PM Lee Hsien Loong at Catholic High School's 80th Anniversary Founder's Day Dinner

公教中学管委会主席
萧永伦神父

校友会会长
林廷晟先生

校长
苏丽玲女士

大家晚上好!

今晚非常高兴回到母校，和大家一起庆祝公教中学建校八十周年。在此，我恭祝公教中学和所有的学生们、老师们、校友们，校庆快乐！

今晚的主题是 “饮水思源, 感情故乡”，正好表达了历届公教校友们对母校的深厚情感和感恩之心。看到在场的历届校长、老师、学长和学弟们，我不禁回忆起当年在公教读书的时光。

我进入公教中学，是1964年，是50多年前的事了。大家年轻一点的，可能当时都还没有出世。当时，我还是个小孩子。随后在公教度过了宝贵的六年。到了毕业的时候，已经是半个成人了。六年的光阴，说长也不长，不过却是人生中一个重要的成长阶段。让我印象最深刻的，就是这期间，我认识了许多良师益友。他们给了我很多启发，让我的校园生活非常充实，丰富多彩。

今晚，很高兴再次看到许多熟悉的脸孔。刚才写书法的朱添寿先生，就是我的同学。他年轻时，书法就已经很好了。我年轻时候到现在，书法还没有进步。其他熟悉脸孔，包括刚才寒暄过的陈捷觉老师，以及我的老校长张世典修士。在我和我的同学们的印象中，张校长为人温和，谈吐儒雅，同时又精力充沛，经常和学生打成一片。我们铜乐队，各种各样的乐器我们拼命学，校长样样都会吹。身为校长，他对学生循循善诱，总是很有耐心的开导我们，在我们需要时，给我们鼓励和安慰。当然，我们犯错时，或者我们的表现没有达到他的期望的时候，他也会责备我们，纠正我们，鼓励我们，因为他希望我们能过改过自新，从错误中学习，以后做得更好。

我记得在准备毕业的那一年，张校长就让我负责编辑校刊的工作。这项工作不是那么简单，因为我们必须为校刊招广告，说服同学们投稿，还要编稿、排版、校订文稿等等，决不是一份轻松的事。当时没有PageMaker，没有现在的电脑技术，都是人工做的。幸好，有张校长的细心指导，让我顺利完成了这项任务。在整个过程中，我获益不浅。所以我们这几批学生，想起公教往事的时候，都会想起这位老校长，感激他的无私教诲。

今年是新加坡的金禧年。回首这五十年来的建国之路，我们不难发现，新加坡这片弹丸之地，之所以能发展成亚洲最繁荣的国家之一，其实是世界上最繁荣的国家之一，靠的是不畏艰辛的建国前辈和几代国民的努力耕耘。同样的，公教从奎因街两百二十二号的一栋楼宇发展成今天的规模，设备齐全，环境清幽，靠的也是好几代人的辛勤努力和付出。

虽然我们学校的硬件改变了，但公教的校训和价值观从未改变过。公教所培养出来的子弟，本着“亲爱忠诚，敬业乐群”的精神，为社会的进步和国家的繁荣，贡献了一份力量。

过去80载，公教为我国社会的各领域培养了不少杰出的人和回馈社会的栋梁，人数很多，不胜枚举。所以今晚我只说，公教中学的确是桃李满天下。校友们在各领域不懈努力，取得了不错的成就，正体现了我们校歌里所唱的：

“宣传文化， 东西并筹
阐扬学术 ，文质兼收
振兴教育 ，惠及同俦
发挥道德 ，砥柱中流”

校歌的最后一句，大家应该记得，它提醒我们要“振我邦国，万祀千秋”，我很欣慰大家都尽力做到了这一点！

除了在各自的事业中打拼，为国家作出贡献外，不论多忙，公教校友们也总不会忘记母校，正所谓“落其实者思其树，饮其流者怀其源”。所以，一直到现在，校友们还是不遗余力地支持母校各方面的发展和活动。

在创校之初，劳爱华神父和团队就已决定公教的学生，应该兼通双语。如今，公教依旧保持当年的教育理念，仍然中英并重，坚持贯彻双语教育。而华文教育的推行，就包括把优良的传统价值观灌输给下一代。我很高兴看到一群中二的学生，今年在老师的辅导下，出版了十二本他们以华文撰写的《狮城儿童成长绘本系列》，分享他们对传统道德价值观和待人处世的体会。这系列绘本的完成，也获得了多位校友、热心人士，以及教育部北区第七校群的鼎力支持。今晚我们借此机会，为这十二本书主持正式的发布仪式，也恭喜这些小朋友，他们的成就，他们的贡献。

让我们继续为公教 ̶ 我们的感情故乡，齐心协力，让它继续塑造一代又一代精通中西文化的双语人才和彬彬君子。当然，更重要的是培养他们高尚的品德、坚韧的个性和热爱学习的精神，让他们成为具有服务大众精神的领袖、社会栋梁。最后，祝愿公教中学百尺竿头，更进一步。谢谢大家！

现在让我用英语讲几句话。

I am very happy to be here today for the 80th anniversary of Catholic High School, our alma mater.

