New badge but old motto for Dunman

DUNMAN Secondary has reached a compromise with its alumni: It will go on using its redesigned school badge, but will retain the school's old Malay motto.

The old badge will also be displayed prominently in the school in Tampines, as requested by a group of alumni who met the school principal and Education Ministry officials on Wednesday.

More than 500 of these ex-students had signed an online petition in the past week to protest against the redesigned badge, which the school's students began using in May.

The alumni were not in agreement with dropping the old school motto - 'Pengetahuan suloh hidup', meaning 'Knowledge: The torch of life' - from the badge and replacing it with the image of a torch.

The new school motto, absent on the redesigned badge, was to have been 'Dare to achieve your dreams'.

Former student Khartini Khalid, 32, a lecturer who was involved in the discussions, said she was disappointed the redesigned badge was staying, but was glad the issue was raised as it brought many of the school's former students closer:

'It's good to know that 500 people who have been uninvolved in the school all these years still feel something for it.'

Mr Tan Shao Yi, 28, a systems engineer who started the online petition, said he was glad the school heard its alumni's views, and now wants to get involved in the alumni association because 'we probably could have stopped the change had we known about it earlier'.

School principal Edelweis Neo said yesterday she was glad to have met the alumni: 'We saw that we had the same interests. We love the school and whatever the decision is, the school's interest must come first.'

Noting their sense of belonging to the school, she added: 'We don't want the whole episode to make them feel like they have lost their connection with it.'

The school's advisory committee, made up mostly of ex- students, had agreed on the new look for the badge.

Mr Wilfred James, 67, who taught at the school for 20 years and then became a school counsellor, said he was for it: 'We all love to cling on to things dear to us but there comes a time to move on.

'The new design has kept faithful to the main elements of the badge. They did not put an elephant or a crocodile there - the original elements are still there.'

A check with other schools turned up few instances of such a backlash from alumni, even though sentiments had to be 'managed'.

For instance, when The Chinese High and Hwa Chong Junior College merged to become Hwa Chong Institution in 2004, the alumni made their views known, especially on the name of the new school. The views of the two schools' students were also heard.

The decision on the badge and school name took a year, during which alumni from both schools were consulted. In the end, both sides compromised - The Chinese High's badge was adopted but the school took on the English name 'Hwa Chong' from the junior college.