Hwa Chong Institution
Hwa Chong Institution is an independent secondary educational institution in Bukit Timah, Central Region, Singapore. It was established in 2005 by the merger of The Chinese High School and Hwa Chong Junior College.
HCI provides secondary education for boys only from Years 1 to 4, and pre-university education for both boys and girls in Years 5 and 6. Since 2005, HCI and its affiliated school Nanyang Girls' High School have offered a six-year Integrated Programme, which allows students to skip the Singapore-Cambridge GCE Ordinary Level examinations and proceed to take the Singapore-Cambridge GCE Advanced Level examinations at the end of Year 6. Its name "Hwa Chong" is an abbreviation of The Chinese High School's Chinese name, "Hua Qiao Zhong Xue" or "华侨中学".
HCI operates under the Special Assistance Plan for bilingualism, and offers the IP and the Gifted Education Programme. HCI has also forged partnerships with educational institutions across five continents, including cross-border research collaboration with the Dominion High School in Virginia and Staples High School in Connecticut.
History
Previously two separate but affiliated schools — The Chinese High School and Hwa Chong Junior College – HCI was established via a merger on 1 January 2005. It was among the first batch of schools to offer the six-year Integrated Programme, which leads directly to the Singapore-Cambridge GCE Advanced Level examinations at the end of the sixth year. In spite of the merger, the High School section remains boys-only. The College section remains co-educational; its Integrated Programme cohort consists of boys from Hwa Chong's High School section as well as girls from Nanyang Girls' High School.The Chinese High School (1919–2004)
The Chinese High School was founded by Tan Kah Kee in March 1919 at Niven Road, as the Singapore Nanyang Overseas Chinese Middle School. With an enrolment of 78 pupils, it was the first Chinese institution of higher learning at that time in Southeast Asia, catering to Chinese dialect groups amongst the overseas Chinese. Six years later, the school moved to its Bukit Timah campus.After its founding, the school offered comprehensive secondary level Chinese education. It remained funded and supported by Tan Kah Kee until shortly before World War II. In 1934, Lee Kong Chian, Tan Kah Kee's son-in-law, became the chairman of the school's board and remained in his post until 1955. During his tenure, the school faced the threat of closure several times due to financial difficulties, but managed to survive due to strong financial support from Lee and Tan. Together, they built a legacy which is currently commemorated by the school body through songs, plays, musical performances, and a heritage trail.
During the Battle of Singapore, the school's clock tower, due to its height and vantage point, served as a headquarters for the Allied defenders. Following the war, the school resumed its Chinese education. In the 1950s and 1960s, during periods of civil unrest in Singapore, many students, teachers and alumni participated in or led the anti-colonial riots.
After Singapore gained independence in 1965, the school came under the purview of the Ministry of Education and was accorded the Special Assistance Plan status in 1979. Later, in 1988, the school achieved the status of an independent school. This scheme was perceived by the ministry as successful, and was thus extended to other well-performing schools in Singapore. On 19 March 1999, the school's clock tower was gazetted as a national monument.
Hwa Chong Junior College (1974–2004)
In the late 1960s, Singapore's education system for secondary schools was in the form of a four-year programme followed by a two-year programme for pre-university education. The Chinese High School's board of directors decided to construct a junior college immediately adjacent to the school. This junior college was the second to be built in Singapore, and the first government-aided one.Hwa Chong Junior College began lessons in 1974 under the same administration as The Chinese High School. The name "Hwa Chong" is an abbreviation of The Chinese High School's Chinese name, "Hua Qiao Zhong Xue", to mark the relationship between the two schools. During its initial thirteen years, Hwa Chong Junior College gradually developed into a top junior college in Singapore, with the school frequently producing high-scoring students in the Singapore-Cambridge GCE Advanced Level examinations.
Hwa Chong Junior College moved out of its campus at Bukit Timah Road in the late 1980s following the discovery of structural problems with the building to facilitate rebuilding. Students were relocated to Ngee Ann Polytechnic initially, before a temporary campus was erected in Bukit Batok. The temporary campus was utilised from 1987 to 1992, as reconstruction works proceeded at the original campus. Lessons restarted at the original campus in 1993.
After The Chinese High School was accorded independent school status in 1987, Hwa Chong Junior College followed suit in 2004, becoming the first junior college in Singapore to be granted the status of an independent school.
Merger as Hwa Chong Institution (2005–present)
Following the introduction of the Integrated Programme into Singapore's education system in the early 2000s, The Chinese High School merged with Hwa Chong Junior College on 1 January 2005 to form an integrated institution, featuring a High School section and a college section. The merged institution kept the native name of The Chinese High School, and adopted "Hwa Chong Institution" as its administrative name. The college section is formally renamed as "Hwa Chong Institution " In the same year, Hwa Chong International School was established under the auspices of the institution, offering independent education that leads to the International Baccalaureate Diploma.When HCI was formed in 2005, the former Hwa Chong Junior College's principal Ang Wee Hiong became the new principal and chief executive officer of HCI, while Hon Chiew Weng, who was previously the principal of The Chinese High School, became principal of the High School Section and Deputy Chief Executive Officer of HCI.
In 2008, HCI was selected by the Ministry of Education to implement the FutureSchools@Singapore programme, one of five initial schools to do so and amongst the eventual fifteen planned. In the same year, the Hwa Chong Diploma was introduced and has been awarded to the best performing 30% of each year's graduating cohort on top of the Singapore-Cambridge GCE Advanced Level certificate.
After Hon Chiew Weng succeeded Ang Wee Hiong as Principal of HCI in 2009, the role of chief executive officer was abolished. Hon stated that since HCI was a school and not a company, there was no need for a chief executive officer. Hon retired on 22 December 2017, and was succeeded by Pang Choon How, an alumnus of the school who was previously the principal of Chung Cheng High School.
100th Anniversary
HCI commemorated its centenary on its founder's day, 21 March 2019.On 21 March 2019, in commemoration of the school's centennial, a dinner dubbed the "dinner of 10,000 people" was organised and held. It was celebrated in the field before the school's iconic clock tower and the statue of Tan Kah Kee, the school's founder. The celebratory dinner entered the Singapore Book of Records as the largest school anniversary dinner, with 12,581 attendees, including Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong. This was the fifth time Hwa Chong had organised such a celebratory dinner, with prior dinners in 1979, 1989, 1999 and 2009.
The same year, the school staged the Centennial Musical at the National University of Singapore Cultural Centre. The musical featured 537 participants, and was attended by alumna Sim Ann, Senior Minister of State at the Ministry of Communications and Information. The Singapore Symphony Orchestra's Tan Wee-Hsin was the conductor, while Yang Wenzhong was the director at-large with the orchestra comprising HCI students.