From another thread:
I don’t know how long you have been in Singapore, but your facts are wrong.
The change to English as the language media of education started already in the mid-1970’s. Native English speaking teachers were brought in to teach, even at public Primary Schools, to ensure proper pronunciation.
Of course the elite schools, (ACS, St,Josephs etc.) which was run by various Churches, used English long before that, while elite Chinese schools (Hwa Chong, CHS etc.) used Mandarin.
The “Speak Mandarin” campaign came in late 1970’s. Before that most schools were race and clan based, using Chinese dialects, Malay and Tamil as the media of teaching.
The various Chinese dialect groups had their own schools run by various Clans under an umbrella organisation:
Until the 1970’s most people lived in separate Kampongs based on their race and Chinese dialect group. Basar Malay and Pidgin English was the only way they could communicated between groups.
Today most Singaporean are living in HDB flats with a mix of different races in each neighbourhood and nearly all are able to speak English, hence the need for such pidgin languages should be gone.
But surprisingly enough, a special Singapore English, (or Singlish) has developed in the last 50 years and is having a revival. It is commonly used in informal conversation between Singaporeans, while more structured English is used in formal setting, such as in education, business and administration.
Don’t know your Singlish? Well, here is a basic guide for ang mohs: