Hwa Chong Junior College

A view of the old building of Hwa Chong Junior College, circa 1978.

Hwa Chong Junior College is the second junior college, and the first government-aided junior college to be established in Singapore, after National Junior College. In 1970, the then Minister for Education Ong Pang Boon approached a group of Chinese community leaders from the Singapore Chinese Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SCCCI) to discuss establishing ten junior colleges to replace the pre-university classes in the senior high sections of The Chinese High School and other high schools in Singapore. Mr Tan Keong Choon, a prominent businessman and the managing director of the board of The Chinese High School was appointed to oversee the project, estimated to cost S$2.2 million of which half of the total funds is to be funded by SCCCI.

After meetings and discussions, the Chinese community leaders declared to the government that due to financial constraints, they were able to raise sufficient funds for constructing only two of the originally intended ten junior colleges. Subsequently, the management board of The Chinese High School creased the school's pre-university classes in preparation for the building of a new junior college. In 1974, Hwa Chong Junior College was inaugurated at the Bukit Timah Road campus of The Chinese High School, and was run by the same management board as the high school. The junior college's name was an abbreviation of the high school's Chinese name, to mark the relationship between the two schools.

Hwa Chong Junior College commenced lessons on 2 January 1974 in National Junior College, and the former Bukit Timah campus of the Singapore Management University. On 14 June 1974, the college commenced its operation at its permanent site at 661 Bukit Timah Road, located adjacent to the campus of The Chinese High School.[2] With a cohort size of 1500 students and 88 staff, Hwa Chong Junior College was the largest junior college in Singapore in terms of enrollment. The initial facilities of the campus include a fully air-conditioned library, a multi-purpose hall, two lecture theatres of seating capacity of 300 and 500 respectively, ten laboratories and twenty-four tutorial rooms.[3]

In the initial years, Hwa Chong Junior College offered pre-university courses in two language mediums, namely Chinese Language and English Language, before the restructuring of the education system in 1982. The uniform was designed by the pioneer batch of students, with the college crest, motto and anthem selected by the pioneering teachers.[4] In 1981, Hwa Chong Junior College became the first junior college in Singapore to offer the Humanities Programme.[5]

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  Facade of the old building of Hwa Chong Junior College, circa 1983.
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  Tutorial Block of the old building of Hwa Chong Junior College, circa 1983.
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  Lecture theatre of the old Hwa Chong Junior College building.
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  Field and Activity Block of the old Hwa Chong Junior College building.

Following the Hotel New World collapse in 1986, the school management committee ordered a review on the building structure after walls in the college was reportedly ruptured.[6] On 8 May 1987, Hwa Chong Junior College moved out of its premises at Bukit Timah Road due to structural problems with the building. The campus was redeveloped the following year, with the Ministry of Education covering 80 per cent of cost of standard facilities for the three-year long redevelopment project, the College itself raised the remaining $7 million.[7] Between May to December 1987, lessons were held temporarily at Ngee Ann Polytechnic and in Woodlands. The college shifted to Bukit Batok Street 34 (present-day site of Swiss Cottage Secondary School and St. Anthony's Primary School) later. HCJC moved back to its Bukit Timah campus in 1992. The new building had considerable changes to the architecture style, while the octagonal layout remained in the new building. The rebuilt campus also features the largest and most comprehensive library among all junior colleges in Singapore.[8]

Hwa Chong Junior College was one of the first junior colleges to offer the Chinese Language Elective Programme (C-LEP) along with Temasek Junior College, when the course is introduced in 1990.[7]

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  Memories written by students at the central plaza before the building was torn down and rebuilt, in 1986
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  Memories written by students on the Hwa Chong Junior College school building before it was torn down and rebuilt, in 1986
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  The college building of Hwa Chong Junior College with memories written by students in 1986, before the building was torn down.
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  The first day of the former Hwa Chong Junior College at the temporary campus in Woodlands, in 1987.
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  The campus of Hwa Chong Junior College during the reconstruction in 1990.

Entrance cornerstone of the former Hwa Chong Junior College. It is one of the few remaining features that were preserved after the reintegration into Hwa Chong Institution in 2005.

In January 2004, Hwa Chong Junior College became the first junior college in Singapore to gain independent status. On 1 January 2005, the college officially merged with The Chinese High School to form the current Hwa Chong Institution, to facilitate the running of the school's Integrated Programme.

The college crest used before merger with The Chinese High School was represented by four upward arrows bounded by a horizontal bar. These arrows represents the initial streams in the college, namely Arts, Science, Technical and Commerce, as well as the educational aims of social, moral, intellectual and physical growth, together with continued advancement as indicated by the soaring arrows. The horizontal bar that holds the arrows together signifies unity and the withholding of excellence.[11]

The college anthem of Hwa Chong Junior College is presently the anthem for the college section of Hwa Chong Institution, sung weekly on Mondays. The anthem, written in English, reflected the ideals of the college as a multi racial environment for holistic learning and growth. A complementary anthem in Chinese was introduced with the English anthem in 1974, adopting the same chord.

The uniform of the former Hwa Chong Junior College was designed by a Malay female student (one of the pioneer batch of students who graduated from HCJC in 1975), and is a distinct feature of HCJC. The uniform for male students comprise a beige shirt featuring two shirt pockets, an identity of the uniform, complemented with long beige trousers. The uniform for female students comprise a beige blouse and a beige skirt. The same uniform was retained as the uniform for the college section of Hwa Chong Institution.[12]