IT WAS the town's first secondary school, but Ang Mo Kio Secondary faced the prospect of having to move in 1996.

Set up in 1979, it was due for an upgrade, and its new location was to be in Hougang.

It still stands in Ang Mo Kio, thanks to Ms Paramita Bandara, who was principal at the time.

She recalled with mock exasperation what she was told initially when she protested against the move: 'River Valley goes to West Coast; Dunman goes to Tampines. You are nobody, you are only Ang Mo Kio.'

The message: Better-known schools had moved, so why was she making a fuss?

But she sure made a fuss. She went to see the area's Member of Parliament Lee Hsien Loong, then Deputy Prime Minister.

He told her the school had to move as its facilities were

substandard, and the site had been earmarked for the headquarters of the National Cadet Corps (NCC).

She looked at him and said: 'Sir, I am sorry I can't agree.'

He asked her why.

'Because I happen to be chairman of the NCC building committee, and nowhere was it mentioned that Ang Mo Kio was the likely site.'

Ms Bandara, now 65, recalled that they shared a good laugh, as well as a conversation on education. The school got to stay in Ang Mo Kio.

Mr Lee remembered her so well that he agreed to appear in a video tribute to her when she retired in 2000.

Ms Bandara is one of the educators featured in a new Ministry of Education book titled Many Pathways, One Mission to mark its 50th anniversary.

Others include retired Gongshang Primary School principal Wee Fui Twee, who hung out at the bus interchange to make sure pupils were on their best behaviour, as well as former Telok Kurau Secondary School head Karim Bagoo, who once bailed a teacher out of trouble for misappropriating funds.

The ministry hopes the stories in the 200-page book will inspire teachers and would-be teachers. On sale in bookshops for $55.20, it also traces the development of education policy here.

Whatever the changes over the past half century, one constant in education has been the presence of passionate educators such as Ms Bandara who, in Mr Lee's words, 'moved heaven and earth' for causes she believed in.

She started as a teacher at Raffles Girls' School (Secondary), and went on to become principal of Tanjong Katong Girls' School and Pasir Ris Secondary School.

In 1994, she was offered a position as a school inspector and the chance to head a well-known girls' school, but chose instead to go to Ang Mo Kio Secondary School.

'I feel that everybody has given a lot to the top 10 per cent, but we also need a strong base at the bottom of the pyramid,' she said.

When Mrs Pauline Wong, former vice-principal of Ang Mo Kio, heard that Ms Bandara was joining the school, she quipped: 'Uh oh, the 'Dragon Lady' from the east is coming to colonise the north.'

While Ms Bandara had a reputation for being a hard taskmaster, Mrs Wong and her fellow teachers soon discovered she had a big heart as well.

When the headmistress spotted a teacher returning to school at 5pm to help with a project despite the death of his mother, she appeared at his side with a cup of coffee.

She told Mrs Wong later: 'If the man is dedicated enough to do the job at a time like this, how can I not let him know that I know he came back?'

It was a lesson in showing appreciation that Mrs Wong, now 47 and taking over as principal of St Theresa's Convent, still remembers.

The 'Dragon Lady' also had a humorous side. Mrs Wong recalled: 'She was ahead of her time. You worked so hard, but you were so happy.'

Ms Bandara was also creative in meting out punishment. Once, she made two foul-

mouthed girls brush their teeth outside her office; another time, she ordered 11 misbehaving students to push a palm tree until it toppled over.

Mr Ong Chee Siang, now 25, said his life changed for the better thanks to Ms Bandara. As a schoolboy, he recalled, he was a rascal and a gangster.

Ms Bandara remembered him well. 'Our friend used to walk the corridors of the school instead of being in class,' she said. 'When I asked him what he was doing, he said he was supervising the students for me.'

He was, in fact, recruiting members for his gang. He left school in Secondary 3, but showed up the next year seeking a second chance.

She gave him a pen and paper. 'Chee Siang wrote a page and vowed that if he broke any of his promises, he would leave,' she said.

He completed the N-level examination, and went on to the Institute of Technical Education (ITE) Ang Mo Kio, where he scored straight As.

Now, he is an army regular pursuing a degree part-time at the Nanyang Technological University and has recently registered his marriage.

Ms Bandara, who keeps in touch with former staff and students, said he has earned the right to call her 'godma'.

They have become so close that Ms Bandara accompanied him on all his visits to the National Cancer Centre when he needed surgery for a nose tumour.

He drives to Ipoh with her to visit her family.

'Once, we were enemies, then we became friends, and now, family,' said Mr Ong.

Mrs Wong said of the 'Dragon Lady': 'She taught all of us to live in the hope that there is goodness in every person.'

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