English Schools and School - Library Association of Singapore

1899
1938
Five
government-
aided
schools
Six
government-
aided
schools
and
one
government
school
Lim • English Schools & School Libraries before WWII
Table 6: Enrolment in English Girls’ Schools by Race in 1899 & 1938
Europeans
&
Eurasians
383
( 88%
)
861
( 20%
)
Sources: Wilkinson, 1900, p. 143; Linehan, 1939, pp. 194-195.
It was agreed in the same conference that
schools can apply to the Department of
Education the sum of $2 a year per pupil
to purchase books for school libraries (Education
Department 1939a). However, little
would have been done considering Europe
was at war and there were fears of
the impending Japanese invasion which did
materialize in 1942.
ChineseMalay 39
( 9%
)
2,
911
( 70%
)
Table 7: Growth of English Girls’ Schools and School Libraries
Indians
& other
Asiatics
Library Services to Schools
Total
The Raffles Junior Library was opened
on 21 July 1923, the first of its kind in British
Malaya, with the primary objective “to
create among children and young people
taste for reading healthy literature.” There
was an initial stock of 1,000 books, all published
in English. (Kloss 1924, pp. 9-10).
Through the kind offices of the Inspector
of Schools (Mr. H. T. Clark) assistance
7 2 Singapore Journal of Library & Information Management • Volume 37 • 2008
-
56
( 1%
)
15
( 3%
)
369
( 9%
)
437
4,
233
TotalSchoolsStaffLibraries SchoolLibraries Class
Libraries
19331 5 1 0 ( 67%
) 1 1 ( 73%
)
9 ( 60%
)
19341 6 9 ( 56%
) 1 2 ( 75%
)
6 ( 38%
)
19351 6 1 2 ( 75%
) 1 2 ( 75%
) 11
( 69%
)
19361 6 1 2 ( 75%
) 1 5 ( 94%
) 12
( 75%
)
19371 6 1 3 ( 81%
) 15( 94%
)
NA
Note: Information for each of the three Settlements was not available.
Sources: Morten 1934; Morten 1935; Morten 1936; Morten 1937; Keir 1938.