. I was greatly encouraged.
The late 1990s was a time of experimentation for the Ministry of Education. A key area was the school system. The relationship between the Ministry of Education headquarters and schools underwent a fundamental transformation. Into my third year as principal, the school cluster system evolved further. The Ministry recognized that schools would know the needs of their students much more intimately than headquarters. This led to a paradigm shift in the relationship between HQ and schools. MOE would provide the strategic direction for education and resources for schools. However, principals would be the ones who would craft the vision for their schools, plan the programmes and take full accountability for the success of their schools.
Empowerment of school leaders was very much in the air. They were to operate as CEOs – “Chief Executive Officers”. With this change, the role of the school inspector came into question. While MOE acknowledged that there would still be a need for school supervision, the modus operandi had to be different. For school leaders to be empowered, the relationship with their inspectors had to evolve. Supervisors were to be officers who could empower their supervisees. This led to a change in personnel. The term “School Inspector” was replaced with “Superintendent” to signal the change in relationship. But it was more than a name change. Not all inspectors became superintendents. Principals in my school cluster came together and wrote to the Director of Schools, requesting for Mdm Lau to be made superintendent. And so she came to be.
Looking back, I believe that nothing came by chance. I was much blessed by the timely appointment of Mdm Lau as my school inspector, and later superintendent. She was a guiding light, a pillar of strength and support to her principals. She recognized the complex challenges of leading schools. She accorded us dignity and respect. In difficult situations, she was with us, stood by us and spoke up for us. She went the extra mile. That so many of us kept in touch with her in her retirement speaks volumes of our immense appreciation for her professionalism, care and kindness. She has become more than a school inspector or superintendent. To many of us, she has become our friend for life.
My fondest memories of Kan How are as a school inspector in the 1980s and, later, in the 1990s, as a loving and oh-so-loved auntie of my two small children.
As one of the first English teachers from the UK recruited by the Singapore Ministry of Education, I was made aware of my privileged position by the inimitable Madam Lau. She impressed upon me the honour I enjoyed by being posted to Catholic High, not only because it was the school her son Ming Shun attended (and whom I taught), but also because it was the alma mater of Lee Kuan Yew’s son, Lee Hsien Loong.
“You must produce outstanding English results. You must earn the salary which Singapore teachers do not have.” She made me appreciate how fortunate I was to be posted to this prestigious SAP school. Her words definitely affected and shaped my years there as I worked diligently even to exceed her expectations, organizing a month-long language enrichment tour to the UK, for example. Madam Lau was definitely a force to be reckoned with, and inspired me always to strive for excellence in my teaching.
Fast forward eleven years later when I returned to my beloved Singapore with my 8-year-old daughter Victoria and my 6-year-old son Harry. Now the fearsome Madam Lau was transformed into the loving and oh-so-loved Auntie Kan How…but she still had lessons to teach me.
This parental pedagogy particularly related to my shy daughter who was usually overshadowed by her more ebullient extrovert brother.
“Victoria, you come and sit in the front of the car with auntie. Harry, stay in the back.” How my daughter beamed with pride at such a privileged position! She remembers and speaks about it to this very day. Victoria really blossomed in The Garden City and Auntie Kan How nurtured that growth. She helped me appreciate how much Victoria needed that recognition and reinforcement of her 8-year-old self. I attach a picture of the magnificent treasure chest birthday cake with which Kan How presented Tori on her tenth birthday. Methinks Harry never received such a treat.
God bless you, dear Kan How, for the life lessons and love you shared with me and my children.
I write about Kan How with the affection and good humour that has characterized our friendship through the years.
There are times in life when someone insists you become a part of their lives.
I do not recall the details of our first encounter, though I have heard Kan How tell the tale several times, and each time the story become a bit more exotic. So let’s take her latest version about how we met – and all we did – as the truth.
What I do recall is that she showed up in my life completely unannounced and proceeded to vigorously announce herself.
She made very clear within just a few minutes that her calling was to be in Service to Others. And, as I was building a local reputation as service educator, expert, and trainer, that it was inescapably incumbent upon me to Serve Kan How so that she could continue Serving Others.
The details of our agreement and commercial arrangements are lost to history, though Kan How’s latest reflections (whatever they may be) offer a tale reminiscent of those Hollywood Thrillers which proudly claim to be “Based on a True Story”. And should our epic tale ever be rendered for the silver screen, I will be surely played by Tom Cruise, while Kan How will have her choice of Angelina Jolie, Scarlett Johansen, or Kate Winslet.
The event itself (or was it a series?) indeed Served Others with education, enthusiasm, energy, and Kan How’s downright insistence. Thus did Service in our small but cherished country take Another Step UP, demonstrating the purpose and the spirit of Uplifting Service.
Our country has been improved many times by Kan How’s invitations, her manifestations, and her bold proclamations, including, to be sure, her inevitable protestation that what I have written here is not The Truth, The Whole Truth, and Nothing But the Truth.
