a letter to school - 1963

With this letter dated 29Nov 1963, I was formally admitted to the Anglo-Chinese Primary School, National Type (English) Ipoh, to start my Standard One education in January 1964. To confirm admission the parents must be at the school office between 12th to 18th December to pay the school admission fees.

The letter spelt out the fees to be paid, $5.00 for consolidated fee, which included Games, Arts & Handicraft and Library, and $17.30 for books, writing and other materials.

It also spelt out the school attire, which was white shirt and shorts. Though slippers were clearly mentioned not allowed, and shoes were to be worn, the letter did not specify the type and color of the shoes to be worn, or the color of socks allowed.

The headmaster of the school was Mr. Low Chooi Beng. He was a slim, bespectacled man and serious looking master. I recalled that in one of the later years while still in primary school, I sent him a Chinese New Year greeting card with the prompting from dad.

Another letter from the school dated 6th Dec, 1963 informed the parents that the new school term will start from 13th Jan 1964. This is later than the start of the school term nowadays, which is usually at the beginning of the New Year on the first working day of the new calendar. The Standard One session starts from 7:30am and ends at 12:15pm.
As I did not attend kindergarten, the new school year was my first day to a school & mixing with other kids.

It was again emphasized in this letter that the school uniform is white shirt and shorts, and no slippers allowed. The school badge of cloth material was to be sewn on the left pocket of the shirt.

This would be the start of a 20 year odyssey of education, from a little boy of 6 years and 7months old, short of a day on the first day of school. The educational path was not particularly planned, especially on the first 13 years of education, but with only a single emphasis and aim– to study hard and to pass with good grades so as to be promoted & continued in the A class in the next educational year.




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