Inconsistent Naming Approach for Merged Schools

Mr Zainal Sapari asked the Minister for Education (Schools) (a) why there is inconsistency in the approach adopted in finding an appropriate school name for merging schools depending on whether they are primary, secondary or junior colleges; (b) whether the respective schools' stakeholders, including alumni, staff, parents and pupils, are engaged in the process of naming the merged schools; and (c) whether the Ministry is willing to reconsider the names of merged schools to manage ground sensitivities.

Mr Speaker, Sir, in naming merged schools, the Ministry of Education (MOE) considers a group of factors, including the schools’ history and heritage, stakeholders' interest and the sentiments of the schools involved. This results in three naming approaches to considering the unique situations of each pair of merging schools: retaining one of the two names, adopting a new name, or having a combination of names.

For primary and secondary schools, MOE also considered the age profile of its students. The combination of both schools’ names may also be repetitive, for example, North View and Northland Secondary. Hence, where it is meaningful to do so, MOE has combined the English names of both schools, for example, Loyang View Secondary School, which is a combination of Greenview and Loyang Secondary School.

For the junior colleges (JCs), a similar group of factors, including the age profile of the students, was considered. On balance, a decision was made to have a combined name to allow the merging JCs to move forward as a combined entity.

MOE worked closely with the schools to take into account the interests of stakeholders, including staff, students, alumni, parents and the School Advisory Committees. The school leaders engaged stakeholders on various key elements of the merger, such as the programmes and values to be retained, as well as the names.

We will not revisit names which have been announced. We should let the schools focus on their teaching and learning programmes to benefit their students.

I thank the Senior Minister of State for his reply. I know the renaming of merged schools is not an easy exercise. I would like to ask: what support will MOE be giving to affected schools' alumni to help them retain their school's history?

The opportunity to celebrate and commemorate the heritage of the schools that are being merged is something that we want to leverage on. Schools will be developing heritage corners, looking at opportunities for students and alumni to become involved in the development of material, whether on display or for reference for future generations of students.

The effort will be personalised and localised through the schools, the alumni associations and the School Advisory Committees. I do not think there is a going to be a one-size-fits-all because the historical trajectories of the various schools and the various alumni groups are quite different. So, we will work with both schools, both sets of alumni to try to find some way of commemorating the heritage and history of both schools.