National Junior College

National Junior College 国家初级学院 Maktab Rendah Kebangsaan
Service with Honour
Location
Bukit Timah,
Coordinates	1°19′49″N 103°48′15″E / 1.330278°N 103.804167°E / 1.330278; 103.804167Coordinates: 1°19′49″N 103°48′15″E / 1.330278°N 103.804167°E / 1.330278; 103.804167
Information
Type	Government
Established	1969
Session	Single session
School code	0701
Principal	Mrs Virginia Cheng
Enrolment	Approx. 1500
Colour(s)	Red, white, grey
Website	njc.edu.sg

National Junior College (Simplified Chinese: 国家初级学院) is the first junior college established by the Ministry Of Education, located in Bukit Timah, Singapore. It is considered as one of the top five junior colleges in Singapore. NJC offers a two-year course for pre-university students leading up to the GCE 'A' Levels. In 2004, the college started the four-year Integrated Programme.

History

Established in 1969, the College was created with the aim of centralising the two-year pre-university course with maximum utilization of specialist personnel and resources.

In keeping with its name and philosophy, the College claims no affiliation with any secondary school but instead draws its students from a wide spectrum. Thus, each year, about 80 Singapore secondary schools will have representatives amongst the College's student population. In addition, Singapore students learn alongside students from India, China, Hong Kong, Korea as well as ASEAN countries such as Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand. NJC also plays host to German, PRC, Taiwanese, Vietnamese and Japanese students in exchange programmes.

Milestones

1968: Application to the college was open.

1969: 574 students made up the pioneer batch in 1969.

1970: The campus at Linden Drive was declared open by then-Prime Minister, Mr Lee Kuan Yew.

1971: The college pioneered the integration of the four educational streams at post-secondary school level.

1971: For the only time in history, seven Presidents' Scholars were selected from the college.

1975: The inaugural pre-university seminar, themed Singapore and the World Economic Crisis was organised by NJC.

1979: The NJC Alumni was established.

1980: The NJC Alumni Bursary Fund was set up for needy NJCians.

1982: Taiwan Immersion Programme was launched, with the college as one of the five participating schools.

1984: 30 students and six teachers embarked on a 20 day trekking trip to the Himalayas.

1985: The Art Elective Programme was introduced..

1987: The Humanities Programme was introduced.

1987: Former NJCian Victor Chua scored a historic first three S-paper distinctions in the GCE 'A' Levels.

1992: The Language Elective Programme (German) was introduced.

1997: NJC moved from its former campus at Linden Drive to the present campus at Hillcrest Road.

1998: The House System, comprising 'Aerius', 'Aqua', 'Ignis', 'Lignum', 'Solaris', and 'Terra' was introduced.

1998: First Community Service Day held.

2002: The college is accorded the inaugural Lee Kuan Yew National Education Award.

2003: The Knowledge Management System was set up.

2003: 'Funtasia', the first fun-fair held by NJC raised about $190,000 for the college building fund.

2004: The four-year Integrated Programme was established.

2005: NJC was accorded the School Distinction Award.

2008: NJC was accorded the School Excellence Award.

2009: The Boarding School was officially opened. The Integrated Programme was extended to a six-year programme with enhanced boarding.

Principals

• Mr Lim Kim Woon - 1969 to 1975
• Mr Chow Kye Lock - 1975 to 1976
• Mrs Yeo Lai Cheng - 1976 to 1980
• Mr Wee Heng Tin - 1980 to 1981
• Mr Lim Bok Hai - 1981 to 1989
• Mrs Goh Chi Lan - 1989 to 1995
• Mrs Maureen Ng Boey Lin - 1995 to 2001
• Mrs Virgina Cheng - 2002 to present

Achievements

NJC's academic performance has ensured that it is consistently ranked a few notches behind Raffles and Hwa Chong by the Singapore Ministry of Education (based on percentage of three and four 'A's according to the Singapore-Cambridge GCE 'A' Levels results). NJC has achievements in areas such as co-curricular activities for which it has been awarded the MOE Sustained Achievement Award in Aesthetics, Sports and Physical Fitness. It is best known for being awarded the Lee Kuan Yew National Education Award twice for its outstanding commitment and achievement in National Education. In addition, it was awarded the Singapore Quality Class and Best Practice Award in Student All-Round Development, Teaching and Learning and Staff Well-Being. For these achievements, NJC was awarded the MOE School Excellence Award in 2008.

