Tao Nan School is located in the Marine Parade district of Singapore. It has the distinction of been one of the oldest primary schools opened on the island. The school was established in 1906, it had to be privately funded as the Singapore government did not fund primary school education at that point in time. Tao Nan primary school was primarily meant for Chinese pupils when it was opened. At first the lessons were taught in local dialects before it was decided to only use Mandarin in lessons from 1916 onward for Tao Nan School.

Tao Han School

The local Chinese local community had raised the funds to open and keep the school running itself, with the help of local businessman Tan Boo Liat. The school was given it’s name by the renowned tutor Chen Boachen, who among other things tutored the last emperor of China. It moved to a purpose built building located on Armenian Street during 1912. Two years later the school started to teach it’s pupils English. Tao Nan School was actually closed between 1942 and 1945 whilst the island was under Japanese rule. It was reopened shortly after the end of the Second World War. Other shopping centres include East Coast Park and it is near to Siglap MRT.

Siglap Road Tao Nan Fraser Centrepoint Condo

In 1957 Tao Nan School became funded by the government, and then made a concerted effort to improve it’s educational standards. The school governors became increasingly unhappy with the actual location of the school during the 1970’s and eventually got permission to have a new school built out in the suburbs. The new site at Marine Parade has been used since 1982 (the old building is now a museum). Since then Tao Nan School has gained a reputation for providing high quality lessons in both Mandarin Chinese and English. Parents send their children to this school so that they learn enough Mandarin and English to perform well later on at high school in Tao Nan School.