JC MERGERS: Ohana and the ties that bind at Tampines JC
SINGAPORE — Woodlands resident Siti Hazirah Mohamad, 29, could have gone to any junior college with her good grades, but while visiting Tampines Junior College (JC) during its open house, she was immediately struck by a “strong sense of homeliness”.
She also chose the school specially for its Malay Language Elective Programme — Tampines JC was the first in Singapore to offer it in 2001.
As part of her school-going routine, Ms Siti would meet her friends at Woodlands bus interchange at 5.45am to head to the college together, and the journey would take them 80 minutes to almost two hours. Ms Siti, now an educator, remembered the “kampung spirit” in school fondly and said: “I wouldn’t have traded (the experience of going to Tampines JC) for anything else in the world.”
For those who passed through the gates of Tampines JC, they attest to the welcoming culture where everyone, regardless of creed, race and socio-economic background, could come together. They are proud that their friendships with schoolmates of different races still remain strong today.
Entrepreneur Khairul Amri, 30, said that the college has one of the “most multi-racial communities you can find in a JC”, adding that it had a good mix of minority races, as well as students from neighbourhood and top secondary schools. Many of his friends, who came from schooling environments where the Chinese are the majority, became more exposed to different cultures, he said.
One of the school-wide events that rallies students is the annual drama production, Manifestasi, which showcases Malay cultural performances.
Madam Rosemah Rashid, 55, subject head of Malay Language, who has been at Tampines JC since it was founded in 1986, said that even students of other races and from other co-curricular activities take part in one way or another.
Mr Choy Wai Wan, 27, a former student who now teaches the Theatre Studies and Drama Elective Programme at Tampines JC, recalled: “Sometimes, in the cafe, you could hear (the students practising for the show), and the other students would (then) sing along. It got so catchy that we would even use the songs in the (production) to learn our own homework.”
The kampung spirit Ms Siti spoke about there is also given another name: Teachers and students alike constantly allude to the word “Ohana” to describe the strong family-like bonds they experienced. A Hawaiian term, “Ohana” relates to how family members should help one other at times of need and not leave anyone behind.
Muhammad Khairulnizam Hamid, 30, programme director of the Theatre Studies and Drama Elective Programme, let on that there is even an extensive Google document that pools together contact details of the school community dating back to the last 10 years, where members are affectionately nicknamed “grand seniors, great-grand seniors, ancients, and deities”. This contact list allows the current students to contact alumni for help when needed.
For example, second-year arts pupil Leong Li Qing managed to find a former student, who now lives in Punggol and who would go to the college on Saturdays to help her and other students with their drama performances.
Ex-students also feature in the college’s enrichment programmes, where they return to give motivational talks, or script-writing and music workshops.
Apart from their studies, the support that students get goes down to the most basic of needs: Canteen vendors also look out for them if they are less well-to-do. They dish out extra helpings of food, sometimes even giving the meal for free if students cannot pay. One of these vendors is the beloved “Ban Mian Auntie” who sells the handmade noodles.
Madam Finna Ang, 53, makes the effort to memorise every student’s order, second-year student Jaydon Chong, 18, said, adding that he finds it heartwarming that she does that.
Her stall is lined with appreciation notes, and several alumni specially made the trip down for a bowl of her noodles when TODAY visited the school on Thursday. Madam Ang said in Mandarin: “We use our hearts to cook, treat them like our children, so they will be happy when they eat.”
Another familiar face on the school grounds is cleaner Rahmat Mohd Zaini, 63. Teachers would swoop in to help if they see him carrying heavy objects, and students always take the time to have a chat with him.
For General Paper tutor Sukhvinder Kaur, 54, who has been teaching there since 1987, Tampines JC holds a great deal of sentimental value. Her father supplied the building materials when the unique triangular-shaped campus was first built. Madam Kaur’s two daughters were students there, and her son had a stint doing relief teaching.
Ms Siti says that the school’s supportive culture let her learn at a pace that was comfortable and allowed her to flourish. Recalling how a teacher spotted her reading a Malcolm Gladwell book a week before her A Levels, she said: “The teacher (encouraged us) to go and pursue that line of inquiry, it wasn’t just study, study, study…. And you could discuss things not in the syllabus and it was totally fine.”
Agreeing, former national sprinter Muhammad Elfi Mustapa, 29, said that the college was an “easy-going” place where people did not pore over their books 24/7, but took time to socialise and have fun. It was also where he considered training seriously for his sprinting career.
For a school that struggled with an “inferiority complex” and always had to “fight even harder” against the elite JCs in sports, Mr Khairul said that being able to score a winning goal against rival Anglo-Chinese JC was the best memory of his school days there, when he was vice-captain of the football team.
“(Back then), there were few rallying points... but to see the whole school come together to watch you play, and there were so few experiences like that, it made it even more special.”
TAMPINES JUNIOR COLLEGE
Founded: 1986
Motto: Aim and Achieve
Uniform: Light green
Prominent alumni: Radio and television personality Jade Seah; actor and comedian Suhaimi Yusof