Since its inception, NJC has produced scholars for public and private scholarships. To date, it has produced 45 President's Scholars, mostly in the early years of the college. In 2009, it produced its first President's Scholar in 13 years.^[1]

Major school achievements

Awards	Award level	Year(s)	Awarded by
School Excellence Award	-	From 2009	Ministry Of Education
School Distinction Award	-	From 2005	Ministry Of Education
Best Practice Award (Staff Well-being)	-	From 2005	Ministry Of Education
Best Practice Award (Student All-Round Development)	-	From 2005	Ministry Of Education
Best Practice Award (Teaching and Learning)	-	From 2005	Ministry Of Education
Outstanding Development Award (Character Development)	-	From 2008	Ministry Of Education
Outstanding Development Award (National Development)	-	From 2008	Ministry Of Education
Sustained Achievement Award (Aesthetics)	-	-	Ministry Of Education
Sustained Achievement Award (Physical Fitness)	-	-	Ministry Of Education
Sustained Achievement Award (Sports)	-	-	Ministry Of Education
CHERISH Award	Silver	-	-
TAF Award	Gold	2006	Ministry Of Education

Singapore Youth Festival achievements

• 2005: 4 Gold with Honours, 6 Golds, 2 Silvers
• 2007: 6 Gold with Honours, 5 Silvers, 1 Bronze
• 2009: 3 Gold with Honours, 4 Golds, 2 Silvers, 2 Bronzes

CCAs	2007	2009	2011
Angklung	Gold with Honours	Bronze
Chinese Dance	Gold	Gold with Honours	Gold
Chinese Orchestra	Gold	Gold	Gold
CLDDS Drama	Gold	Silver	Silver
Guzheng Ensemble	Gold with Honours	Gold	Gold
Choir (Senior High)	Gold with Honours	Gold with Honours	Gold
Choir (Junior High)	-	-	Gold with Honours
Guitar Ensemble	Gold with Honours	Silver	Silver
Harmonica Band	Gold with Honours	Silver	Silver
Indian Dance	Gold with Honours (HM)	Gold with Honours	Gold with Honours
Malay Dance	Bronze	Gold with Honours	Gold with Honours
Symphonic Band	Gold	Gold	Silver
String Orchestra	Gold	Bronze	Gold
Western Dance	Gold	Gold	Gold

In 2008, NJC Western Dance was invited to perform at the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympic Games.

Uniform

The main colour of the school uniform is grey - a colour chosen for its similarity to the color white, which is one of the official colors of the school. This was in light of criticisms upon the announcement of its inception that the College would perpetuate elitism. Consequently, the colour grey was chosen for the uniform to remind students of the college of their duty to serve the Nation with honour, and the need to be humble and respectful of others irrespective of their educated background. Female students have a pleated A-line skirt with option of shorts underneath.

On Wednesdays, which are known as 'Dress-Down Days', NJCians can wear the college's white polo t-shirt instead of their greys. For PE classes, NJCians wear white PE attire with red trims on its sleeves and red shorts. For most formal events, NJCians wear their red College blazer together with white shirts, red College ties, grey pants or skirts and black leather or court shoes. On some formal occasions though, instead of donning blazers, NJCians simply wear their red tie along with their full-grey uniform.

College anthem and song

There are two college songs - the College Anthem and the College Song which is entitled "The National Dream". The College Anthem was composed by Mr. Leong Yoon Pin, a renowned Singaporean composer.

The College Anthem, which is in the Republic's national language of Malay, is sung on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays while the College Song is sung on Tuesdays and Thursdays. This is accompanied by the NJC Symphonic Band and Choir (since 1998), a tradition of NJC.

Education and special programmes

Admission

NJC offers three education routes that lead to the GCE ‘A’ Level examinations:

• 6 year Integrated Programme (Grades 7 to 12)
• 4 year Integrated Programme (Grades 9 to 12)
• 2 year JC Programme (Grades 11 to 12)

Students who are admitted to the NJC Integrated Programme (at Secondary 1 and secondary 3 level) will skip the GCE ‘O’ Level and take the GCE ‘A’ Level examinations at the end of their sixth or fourth year in NJC.

Students who are admitted to NJC JC Programme (at JC1 level) must have taken their GCE ‘O’ Levels examinations or equivalent. They will take the GCE ‘A’ Level examinations at the end of their second year in NJC.

House System

The six houses are:

• Aerius (purple)
• Aqua (blue)
• Ignis (red)
• Lignum (orange)
• Solaris (yellow)
• Terra (green)

Senior Council

Under the Student Council is the Senior Council, consisting of 43 Student Representatives who are elected by the student body from a group of council elects which must first be approved by teachers in April and will hold office for a year. The Senior Council is run by the Executive Committee elected by the council members except the President and Vice-President, who are elected by the Junior High 1 to Senior High 2 population. This committee comprises the President, Vice-President, Honorary Secretary, Honorary Treasurer, four Heads of Committees and six House Captains.

