Building up to Catholic Education Sunday – Reflections of a retired Catholic educator by Mrs Pauline Wong

This year, Catholic schools and parishes in Singapore marked Catholic Education Sunday
(CES) on 23 August 2026. In recent years, CES was brought forward from the Teachers’
Day weekend, to the weekend of the feast day of St Joseph Calasanz, Patron of Catholic
schools, which is on 25 August.

Every year all schools in Singapore will celebrate Teachers’ Day on the last Thursday of
Term 3. So, this year, Teachers’ Day falls on Friday 4 September, which is a school holiday
for teachers and students.

Aren’t schools busy enough? Why is there a need to mark CES when it means having two
major school celebrations within a span of two weeks for Catholic schools in Singapore?

For the past 10 years since the inauguration of CES in 2017, I’ve been reflecting on this
question, especially as I approach Term 3, infamously known as the crazy term of the
school year.

My reflection brought me to more questions on what makes Catholic education distinct,
which I would like to share here:

Do we see every student as a gift from God?

When I was a school leader in a non-mission school, I found myself reminding my teachers
at Staff Meetings that “schools exist for children”.

Perhaps in a Catholic school, we need to remind all teachers that children are gifts from
God. Each child is made in the image and likeness of God. To each child is attributed the
dignity of a child of God. And from the Master Teacher Jesus, we educators and parents,
receive the sacred responsibility of forming each child to be the unique individual that God
has created him or her to be.

Perhaps if Staff Contact Time agendas are too crowded to include such short conversations,
CES in Week 9 of Term 3 may at least be a good opportunity to revisit annually, with all
teachers, the reason for existence of Catholic schools.

Do all our teachers see every student as a gift from God, entrusted to us for care and
formation?

Do we believe that every teacher is called, not just employed and posted?

By the end of Term 3, every school in Singapore would have concluded the MOE Open
Posting Exercise (OPE). My dream when I was principal of a Catholic school was to be able
to recruit teachers who:

• see teaching as a Christian vocation;
• appreciate the need to form students to be good citizens of this world and the next; and
• understand that their demonstration of excellence in curriculum, pedagogy and
  assessment is an expression of both competency and authentic witnessing to Christ.

Perhaps during the OPE leading up to celebrating CES, the Catholic school leadership team
may want to revisit the above as the desired marks of a teacher in a Catholic school.

Does the Catholic school leadership team feel called to pray to the Lord of the Harvest
to send teachers who understand the Church’s vision of education and their place within it?

Do we believe that our identity as Catholic schools is both educational and ecclesial?

In January every year, most Catholic schools gather the whole school community for a
Commencement Mass to thank God for the gift of Catholic education. Kudos to the schools
who do this annually, because every member of the Catholic school community—students,
educators, support staff, leaders and even parents—should come to understand that the
identity of a Catholic school is both educational and ecclesial.

It is an educational institution in that it is committed to academic excellence and the
holistic formation of the human person. Additionally, it is an ecclesial community in that
it participates in the evangelising mission of the Church. These two dimensions are
inseparable and together shape the school’s mission, culture, relationships and educational
practice.

In January every year, the Archbishop commissions newly appointed principals at the
Commencement of School Year (COSY) Mass, where newly appointed vice-principals are also
presented to the community. This is because a Catholic school is not merely an educational
institution but also an ecclesial ministry of the Church.

Through this commissioning, the Archbishop entrusts the principal with the responsibility
of leading the school in fidelity to its Catholic identity and mission.

During this January COSY Mass, all school leaders pledge their commitment –
“Make me a doer of Your Word; hopeful and confident in your truth.”

Perhaps as a run-up to CES in August, it is fitting that the Principal reflects again on the
sacred task that was entrusted to him or her when he or she was commissioned to head a
Catholic school.

As principals and vice-principals of Catholic schools, is our discernment and
decision-making guided by Catholic Social Teaching?

Many Gifts, One Mission

Schools are indeed busy. Yet CES reminds us each year why Catholic schools exist and
points us to the one mission to which each of us are called.

This CES, we thank God for blessing us with many gifts, in the 46,000 students entrusted
to the care of our 35 schools.

“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power
of the Holy Spirit, you may abound in hope.” (Romans 15:13)

May each of us in the Catholic education fraternity—school board members, school leaders,
staff and parents, forge forward in hope, sharing in the one mission of the Church to form
each child to be the unique individual that God has created him or her to be.