CHIJ Toa Payoh Primary And Secondary Schools To Revert To Full Original Names In 2027.

Singapore City; May 2026: CHIJ Primary (Toa Payoh) and CHIJ Secondary (Toa Payoh) will revert to their original names from 01st January 2027, as a reverence to their historical identity and heritage.

They will be named “Convent of the Holy Infant Jesus (Primary)”, and “Convent of the Holy Infant Jesus (Secondary)” respectively, without the mention of ‘Toa Payoh’.

Genevieve Chye, Principal of CHIJ Secondary (Toa Payoh), told media reporters that conversations about reinstating the school’s original names began during their 170th anniversary celebrations in 2024. “Different stakeholders realised that our full name was no longer used officially, and that was when it was raised to see whether we should go back to our original full name”, said Ms Chye.

She added that the schools approached the Ministry of Education with this request in 2025 and received the green light to reinstate the full names in May 2026. The other nine CHIJ schools will stick with their existing names. Mention-worthy, that The Convent of the Holy Infant Jesus (CHIJ) was founded by four Catholic nuns in 1854 and is Singapore’s oldest Catholic girls’ school.

At a time when education for girls was still unheard of in many parts of the world, the four Sisters accepted girls from all financial backgrounds, including those who were orphans. Serving all levels of education at the time, the school went by the name Convent of the Holy Infant Jesus and was located in Victoria Street. More than a century later in 1964, it was separated into distinct primary and secondary schools.

About 20 years later, in December 1983, both schools relocated from Victoria Street to Lorong 1 Toa Payoh and were renamed Convent of the Holy Infant Jesus Primary (Toa Payoh) and Convent of the Holy Infant Jesus Secondary (Toa Payoh) respectively.

Later in 1992, in efforts to create a unified identity across all 11 of the Convent of the Holy Infant Jesus schools, the Infant Jesus Board of Management prefixed their names with the abbreviation “CHIJ”, ending the use of the full name.

Sister Elizabeth Moey, provincial at the Infant Jesus Sisters Singapore, said the board is “deeply grateful and heartened” by the reinstatement of the names of their mother schools. She added that the names carry the rich heritage and mission entrusted to them since 1854, when the Sisters first came to Singapore, dedicated to the education and formation of girls and young women. “We hope that this renewed recognition of our shared history will continue to inspire future generations to live with courage, integrity and a spirit of love for others”, said Sister Elizabeth.

Team Maverick.