REMEMBERING THE FORGOTTEN: MALAY SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN SINGAPORE 1959-1987

Abstract

Politics has always been regarded as pivotal in any discussion of education in Singapore's history. The colonial era and the People Action Party (PAP)'s rise to power have provided a crucial lens for us to understand how education was shaped and influenced in Singapore. Additionally, education was also largely influenced by the economic environment as it became a means for the government to create a workforce that bore the qualities necessary for progress during the period of economic progress. While politics and economics did play a considerable part in vernacular education, this thesis seeks to go beyond such a discussion to explore the social aspects of education. There were several problems that plagued the vernacular system and Malay parents were also actors in the fate of Malay-stream education as they struggled to decide between cultural roots and economic pragmatism, which meant choosing the English stream. Therefore, this thesis acknowledges the importance of politics and economic considerations in dictating the rise of Malay secondary education and consequently its demise, due to an enforcement of the indispensibility of English by the state through the Goh Keng Swee Report on Education. In the process, however, this thesis also seeks to argue that the voice of the Malay community is worth studying as agents and individuals involved in the vernacular education system, in hopes of according importance to the voices of the individuals, such as teachers and students, towards the multitude of changes occurring within the vernacular education system.