Minority report

The issue of Chinese students in the handful of Special Assistance Plan (SAP) schools, first set up about 35 years ago, having few or no friends of other races has often been highlighted. But this has also been discussed at other non-SAP schools with a strong Chinese tradition, like Hwa Chong Institution's junior college section, which are open to students of all races and usually do not require them to take Chinese as a mother tongue.

As far back as the 1990s, the college's head of English said some non-Chinese students did not choose Hwa Chong because they had the impression that it was Chinese in its orientation. "This is a (vicious circle). If the minority students do not come, they will never be able to explain what we offer and the image will remain, rightly or wrongly," he added.

The Straits Times understands there are fewer than 10 Indian and Malay students in Hwa Chong Institution's JC2 cohort of about 1,000 students, despite past attempts by the school to attract more.

At Nanyang Junior College, there are an estimated 50 to 100 non-Chinese in the JC2 cohort of about 700 students.

ST speaks to three non-Chinese students who had attended such schools about their experiences.

 

He learnt to mingle and picked up Mandarin

When Mr Shaik Nifael Shaik Nazeemuddin found out in 2003 that his secondary school posting was to Nan Chiau High School, one of Singapore's oldest Chinese schools, he cried.

It was not so much that it was his fourth choice, but more because its name rhymes with a certain Hokkien word.

"My older cousins were bothering me about it, and I couldn't take it as a 12-year-old," said Mr Shaik, who is now 27 and co-owns a waste management business.

Mr Shaik - who has Indian, Malay and Peranakan roots - wanted to get a transfer out of the school, but his businessman father told him to give it a try before making a decision.

Mr Shaik said: "He said I would get better development with the Chinese community, and that I would be more open-minded about being in business.

"When my father first started his business, he got cheated here and there. He told me to study hard and also make connections with people in school."

When Mr Shaik first went to Nan Chiau, he had a culture shock at just how much Mandarin was used in school.

Though the school was designated a Special Assistance Plan (SAP) school only nine years later, in 2012, it already had a strong Chinese culture before that.

"The school song was in Mandarin, we took the pledge in Mandarin... I felt very alienated when I found out," said Mr Shaik.

There were fewer than 10 non-Chinese students in his cohort, Mr Shaik said. Five were in his Malay-language mother tongue class, and there were another two who took Tamil classes at another school.

But he summed up his experience at Nan Chiau as an "an eye-opener".

"If you can't beat them, join them," said Mr Shaik.

He picked up Mandarin, took part in three co-curricular activities - including track and field, and debate - and got used to the unfamiliar environment.

"Of course, there were some upper secondary kids who would pick on the non-Chinese kids. I was a short boy, and an easy target... but I learnt how to mingle and not be around non-Chinese kids all the time."

Looking back, he said he has no regrets about being in a predominantly Chinese school.

In fact, his three business partners are friends he made at Nan Chiau. "When I found friends, I managed to find real friends," said Mr Shaik.

He also benefited from the school's traditionally strict discipline. He said: "I was a very naughty student... but I was taught how to tell right from wrong."

Could the school have done more to attract minority students, before it became a SAP school that admitted only Express students who take Chinese or Higher Chinese as a mother tongue language?

"The school was open to students of all races, but it is the students' choice at the end of the day. They did not want to choose the school because they probably thought that it would be filled with only Chinese students."

But Mr Shaik said the parents of students who feel this way should encourage their children to try something different.

"They shouldn't be too worried about what may happen, and let them find their own way."

 

An 'oddity', but he didn't feel alienated

Back when Mr Tinesh Indrarajah was a first-year junior college (JC) student at Hwa Chong Institution (HCI) in 2011, a school visitor was puzzled when they met.

"He asked me: Are you Indian? What are you doing in this school?" recalled Mr Tinesh, 23, now a master's student at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy and concurrently a fourth-year undergraduate at Yale-NUS College.

Mr Tinesh's response was: "Why wouldn't I be in this school? Because the school is good and I can get into it."

However, he acknowledged that his presence in the school was indeed an oddity.

Students from the secondary section of HCI and Nanyang Girls' High School - both Special Assistance Plan schools - form the bulk of HCI students at the JC level as they are admitted via the Integrated Programme.

But those who want to enrol at the JC level usually do not have to take Chinese language as a mother tongue.

Mr Tinesh - an ASEAN scholarship holder from Malaysia who attended Bukit Panjang Government High School before HCI - said the small number of non-Chinese students in his cohort showed that stereotypes continue to deter students from other races from joining schools like HCI, which are perceived as predominantly Chinese.

In his cohort of around 1,000 students, fewer than 10 were non-Chinese.

As a scholarship holder, he had different considerations when it came to choosing a JC. Since he was already living at HCI's boarding school while in secondary school, and was also familiar with the community, going to HCI made sense.

"I already knew some of the seniors who were there, I had a good support network and I liked the school culture," he said.

However, what could deter others from choosing the school is the fear of being in the minority.

"There is a natural fear that if you don't see yourself being represented in the environment, you will think that you may face a hard time or even be alone."

But Mr Tinesh, who enjoyed his two years in HCI, did not find that a problem.

While there are cultural events where Chinese songs are used, such as during the Mid-Autumn Festival celebrations, he did not find them alienating.

"I was happy to take part and learn about another culture," he said, adding that it would be beneficial for the school if there was more minority representation.

"When I was at HCI, there were a few people who came up to me and told me that I was the first Indian friend that they could really connect with, or their first non-Chinese friend."

yuensin@sph.com.sg

This article was first published on Feb 20, 2017.
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