I’m sure most Singaporeans who came into the world around the turn of the century will agree that the lead-up to our first day of school is a quintessential rite of passage in our childhoods. Looking back, it’s been exactly 2 decades since I was subject to the whirlwind of IRL textbook shopping, uniform fittings, and first-day jitters.
And with the Primary 1 registration process just around the corner, it got me thinking: how different was the preparation for Primary School in the early 2000s compared to today? Turns out, the contrast is jarring to say the least. From parents physically queueing up to get little ones enrolled into their school of choice to swinging by Bata to pick up your first pair of white kicks, here’s what getting ready for Primary School looked like back then.
In case you didn’t know, the parents of today can simply register their kids for Primary 1 within the comfort of their homes via an online portal, but things weren’t quite as convenient in the days of yore.
Image credit: Must Share News
Heck, our phones weren’t even “smart” yet, so whenever P1 registration season rolled around, parents all over Singapore had to visit their kids’ prospective schools in-person to secure a slot in next year’s cohort. This meant stuffing folders full with supporting documents like birth certs and proof of residential addresses, and hauling your makeshift rolodex to commit a day off from work to settle all the paperwork.
This writer can vividly recall the feeling of dread whenever his teacher whipped out a mock exam paper emblazoned with Tao Nan School’s crest.
Image credit: MOE Heritage Centre
It wasn’t uncommon to see snaking queues at schools’ general offices, especially so at the more popular institutes. Through newspaper reports and word of mouth, schools like Nanyang Primary, Tao Nan School, and Rosyth School are still top choices to this day, and for good reason. They had the stats to back up their reputation, and perhaps more convincingly, were able to supply a steady stream of students for those iconic Brands Essence of Chicken ads.
Image credit: KJH131620 via Facebook
Our admission into P1 also set the stage for our first brush with textbooks and we also had to trade in our crayons for actual writing instruments – not ink pens yet though, those were only allowed once our chicken scrawl was somewhat legible. As such, we made the obligatory trip to our new school’s bookshop to get armed for the academic year ahead.
Image credit: Anatta Anatta via Facebook
From files to workbooks to stationery to foolscap paper, we checked off item by item on our shopping lists. We wouldn’t know it yet, but packing for school was akin to stuffing cinder blocks into our bags, with how hefty those textbooks were.
Image credit: Elida Wong via Facebook
Uniforms and PE attire were also typically bought at the schools too, and fittings were done on the spot. More often than not, you’d be rockin’ a uniform that’s a tad too big, not because your mom was eons ahead of the oversized-look trend, but because she wanted to save a couple of bucks by assuring you “this one can wear until P6”.
These days, you can place online orders for everything you’d need with the bookshops and uniform manufacturers and have them delivered to your doorstep. Tapping into the wonders of online shopping is more time-efficient, but the ordeal of lugging plastic bags bursting with several kilograms’ worth of textbooks was lowkey iconic.
You can most definitely smell this image through the screen.
Image credit: Made in China.com
And yet, we weren’t done yet, as our parents just had to wrap all of our newly-bought books with PVC sheets to protect them from creases and water bottle leaks. This step was even more vital If you had younger siblings who were next in line to enrol for Primary School, as they would be gifted with your fresh hand-me-downs.
We’d also have to do some shopping outside of school, to equip ourselves with our very own school bags and shoes. The options for the former were virtually endless, but just dig into the recesses of your memory, and you’ll recall seeing a few designs and brands toted by a majority of the school population.
Image credit: @jue_g via Carousell
If you have money-savvy parents, they probably didn’t see the need to splurge on a bag that we were going to scuff up anyways, which was a totally valid point. Which is why you swung by the local pasar malam to pick up a backpack embellished with prints of your favourite superhero or Disney princess; if you were extra fancy, you’d get one of those trolley bags which made carrying around heavy textbooks a breeze.
Image credit: @chattyloft via Carousell
Another bag that was massively popular amongst the younger kids were the SPI-branded bags. You could buy these anywhere, from mall clearance sales to shops under your HDB block, and were pretty robust and sturdy. They also came in a wide variety of prints and motifs, to inject some personality into your otherwise uniform get-up.
As for school shoes, there was really only one place to shop for them: Bata, and it’s easy to see why. Bata outlets were everywhere, their kicks were mighty affordable, and a lot of their designs met school regulations, with their minimal branding and plain white colourways.
However, they weren’t exactly known to be durable, and coupled with primary school hijinks such as rounds of catching and messing around during PE lessons, we absolutely ran through pairs of Batas in record time. As such, over the years, the brand’s name was turned into a hilarious backronym: Buy And Throw Away.
When it comes to what parents are decking their little ones out with now, it seems like they are more willing to shell out a bit more moolah in exchange for their kids to have a more comfy time in school.
Image credit: Smiggle
According to Facebook groups populated by concerned parents, there has been much chatter about ergonomic backpacks that are specifically designed to protect developing spines, but they don’t come cheap. Smiggle’s offerings are also hot with the younger crowd due to their eye-catching, colourful designs; glad to see kids of this era are given some leeway for a little whimsy too.
I’m sure a majority of us were given the begrudging privilege of being sent to tuition classes, throughout our schooling years, but those came a few years into Primary School education. Prior to Primary School, the only classes I recall my parents signing me up for include art and swimming lessons.
Although I didn’t turn out to become the next Picasso or Joseph Schooling, my folks didn’t place much emphasis on academic excellence in my formative years. The same can’t be said about what the kids of today experience.
Image credit: Kumon
They’re not exactly put through the wringer, but I remember walking past banners hung up at community centres promoting enrichment classes for to-be students entering P1 and thinking to myself, “they’re really starting them off young huh”. Ads for said classes are a dime a dozen these days, promising a headstart to their foray into Primary School with enrichment classes before they even set foot on school grounds.
It definitely isn’t my place to dole out parenting advice, seeing that I’m not one myself, but from the outside looking in, this kiasu-ness does indeed seem a tad overboard. For one, I can reasonably see the benefits of introducing children to more complex math concepts or reading and comprehension skills ahead of time.
Image credit: Nullspace Robotics via Facebook
But when it’s becoming increasingly common to ship 6-year-olds off to classes introducing esoteric topics like coding and robotics, I feel we need to dial things back. Let the little ones breathe a little; after all, they only get 1 childhood.
In all honesty, I’m glad that they’ve made preparing for your kid’s Primary School journey so much more straightforward and streamlined. Looking back with rose-tinted glasses is fine and dandy, but with how much our numbers have grown, one can only imagine the horror if we still had to queue up at schools in-person to fight for a spot for our children on the class register.
Then again, with the way we’re headed, I wouldn’t be surprised if money-driven hustlers found a way to scalp admission slots to popular schools; fingers crossed it doesn’t come to that.
For more nostalgia-evoking reads:
Cover image adapted from: Elida Wong via Facebook, Singapore Atrium Sale, Made in China.com
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