Dunman alumni oppose new badge

FORMER students of Dunman secondary are up in arms over a move to change their school badge and motto.

They have started an online petition - petitiononline.com/dmnlogo/ - to stop it, and have garnered more than 200 signatures, mostly from former students who felt the change would destroy the school's identity.

Another group has come up with a PowerPoint presentation, which is now being circulated via e- mail. Titled Save Dunman Badge And Motto Campaign, it details the school's history and cites reasons for retaining the original badge.

The new badge drops the school motto Pengetahuan suloh hidup - which is in Malay and means Knowledge: The torch of life - and replaces it with the image of a torch.

The new school motto is 'Dare to achieve your dreams'.

Mr Tan Shao Yi, 28, a systems engineer who started the online petition, said that with so many mergers of neighbourhood schools taking place, it was a miracle the school was still around, so it should try harder to preserve its heritage.

The autonomous school, which moved to Tampines Street 45 in 1990, celebrates its 45th anniversary this year.

School principal Edelweis Neo, who has helmed the school for eight years, said the new school badge was not so much 'change' as an evolution.

'Identifying it in graphic form makes it much clearer and more relevant to the present. We're still keeping the meaning behind the torch,' she said.

The school decided to update the badge last year, when it began upgrading its facilities. A competition was launched and the winning entry was given the finishing touches by a professional.

M. Kamini Manibannan, 15, a secondary 3 student of the school, said she was initially not used to the badge, but has come round to the new design. 'It is simpler and I can relate more to it. The previous version was more wordy.'

But former students, like Ms Khartini Khalid, a 32-year-old lecturer who graduated in 1992, disapprove of it.

She said she had the best years of her school life at Dunman, and that the motto, Knowledge: The torch of life, was 'evergreen and forever relevant'.

Mergers and relocations have touched off discussions about the loss of a school's identity among alumni who feel strongly about their schools.

Last year, eight schools were merged into four, and 14 were relocated; this year, four schools became two and 11 others moved.

Ms Khartini said it was critical to maintain the school's sense of history and tradition, given that it was no longer in Haig Road.

But Mrs Neo said relocation has not hurt the school's identity, as the three other schools in the Haig Road area - Dunman High, Tanjong Katong Girls and Tanjong Katong secondary - might have overshadowed Dunman.

She added that she has invited former students to meet her so she can explain the change.

The school is also building a heritage centre and painting murals to honour its past.

Principals of merged schools said they have strived to preserve the heritage of the two schools. For instance, when Serangoon Garden South and Zhonghua primary merged to become Zhonghua primary last year, the school included Serangoon Garden South's history and uniform design on its heritage board.