Thousands of students in Singapore spend about 30 seconds every weekday morning reciting the National Pledge.

For a ceremony that takes place so often, how many of us actually pause to think about its origin and significance?

The first pledge-taking ceremony

On August 24, 1966, 51 years ago today, students began reciting the National Pledge. Since then, the practice has been formalised such that it takes place before the start of each school day.

On that first day, around 500,000 students from over 500 schools assembled to recite the pledge for the first time.

That date marked the beginnings of an important ritual for Singaporeans. However, pledge-taking practices have changed slightly since then.

Originally, the pledge was recited with the right hand raised above shoulders while facing the National Flag.

In 1988, this practice was changed to the current one with our right fist clenched at our heart.

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Origins of the Pledge

The pledge was developed in 1966. It was a crucial time for newly-independent Singapore given the backdrop of communal tensions in the 50s and 60s.

With the 1964 racial riots and split from Malaysia, it became clear that racial and religious tensions were potentially divisive forces.

To manage these potential fault-lines, the pledge-taking ceremony in schools was developed to forge a sense of national consciousness amongst the people.

The rationale behind the ceremony was that reciting the pledge expresses allegiance to the nation and affirms a commitment to national unity.

The English text was also translated into Chinese, Malay and Tamil because, #multiracial.

Sing the Pledge?

Apart from morning assemblies, the pledge can also be heard in one of the verses of the 1987 National Day song, We are Singapore.

You can listen to the full song here:

The song turned out to be very popular with the people. Then-director of the Ministry of Communication and Information even announced that if the song caught on, the pledge would be sung in school instead.

Guess that didn't happen.

Nevertheless, pledge-taking ceremonies have become integral to the lives of all Singaporeans.

Top photo from NAS

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