VS's on the verge of going Co-ed?!

Girls in Victoria School?

By Santokh Singh

S’pore’s last all-boys govt school wants to go co-ed. Some old boys upset.

It is the country’s last all-boys government school. But Victoria School (VS) has decided to take a knife to tradition – it wants to go co-ed.

The school has submitted a proposal to the Ministry of Education in what looks like a move to play catch-up with some of Singapore’s top schools.

It hopes that turning co-ed can make it the main feeder school for Victoria Junior College (VJC) with the possibility of merging into one Integrated Programme (IP) in the long run.

That would make it similar to the Raffles and Hwa Chong families, where the boys’ and girls’ schools are linked to their respective JCs. Their students study a six-year course bypassing the O levels.

MOE confirmed receiving the proposal and said it had asked the school to submit a detailed proposal of its overall long-term plan for evaluation.

If it gets the nod, VS will leave behind a 129-year-old tradition of being an all-boys school.

The school did have girls in pre-university classes from the 1950s until as late as the ‘80s.

Right now, it is the only government all-boys’ school left in Singapore.

Principal’s Email

VS Principal Ang Pow Chew, 46, is away on a school trip to china and could not be contacted.

But in an earlier e-mail to his staff, he said the school is suffering a brain drain following recent changes to the education landscape.

In 2004, 38 students, about 10 per cent of that cohort, left VS to join the IP offered by Junior Colleges and some of the independent schools. The school predicts that the number leaving the school could go up to 100 or about a third of the cohort.

Said Mr Ang in the e-mail: “VS will experience a deep hollowing out effect. In anticipation of the challenges and opportunities generated, VS and Victoria JC see merits in both institutions working closely together to offer linked programmes.”

VJC is already offering its own IP programme for students from Sec 3 onwards.

The plan is for VS to be the main feeder school for VJC. To do so at least 50 percent of each Sec 3 cohort must meet the JC’s cut-off mark. That may not be possible if it remain an all-boys school.

Said Mr Ang: “As it is unlikely that this target can be reached with VS remaining a boys’ school, we believe that turning co-ed will raise the quality of the intake.”

Eventually, both schools hope to run an Integrated Programme just as the Raffles and Hwa Chong families are doing now.

Many old Victorians were unhappy

Old boy Chan Joo Peng, 27, said: “I don’t think the aim is to bring bout an IP programming at all. It is just to help VS climb the rankings ladder."

“While I am all for better performance, I am not for it to be at the expense of some strong traditions. I would rather see an all-boys VS moving up the ladder on its own steam.”

Old Victorians Association president Aaron Tan said they would respond after a meeting on the issue.

Source: The New Paper (17th August 2005)

This was yesterday's article. It came as a shock to me, in fact to most Victorians.

A lot has been heard, has been done. The chaos online, even online and offline petitions. Recently saw the anti-co-ed blog. From all this, at least, I could sense the strong, united Victorian spirit.

We have gone through 129 years. It is our heritage. Won't want to see it changed. Never !

Today in school, there were petitions set up in the canteen, just at the mural. After school, the Monitors and Prefects stayed back for a collaborative meeting, hoping to do something to prevent a catastrophe. It was then we saw 2 reporters coming into our school, hoping to grab a shot of post-'riot'. Probably they came at the wrong time, not many Victorians were left; petitions were taken down. So they got nothing. Except the online petition site. I'm thankful, they should wait for Mr Ang to come back !