There were those fancy magnetic pencil-cases. At the push of some buttons, we had all the nifty gadgets like a thermometer and compass, tiny drawers or a sharpener.
The worksheets were made of brownish, rough and poor quality paper.
Whenever it rained, we went to school in a raincoat and slippers.
We had to play buddy for the Primary Ones when we got older.
Semoga Bahagia composed by Zubir Said has been the official Children’s Day song in Singapore since 1961.
Every Children's Day and National Day, we got cheap quality pens and pencils that were bound to spoil before the next Children's Day or National Day.
Boys loved to play soccer with empty cans at the basketball courts.
Water-bottles, with our favorite cartoon character pasted on it, were a must everywhere we went; slung around our neck.
We brought every single book to school, even though there was one thing called the time-table, written on the inside cover of our little blue notebook.
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| Image: National Archives Of Singapore; 1971 |
Everyone in class would tremble in fear when someone with a gauze stuck in the mouth came to our class and called out a name to go visit the school dentist.
The worst punishment for not bringing our textbook is having to go to the neighboring class to borrow a copy. And everyone would stare at you. Or even worse, being asked to borrow the OHP from them.
But at least you share the embarrassment with another unfortunate friend and both of you would carry the fringing huge thing back to your class.
And then back again, to return it.
The times when teachers used to write and draw on transparencies to teach via OHP.
English Language was fun because of PETS coursebooks!
It was called the tuck shop, not canteen.
Whenever teachers were not around, Class Monitors liked to say, "You talk some more, I write your name on the board ah!"
Bookworm Short Stories books is a series of Science Fiction storybooks that was published in Singapore during the late 80's and they were extremely popular among children then.
Not forgetting there's arranging of tables in groups to demarcate groups. Somehow I remember the tables always being in an 'F' formation.
During art lessons, we have to make a portfolio for our artworks made out of vanguard sheet. It happens during the first day of art lessons of the year. Measurements will tend to run here and there but the worst is the folding part and end of the year, I would give up and just don't care anymore.
Still remember the traffic light monitors or whatever they are called? If you crossed the pedestrian crossing after it has reached zero, they would take down your name and you would be scared of what's going to happen to you next..!
When boys and girls were made to sit beside each other in class, we would move our tables away from each other, leaving a small gap in between.
When boys and girls were made to hold hands, we only hooked out last fingers together.
There were at least 40 pupils in one class.
Priced at 10 cents each in school bookshops, these erasers feature the flags of almost all countries in the world. In the old days, it was a common sight to see Primary School kids playing the 'flipping your eraser over your opponents' game during recess. They also inserted staples into them and challenged their friends to the eraser spinning game. I have fond memories of winning battles and amassing a huge collection of those. My mum couldn't understand why I had so many erasers which I refused to use.
The old-fashioned feather duster cane was commonly found in classrooms, and used by teachers as a disciplinary tool on students who misbehaved during lessons. Whenever the teacher stops talking, I look up instinctively to make sure I'm not in trouble.
Inside the Social Studies textbooks, there are many photos portraying the Singapore of the early 80’s. Social Studies were excellent educational materials for primary school kids to understand more about our nation, history and society.
We always used the shoe whitener to make our school shoes look very white.
Push-up pencils were a trend among primary school children more than a decade ago.
This white-out, also known as liquid paper was indispensable when we were completing our homework!
Circle stencils to draw patterns made nice doodles on our homework.
