Rationale for Retaining Name of One School over Other when Schools are Merged

Mr Don Wee asked the Minister for Education with regard to the naming of a pair of schools to be merged, where the name of one school is retained over the other (a) what are the reasons that the Ministry had in its consideration against retaining the names of Tanglin Secondary School and Stamford Primary School; and (b) whether the Ministry will reconsider the naming of these merged schools in view of appeals from the public and alumni of these schools.

In the naming of merged schools, MOE considers factors which include the schools' history and heritage, the final site of the merged school, stakeholders' sentiments and whether retaining or combining the names of the merging schools would be appropriate. School leaders engage staff, students, parents, alumni and the School Advisory Committee on key issues, such as school name, programmes, identity and values of the merged school.

The merged schools will encompass the identities, strengths and cherished distinctiveness of both merging schools. While names are important, they will not fully capture the rich heritage. The history and legacy of the merging schools will be preserved in a heritage space and taught to every new batch of students in the merged school.

For most of the schools merging in 2023, the English name for one merging school and the Chinese name for the other have been retained. The English names of Tanglin Secondary School and Stamford Primary School were not retained in this merger process, in view of the above considerations. The Chinese names of Tanglin Secondary School (东林中学) and Stamford Primary School (史丹福小学) are phonetic translations of their respective English names and were not retained as they may not be meaningful for the merged school.

To preserve the rich history and heritage of Tanglin Secondary School as a technical school, the Design and Technology block at the merged school site will be named the "Tanglin Design Centre". For Stamford Primary School, the parade square will be named "Stamford Square" in the merged school. These are additional efforts to better preserve heritage and memories of these school names in the merged schools.

As the engagement process has been completed, MOE and the schools will proceed with these names and focus on the merger processes.