Mattar Primary School was just a 10 mins walk from my home at Block 16, Merpati Road. There were p1 to p6 levels for both am and pm sessions. My p1 teacher was Mrs Gurup, year 1968. She was really a nice and sweet teacher indeed. My p4 teacher was Mrs Teo whom we believed was the prettiest teacher in our session. Once, my father got tired of his goldfish and he allowed me to contribute all 4 of his goldfish to our class fish tank. Mrs Teo was so elated that she invited some teachers to look at them. My p6 (1973) teacher was Mr Retna. He was strict to the boys but very lenient to the girls. We all loved and respected him a lot. When I was in P3, I remembered a young, pretty teacher whom I forgot her name, teaching us Chinese Language. Once she invited some of us to her home, somewhere near Geylang, a private landed property. We were very impressed as her parents had an "amah" , a local maid in those days, who served us with lots of goodies and sumptuous food. As many of us came from low income families, living in 2- room or 1- room HDB flats, living in a terrace house and having a live-in maid was something heavenly and far-fetched for us. So much for my school. I still miss my classmates but I have lost in touch with them for many years. Ms Wong Wai Har who always topped our class is a humble and diligent student. Ms Chan Mei Han, a jovial and happy-go-lucky person, constantly brought laughter to the whole class. And many other classmates whom I am still trying to remember their names.
So much for my primary school. I grew up in Merpati Road and moved to Bedok when i turned 17. There were many sweet memories there but now the flats were all gone....only a huge field left....so sad. We lived on the ground floor. I remember attending a nearby Kindergarten set up by an opposition party. I remembered our teachers would bring us to the kindergarten every morning. I remember standing outside my flat, carrying my school bag and a white board, wearing my huge straw hat, patiently waiting for my teachers and classmates . Soon, we would see children holding hands, walking two by two , and as they walked past me , i would join the queue and wave goodbye to my mum who often would make sure i joined the queue in time. It was such a great , happy scene every morning and we could see our neighbours smiling and waving to us as we walked our way to kindergarten with our friends and teachers.
My daughter was truly surprised to know that teachers actually walked us to kindergarten during those bygone days..........so sweet .........
I remember this friend of mine. She came from a poor family....I counted myself very fortunate as I watched her carrying a basketful of curry puffs every afternoon after morning school, walking to every block of flats , ten- floor blocks, selling curry puffs. Each curry puff was sold for 5 cents each. I wonder how is she now ?
These incidents happened more than forty over years ago... but their memories are still very vivid to me........I miss my childhood friends and classmates and sometimes i do wonder how have they been now.........?
