Retired, not expired: Former executive secretary now a teacher assistant at an inclusive pre-school
Published on
27 Jul 2024
Published by
The Straits Times
SINGAPORE – With her signature red lips and coiffured hair, Ms Julie Oei looks like a polished grandmother picking up her grandchild from Kindle Garden Preschool.
That is, until you notice that she is wearing the inclusive pre-school’s maroon uniform top.
It is 3.30pm on a Friday and the children in the Nursery 2 class, aged three to four, have just woken up from their naps. Eight of the 10 kids here are in school today. A couple of girls rush to Ms Oei as she approaches.
“Come, Teacher Julie,” says one of the girls, grasping Ms Oei’s arm possessively, while eyeing this reporter and the photographer with curiosity.
Ms Oei, a teacher assistant of almost two years, springs to action, helping the children pack away their sleeping mats and do their toileting before their tea break. The children are a frenzy of activity, but Ms Oei remains focused on her tasks.
It is hard to believe she is 75 years old.
The sprightly septuagenarian has worked for almost six decades, starting as a junior stenographer-cum-receptionist at age 17 in 1966 and rising through the ranks to become an executive secretary to the chairman of a stockbroking firm. When he moved to an oil additives company, she followed him until he died in 2021.
She has a private secretarial certificate and taught secretarial courses part-time at the now-defunct ATT Secretarius school.
After her boss died, the singleton retired and decided to get a part-time job working with children, since she loved being around her five nephews when they were younger. She is the oldest of four siblings.
“I had been so busy working that if you asked me to suddenly stay at home and face the four walls, I’d go crazy,” she says with a laugh. “Anyway, I love children. I want to feel young.”
In 2022, at age 73, she took a three-month Fundamentals Certificate in Early Childhood Care and Education with Advent Links-SAUC Education Centre. It included a 60-hour attachment to a pre-school.
Childcare is a 180-degree change for the veteran administrator, who traded her tailored cheongsams and heels for more casual working clothes. She was also the oldest among her classmates, some of whose parents were younger than her.
“Initially, I was struggling,” she admits. “All the while I’d been doing secretarial work and, suddenly, I’m changing nappies for children.”
She adds: “It was a shock to have to learn how to sing nursery songs and how to manage when children bite one another or fight. But I found it fun because the children are so bubbly.”
After decades of delegating and giving instructions to others, she found herself now taking briefs from teachers on how to handle young children.
“You have to be humble,” she says.
She applied to a few pre-schools, but during one interview, she was told she was “too old to carry babies”.
Kindle Garden, however, took her in in September 2022 as its oldest member of staff. She works for four hours every weekday assisting the Nursery 2 class’ main teacher.
Dr Shirley Soh, AWWA’s assistant director of early childhood and inclusion, says Ms Oei was hired because of “her exemplary attitude and enthusiasm towards work and life”. As an inclusive organisation, AWWA recognised that her corporate experience would benefit the team.
“Her eagerness to stay active and engaged is testament to her commitment and drive, and I know that all of us at Kindle Garden have much to learn from her.”
Ms Oei is equally effusive about her workplace. “This school is like one big family,” she says.
It touches her heart when the children declare that they miss or love her, she adds.
“When I come here, I feel very active. I see these kids laughing away, asking you questions so innocently. I feel alive.”
Source: The Straits Times © SPH Media Limited. Reproduced with permission.
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