Toa Payoh

Street names in Singapore

Street names in Singapore often tell important stories. These streets can be named after important leaders and early settlers that have contributed to Singapore’s development or after prominent landmark features present in the area.[1] 
 
Origins of street name
Toa Payoh, in the Hokkien dialect, translates to “big swamp” (with "Toa" meaning "big" and "Payoh" meaning "swamp"). The Malay word for swamp is paya.  It is the Chinese equivalent of Paya Lebar, which also translates to big swamp land.[2] Toa Payoh therefore indicates the large swampy area that existed before Chinese settlers moved into the area.   
Toa Payoh in the 1960s
Toa Payoh is  the second satellite  town after Queenstown that  was  built by the Housing and Development Board (HDB). There were plans to have about 480 shops, over 20 schools, and other amenities such as markets, clinics, cinemas, community centres, hawker centres and places of worship (of different religions) in Toa Payoh. 
These amenities, together with the housing units, were laid out based on the “neighbourhood concept”. This concept divided Toa Payoh into several neighbourhoods before grouping them around a town centre that acted as a focal point for the entertainment and shopping needs of residents.[3] 
Toa Payoh in 1963, before its development[4]

To increase support for the plan, the HDB promoted the development of Toa Payoh by releasing information on the jobs that would be created with the construction of the town. 
Samsui women taking on construction work in Toa Payoh, 1960s[5]
The construction of Toa Payoh, 1960s[6]

Shared common spaces in Toa Payoh


A video about the Toa Payoh Garden Lookout Tower
An aerial view of Toa Payoh Garden in the 1970s. The Toa Payoh Cinema can also be seen in the background.[7]
A playground where young children of different races inter-mingled with each other[8]

First Toa Payoh Secondary School

First Toa Payoh Secondary School was the first secondary school built to cater to the secondary school population of Singapore’s first satellite town solely developed by HDB, Toa Payoh. Lessons began in 1968 and the school functioned as an integrated school offering English and Chinese. However, over the years with the diminishing Chinese stream population, and parents realising the importance of English as the lingua franca, the school became an English medium institution.[9]
The early years of the school as a common space for the different races
Cikgu Mohamed Nor (as he is fondly remembered) found First Toa Payoh Secondary School a world apart in terms of facilities when he was transferred to the school in 1968. It was a ‘proper government school’ with Technical workshops, PE Room, Malay Language Room and a Staff Room among others, which were sorely lacking on the islands. At FTPSS he started the Malay Dance group and had students like Rahimah Rahim and her brother Mat Latiff to teach the dance to Chinese and Indian students as well.[10]
Cikgu Mohamed Nor during a video interview in the 2000s
Students gathering for a parade
Class photo[11]

Notes

[1] CPDD, Inquiring into Our World, Marshall Cavendish Education, 2013, page 66. See also Savage & Yeoh, Toponymics: A study of Singapore Street names, Eastern Universities Press, 2003, page 9
[2] Ibid, page 387
[3] Adapted from: Development of Toa Payoh Begins, Dec 1964, History Sg (An Online resource guide), < http://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/history/events/6a0f21de-b30e-4df5-897b-664b1ffdb0da>, 2014
[5] Image taken from: http://blogtoexpress.blogspot.sg/2010/11/tribute-to-samsui-women.html
[6] Image taken from: https://remembersingapore.files.wordpress.com/2012/07/old-toa-payoh-1960s-2.jpg
[7] Image taken from: http://www.singaporememory.sg/contents/sma-8cb8b6d2-3a86-486b-aea1-0626ece30307
[8] Image taken from: https://remembersingapore.files.wordpress.com/2012/01/toa-payoh-playground-1975.jpg?w=640
[9] FTPSS, Our Narrative, < http://ftpss.sg/the-1970s>, 2015
[10] Ibid.
[11] Ibid.









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