Girls in Victoria School?
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S'pore's last all-boys govt school wants to go co-ed. Some old boys upset
By Santokh Singh
August 18, 2005
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 secondary 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 E-MAIL
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 per cent of each Sec 3 cohort must meet the JC's cut-off mark. That may not be possible if it remains 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 about an IP programme 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 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.
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Should JC anthem change?
SHE wants the school song changed.
At a school assembly earlier this year, principal of Victoria JC Chan Khah Gek suggested that a line in the song 'Victoria, thy sons are we' wasn't sensitive to female Victorians and should be replaced.
Some current students and alumni however, were not enthusiastic about the suggestion.
'The anthem is part of a tradition - and I don't think we need to take the word 'sons' at face value,' said one second-year female VJC student.
But some feel that a change makes sense if both VJC and VS are co-ed.
When contacted, Mrs Chan said 'more structured feedback' is needed to find out if only a minority of students feel that the school song should be changed.
- LIEW HANQING -
eh this was on 18th aug... now 30 aug ler den u post?
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Just happened to discover it. Quite sad that the all-boys schools are dying out.Originally posted by shinta:eh this was on 18th aug... now 30 aug ler den u post?
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all boys government school u mean?Originally posted by iveco:Just happened to discover it. Quite sad that the all-boys schools are dying out. 
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Aiyo... Dun stand in the way of the present students lah... It's not as if you are still studying there now, juz becoz your time is all boys no gals or all gals no boys doesn't mean the present or future students must suffer your same fate rite?
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montfort all boys govt skool too wot
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But for how long? At primary level, many of the boys' schools have been wiped out. De la Salle and St Anthony's now accept girls, for that matter.Originally posted by Rockhound:montfort all boys govt skool too wot -
http://vs.jonaize.com/ - Petition site
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victoria is girl's name mah
maybe st nicholas and st anthony shd oso accept boys -
Originally posted by FireIce:victoria is girl's name mah
maybe st nicholas and st anthony shd oso accept boys
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Those boys are homo lah!
Scared of gals! -
Ivevco,
I come from Cat high and RI, and I don't exactly think tt the idea of making these 2 schools co-ed is very repulsive. I am not surprised that the alumni of VS and VJC would feel strongly against changing the admission policy of their schools to include girls; Alumni are usually a conservative force who want things kept the way they are; they always support initiatives related to preserving the school's history and pride. The current students' opinions would probably arise from the influence of their parents, most of which would be alumni or old boys, and their fear and apprehension of encountering something new i.e. fear of change. The existence of fear of change is of course due to the kind of social environment PAP has created in Singapore.
I do think that there are advantages of being in a co-ed school. Students in a co-ed school would probably be more restrained than students in a boys' or girls' school, since they have to maintain a certain decorum in front of members of the opposite sex. My acquataintances at DHS are much more gentle and polite than my ex-schoolmates at RI. This naturally leads to a higher degree of tolerance. I believe one of the letters written to the Forum speculated that the students would not be the "macho toughness" if the students had been mixed. Likewise, another female alumnus claimed that the vibrancy and strength of VJC was due to the "history of the VS boys" solely. The former is an extremely chauvinistic mindset which does not bode well with tolerance; the latter is the equivalent of a South Indian housewife who accepts that her husband has the right to burn her face with oil i.e. the alumnus accepts an implicit form of gender discrimination. Both are equally unhealthy attitudes to hold, and impede our progress toward a democratic society based on equality.
So there.
the (concerned) pikamaster -
Hold fast ACS.
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Now got Int'l Sch got girlsOriginally posted by LazerLordz:Hold fast ACS.
JC also have... -
ACS Barker is government ma..
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Govt kind, give nice campusOriginally posted by stellazio:ACS Barker is government ma..
But heard aircon hall, aircon sports hall everything sch have to pay -
You also from AC huh?Originally posted by LazerLordz:Hold fast ACS. -
no need for VS to co-ed.
just get VJC another feeder school, either an all-girls school or co-ed school (eg DHS. that's what they've been doing anyway)
St Pat is govt all-boys sch -
Hell yeahOriginally posted by oxford mushroom:You also from AC huh? -
no wonderOriginally posted by LazerLordz:Hell yeah 
sia suay... -
Well, ACS got MGS to play opposite number. What does VS have? Maybe Cedar Girls can be linked with VJC.Originally posted by LazerLordz:Hold fast ACS. -
TKGS?
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jeez
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Well...
I dun think this should be an 'big' issue...
Let the sch mgmt decide... -
I was from VS and VJC..
Actually just to point out, there was a time in VS's past when it was actually co-ed for a while, I can't quite remember how long, but i do know Mr Santokh Singh who wrote the article. He was a former discipline master when i was there. If there are guys out there like me who will also sadly missed Mr Aw Long Fei..
but i digress..
Back to the point, as an old boy... yes i feel that there is a neceesary urge to hold on to certain traditions, but not exactly to the point of keeping members of the opp sex out. i believe the Victorian tradition can be better enriched if there are to be female participation in the compounds.
From the school administration's point of view, there is also a priority to maintain certain class numbers and yet at the same time control student intake and quality of its graduates. This is especially so for a school which has painstakingly built up it reputation over a century.
As for changing the school anthem, on one hand, i am acceptable to some changes that will make it less sexist, on the other, there is also still a need to remember the roots of Victoria's history that it did started out as an All-Boys school.
Would you consider changing the National Anthem by maybe changing parts of it to reflect the presence of Chinese and Indian communities? or perhaps even english/ singlish? Would be absurd isn't it?
My 2c