公元1931年,中国东北发生九一八事变,旅居新加坡的琼籍华侨为解决儿女的教育问题而发奋图强,纷纷加紧兴学办校,积极创立私塾和正规学校。公立培群学校就是在这样的历史背景下,于公元1933年5月12日,由当时居住在东陵一带的琼籍华侨,在东陵一间简陋的店屋里创立起来的。起初学生人数寥寥无几,充其量不及百人,大多数来自附近一带贫寒家庭。教材偏重中华文化和历史。
数十年来物换星移,时代变迁。母校虽命途多舛,历经沧桑,但毕业生人数仍逐年增加,校友的队伍也日益强大。有人早即建议成立校友会,但因局势动荡不安,情况变幻莫测,新加坡由英治、日治、再回到英治后走向自治独立,成立校友会的愿望始终无法实现。
回忆我国独立之初,民生疾苦,百废待兴,建国事业困难重重。亏得领导层独具慧眼,率领黔首,上下一心,共创家园。国内经济于是开始蓬勃发展,日臻繁荣,教育事业随着蒸蒸日上,人民安居乐业,生活步入较高水平,营造了创立校友会的机遇。
公元1993年5月28日,前任校长陈经源先生趁母校在海皇剧院餐厅举行大规模的“培群学校庆祝成立60周年联欢会”之便,首次当众呼吁校友回校成立校友会。席间校友及社会贤达立即热烈响应。
1994年1月4日,一群热心的校友正式成立筹备委员会,积极起草章程,并于同年2月28日正式向社团注册官申请注册。同年8月24日申请获准,“培群校友会”于是在社团组织法令下正式成立。接下来的工作便是广招会员,同时召开会员大会以推选首届执行委员会委员。
多年来,校友会深得全体会员群起拥戴,热烈支持,特别是历届执委,更是尽心尽力、不辞劳苦,促使校友会会务进展顺利,会员人数至今已增至1500多名。历年所主办的活动,内容丰富多彩,会员的反应也极为热烈。
Following the anti-Japanese war which broke out in north-eastern China on 18 September 1931, the Hainanese community in Singapore stepped up their efforts to establish learning institutions for the younger generations. It was against this historical background that Pei Chun Public School was established on 12 May 1933 by a group of Hainanese migrants concerned with the education of their children in a simple shophouse in Tanglin area, initially with an enrolment of less than 100 pupils, most of them from poor families living nearby. The medium of instruction was Chinese, with the teaching material confined to Chinese culture and history.
For many years since then the general situation in Singapore and indeed throughout the world remained highly unstable. Wars continued to break out here and there and from time to time. Nevertheless, with steadfast determination of its founders as well as the full support of teachers and parents, Pei Chun had been able to weather the storm and survive even in the most adverse circumstances. There had been calls over the years for the formation of an alumni association to bind ex-students of the school together for the cultivation of lasting friendship and common interest.
But in view of the frequent unrests all over the world, particularly in the Southeast Asian region, such calls had to be shelved until a more opportune time. Singapore itself had undergone many historical changes, from British colonial rule to Japanese Occupation and back to British colonial rule, before moving into the new stage of self-government, merger with, and subsequently separation from, Malaysia and finally complete independence. Even then the situation did not get better immediately. Much still remained to be done to overcome poverty among the people and improve the national economy. Our top priority then was nation-building. Fortunately, with good planning our economy soon began to thrive, followed by an overall improvement in our living standard and level of education.
It was not until the early 90’s that the real opportunity had come for the establishment of an alumni association to rally together all those who had left the school over the decades. On 28 May 1993, Mr Chen Keng Juan, former Principal of Pei Chun, openly appealed, for the first time, at the school’s 60th Anniversary grand celebration dinner at Neptune Theatre Restaurant, for the formation of an alumni association of the school. His appeal was instantly greeted by overwhelming support from the audience present at the function.
On 1 April 1994, a group of enthusiastic ex-students of the school formed a pro tem committee to draft a constitution for submission to the Registrar of Societies together with an application for registration of the proposed association. Following the approval of our application on 24 August 1994, the Pei Chun Old Students’ Association was officially established. The immediate tasks then were to embark on a large-scale membership drive and hold a general meeting to elect the first Executive Committee.
For the past years since its inception, the association has been able to function smoothly with the full support of its members and, most of all, the complete dedication of members of its successive Executive Committees. Its membership, now standing at more than 1500, has been growing steadily. The associaton had since been renamed as Pei Chun Alumni Association.