And it will behove the reader of this story greatly to take her word on this matter and not mine. For I am merely a faithful servant in Service to Others. And she is the same, but she is, as well, the exceptional, the extraordinary, the devoted, and very much beloved, Madame Lau Kan How.
I knew Mdm Lau when I was the Head of Humanities at Delta Secondary School. This was in the early years of the school appraisal, which started in the 1980s, and the appraisal instrument was still in its infancy stage. The school appraisal was impending, and the school was in a flurry to prepare for it. My principal decided to invite Mdm Lau to come and advise us on how to prepare for it. We had a meeting with her and I asked her a lot of questions on issues such as the management of my department, resources, administration, policies and records. One of the questions I asked was on the record keeping as we had not kept sufficient records. She stared straight at me and it took me aback. She replied that one cannot say that one has done something if one has no proof of it. She said that it was good to keep records on everything that transpired. That was a powerful lesson I learnt on that day and I was very impressed with Mdm Lau. She is not just interested in the big picture policies, but also interested in the details. That inspired me.
It wasn’t just me, but all the other heads also remarked to the principal that the meeting was very meaningful and helpful in getting the school prepared for the appraisal. Mdm Lau’s systematic instructions and clear direction helped calm our nerves and set us on the right path.
One day, we had a school event, and my role was to wait for Mdm Lau who was a guest. When she arrived, I walked with her to the function room. As we walked, she recognised me and asked me three questions.
The first question was on what I was doing at that time to progress my department. I explained that I had my plans. She asked me what my plans were. And I explained about how we had a programme to look after the kids at night. She said it was a good plan, but some kids might find the programme boring. So, I replied that we would add interesting projects such as building volcano models, bringing the students on field trips and other interesting things. She affirmed me. I realised that she was preparing me for an elevator speech, to explain my plans in a clear, concise manner within a very short period time. I took this lesson and taught it to my students. I wonder to this day if that was Mdm Lau’s intention all along to build up my leadership abilities through these three short questions.
Around that time, there was a newly implemented ranking exercise to determine promotions throughout the ministry. I and another educator in the school were expected to be promoted, when the appointments were released, we were not given any promotions. Mdm Lau came personally to the school and offered to treat myself and the other educator out for lunch. I asked her why and she explained that she wanted to console both of us for not being promoted. I was impressed because this was my boss’ boss who took the time to come down to personally assure us. It made me feel so affirmed and confident in myself that from that time onwards, promotion was no longer important to me.
In 1998, I was appointed to be vice principal of Yishun Junior College. There was a North Zone Cluster meeting and I met Mdm Lau again in the school campus. She congratulated me on my appointment and encouraged me to do what I believed in. She assured me that she would give me her full support. At that time, I took it as just another warm greeting, but looking back, I realised she was giving me her full support. That was the start of our close friendship.
When I was the principal of Xingnan Primary School, the school had drawn up celebrations for Racial Harmony Day. Mrs S R Nathan, then first-lady, was the guest-of-honour. However, at the last minute, my Cluster Superintendent fell ill and could not attend the event. When Mdm Lau found out that my Cluster Superintendent would not be present at the event to support me, she told me she would come personally to do so, even though she was not involved in my cluster. Throughout the event, she brought life through her relaxed and jovial interactions with Mrs Nathan, and made everyone feel at ease. Everyone went away from the event feeling very satisfied and Mrs Nathan even remarked that it was the best Racial Harmony Day she had ever attended – all thanks to Mdm Lau. After the event, Mdm Lau even wrote a glowing report on the event to my Cluster Superintendent. I was so touched that she would write to my reporting officer in support of me that I felt she had impacted me in a profound way to be the best person I can be.
I see Mdm Lau as a highly intelligent person with great foresight. She has vision and the passion to push through her visions. The schools she was sent to were in the heartlands and were not easy to manage. She recognized immediately that she needed to change the culture of these schools to bring the schools up. She made broad strokes. She focused on the teachers’ ability to teach, which at that time was revolutionary as the focus was on the student’s ability to learn. She would say that if the student was not doing well, we needed to look at the teacher’s method of teaching. That’s where she attended courses such as Dr Jon Saphier’s Skillfull Teacher to improve the teaching methods. By improving the teaching methods, it would improve the academic results and improve the school morale. She would be thinking five steps ahead of everyone else. She had such grand plans in her head, but it was too revolutionary at that time and she struggled to make others see the value of her plans. But through it all, she succeeded and the schools produced impressive results under her leadership.
She also focused on the students’ behaviour. She created a school that was conducive to learning – she had a library along the corridors so students didn’t need to go to the library to read books. She had many sessions with the parents of the children to build rapport and shore up support from the parents to augment their children’s learning. She would take note of the work of the gardeners and the canteen operators because she wanted to have a beautiful campus for her students to learn in and a clean and hygienic canteen for her students to enjoy their food.
This is Mdm Lau: a visionary. She is interested in the betterment of everyone. She would look at someone and see how she can make that person a better version of himself or herself, regardless of whether the person wants to or not.