Like so many of you, I am proud to say I am from Catholic High. I would like to thank all our teachers for not just teaching us, but moulding us and setting us examples, and making us into the people we are. I want to especially thank the principals, who took care of the students and guided us over the years.

Brother Joseph Dufresse, who was our principal then, made an especially deep impression on all of us, because he was strict with us, but deep down, compassionate and cared for all of us. After many years, long after we graduated, he kept in touch with us, and we all still remember him fondly, because he left such a deep impression. It is principals like Brother Joseph, who have played such a vital role in moulding us to be the people we are today and making the school what it is today., I think that is why many of us are here today, not just to catch up with old friends and exchange stories, but to celebrate this special occasion with them, and to express our gratitude to all of them. Thank you very much, teachers and principals.

More than 50 years ago, my parents decided to send me to Catholic High School. I brought home the form from school when I was in Primary Six to fill in which schools to choose to go to secondary school. To my surprise, my parents filled in Catholic High School公教中学. They explained to me: They chose it because it was a Chinese-medium school, but it has high standards of both English and Chinese – bilingual. Also, it has strict discipline. Furthermore, it was a Catholic mission school, so my parents were quite confident that they would not have to worry about left wing activities disrupting the classes or subverting the students. They felt I would be quite safe in Catholic High School, and they were quite right.

The school did not have many facilities then, not even a school field! But still, we had a great experience in the school and we did alright. I studied in the old buildings at Queen Street. I spent two years on the primary school side – Secondary One and Two were then with the primary school, and four years on the other side, with the church – Secondary Three, Secondary Four, afternoon school; Pre-U One, Pre-U Two. Today, I am happy that the old school premises at Queen Street have been preserved. They are still there. Now they are called 8Q, short for Number 8 Queen Street. It is part of the Singapore Art Museum. About two years ago, when I visited the Singapore Art Museum, I went to 8Q. I did not know what 8Q was. When I went there, I said, “Ah, this is Catholic High School!” The buildings look the same. The courtyard looks better, because they have put little tents up with the veneer material so it looks colourful and it is shaded. I went upstairs to my old Secondary One and Two classrooms, on the third floor. The corridors look the same as before; the staircases look the same as before. The classrooms, the partitions have been knocked down – now you have one long gallery showing modern art.  But my mind, it went back 50 something years. That was where the teachers taught us all the subjects, and we spent many happy hours there. For a little while, I was back there, 13 years old, Secondary One. Perhaps if you go back one day to visit公教中学 at Queen Street, you can have a similar experience too, those of you who studied there.

But I am happy that the school has now got better premises at Bishan, new campus, and a new Junior College is being built for students on the Joint Integrated Programme, in partnership with CHIJ St Nicholas Girls’ School and Singapore Chinese Girls’ School. And I am glad that the school has moved on and continues to stay relevant, because the world is not static, and the graduates whom we produce must keep up with the times.

But one thing which has not changed is Catholic High School’s emphasis on values and character development. That is something timeless and essential, and in fact, something which we want all Singapore schools to do more of, because our students should not just be book-smart, but should grow up to be citizens of good character, who will contribute to society and serve fellow Singaporeans. So I am very glad that we have moved on; I am very glad that we have kept something of the essence of the character of the school, because finally, it is the essence of the school and not the buildings which makes a difference. So I am happy tonight that we have a group of Secondary Two students who made a set of 12 illustrated books in Chinese, to help young students understand and learn positive values. We will be launching them tonight.

It is because Catholic High School has upheld these values, that over the last 80 years it has produced many leaders in different fields of society, not just in politics, but in business, in education, in culture. As the school’s vision statement puts it, “The Catholic High School student is a leader, a gentleman, a bilingual scholar of high integrity and robust character, who is passionate about life, learning and service to others”. This is an ideal, a vision. We try to live up to it. Sometimes we may fall short, but we should try our best, we should aim for this and we should teach the young generation also to aim for this, so that we can uphold the flame and keep the Catholic High School’s spirit strong for many more years to come.

The theme for tonight, “公教八十，饮水思源，感情故乡” sums up our past 80 years – excellence, friendship, contributions to the school, to the society and to the nation. I would like to thank all of the school community for your selfless dedication to the school all these years. May you continue your good work, nurture many more leaders, gentlemen – really not gentlemen but 君子, and bilingual scholars for Singapore, for many years to come.

Thank you very much!

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