The five standing committees are:

• Creative and Publicity Unit (CPU)
• Committee of Internal Affairs (CIA)
• Feedback Unit (FBU)
• Ideas Committee (Ideas)
• House Activities Team (HAT)

Junior Council

Established in 2010, the Junior Council is made up of 24 Student Representatives selected by teachers that represent the Junior High 1 to 3 students. The Junior Council and Senior Council are autonomous bodies working hand-in-hand under the ambit of the Student Council. Other than the Executive Committee (whose President is elected by the Secondary 1 to 3 cohort), there are 4 Standing Committees. (SWAT(I) and SWAT(F) were previously considered under the major committee SWAT, but have, since 2011, become 2 different committees)

• Student Welfare Action Team (Initiative) (SWAT(I))
• Student Welfare Action Team (Feedback) (SWAT(F))
• Publicity And INspiration Team (PAINT)
• Council Affairs, Resources and Engagement (CARE) team

Special Programmes

• NJC Integrated Programme
• Enhanced Boarding Programme
• Art Elective Programme
• Humanities Programme
• Music Programme
• Science Training and Research (STaR) Programme
• Sapphire Scholars Programme
• Taiwan Immersion Programme
• CAAL Programme
• Community Involvement Programme
• National Education Programme
• Innovation and Enterprise Programme

Notable alumni

Politics

• Lee Hsien Loong (1969–1970), Singapore's current and 3rd Prime Minister, Minister of Finance^{[citation needed]}
• Dr Vivian Balakrishnan (1979–1980), Singapore's Minister for the Environment and Water Resources.^{[citation needed]}
• Dr Ng Eng Hen, Minister of Manpower and Second Minister of Defence.^{[citation needed]}
• Dr Balaji Sadasivan, Senior Minister of State for Foreign Affairs and Information, Communication and the Arts.^{[citation needed]}
• Assoc. Prof. Ho Peng Kee, Senior Minister of State for Law and Home Affairs.^{[citation needed]}
• Gan Kim Yong, Minister of State for Education and Manpower.^{[citation needed]}
• S. Iswaran, Minister of State of Trade and Industry.^{[citation needed]}
• Lim Swee Say (1971–1972), Minister in the Prime Minister's Office, People's Action Party (PAP) Whip, and Secretary-General of the National Trades Union Congress.^{[citation needed]}
• Matthias Yao, Mayor of the South East District, Deputy Speaker of Parliament, Member of Parliament for MacPherson.^{[citation needed]}
• Dr Lam Pin Min, Member of Parliament for Ang Mo Kio GRC.^{[citation needed]}
• Hri Kumar Sangaran, Member of Parliament for Bishan-ToaPayoh GRC.^{[citation needed]}
• Chia Shi Lu, Member of Parliament for Tanjong Pagar GRC.
• Sylvia Lim, Member of Parliament for the Aljunied Group Representation Constituency. Chairman of Workers' Party^{[citation needed]}
• Chen Show Mao, Member of Parliament for the Aljunied Group Representation Constituency.

Civil and legal

• Davinder Singh, CEO of Singapore law firm Drew & Napier, ex-Member of Parliament (wef. 2006).^{[citation needed]}
• Chen Show Mao, Partner in the Corporate Department of international law firm Davis Polk & Wardwell and Managing Partner of their Beijing Office. Notably, Chen advised the Agricultural Bank of China on its US$22 billion initial public offering (IPO), which was the second largest IPO in history.

Academic, business and corporate

• Lee Hsien Yang, former President & CEO of SingTel, currently Non-Executive Director and Chairman-Designate of Fraser and Neave Limited.^{[citation needed]}
• Ho Ching, CEO & Executive Director of Temasek Holdings, one of Forbe's Most Powerful Women in Business (3rd in 2007).^{[citation needed]}
• Sylvia Lim, Lecturer and Manager of Continuing Education and Training, Temasek Polytechnic.^{[citation needed]}
• Lyn Lee, Founder and CEO of Awfully Chocolate and Everything with Fries.^{[citation needed]}
• Dr. Georgia Lee, Aesthetics Doctor, TLC Medical Practice.^{[citation needed]}

Cultural and creative

• Jane Ittogi, Chairman of the Singapore Art Museum
• Eelyn Kok, Mediacorp actress
• Elvin Ng, Mediacorp actor and artiste, Model
• Jeanette Aw, Mediacorp actress
• Tung Soo Hua, Mediacorp newscaster

References

1. ^ http://www.njc.edu.sg/doc/09NJConnect_Q2_web_small.pdf

External links

• School webpage
• National Junior College Integrated Programme webpage