This picture, believed to be taken in the 1960s, shows students from Khee Fatt School reciting poems at a school function. Known today as Qifa Primary School, this school was founded by the Hakkas in 1906. The school started with an intake of only about 70 students, and shifted to a bigger space in the compound of the Char Yong (Dabu) Association. From then on its enrolment gradually expanded to about 800 in 1951 and continued to increase until 1966. However, with the bilingual policy implemented in the national education system, more parents started to enrol their children in English-medium schools. Khee Fatt School’s enrolment dropped drastically and by 1984, it dwindled to 44 pupils.
