History
The first building site of Gan Eng Seng School (Abbreviation: GESS) was located at No. 106 Telok Ayer Street between 1893 to 1941. A land grant was given by the British colonial government earlier to the philanthropist and founder, Mr Gan Eng Seng who paid S$5000 for the construction of the school building. Gan was credited for being the first local Chinese in Singapore to establish the free school in 1885 which emphasised bilingual education through his generous gift of property and funds until his demise. Most other schools of the time were established by missionary or communal organisations.
The school was a two-storey wooden building and housed the school hall in the second storey. It started out as a primary school for boys and could accommodate up to 300 students. Governor H.E. Sir Clementi Smith officiated the school's Opening Ceremony on 4 April 1893. Mr Tan Keong Saik, a board trustee of the school briefly gave a history of the institution to the distinguished gathering.
In 1908, a second school building was added to ease the overcrowding it face with each passing year. The school was able to accommodate an almost twofold increase in students population of 641 afterwards. The school was finally abandoned in 1941 when the old section of the building was considered unsafe for use and it was housed temporarily in Sepoy Line Malay School in Park Road and Pearl's Hill School later.
Read more about this topic: Gan Eng Seng School Founding Site
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