Dr Hon Chiew Weng - A Principal and a Good Role Model

Note:

If you are keen and have queries, please contact Coach Rameshon at 9100 4369 or you can email him at m.rameshon@gmail.com or swift.rameshon@gmail.com. Please refer to website http://flexifitness.com.sg (for more information on him and his programmes)

By Rameshon

Bsc (Hons) Degree in Physical Education, Loughborough University (1992-1994)

Masters in Education (University of Western Australia, 2005-2008)

Dr Hon Chiew Weng - The Student Oriented Principal

This issue is from the Hwa Chong Institution MOCH Issue 2

In my life, one of the best person I have met is Dr Hon. In the past, he was known as Mr Hon when I joined Hwa Chong Institution in the year 2000. As a principal of Hwa Chong, I feel that he has integrity in whatever he is doing. He will never let anyone down when it comes to integrity.

The joyful thing about him is that we can see him smiling most of the time. He even answers to questions of audience, students and teachers in a smiling manner.

Once, while doing my interview with him in the past for my Masters in Education programme, I realised that he cares for students a lot. The reason is that he is a firm believer of exercise as a lifelong pursuit, apart from caring for their studies. As a student, who was in scouts, Dr Hon was very active in it. In his younger days, Dr Hon was very involved in the outdoor pursuit. At present, even though he does not have the time to exercise if given the time, I believe he would exercise. This is because of the conversation I had with him. He would always like to promote sports to the young ones.

Dr Hon showed his resilience during the Integrated Programme as the High School and College of Hwa Chong had to merge. He emerged a victor. Furthermore, he is an admirable and a pleasant person to meet. Hence, let us find out more about Dr Hon in the Issue of MOCH.

In this issue, MOCH had the exclusive privilege to meet up with, Dr Hon Chiew Weng, the Principal of Hwa Chong Institution. He gave his sincere answers to the questions asked.


Hence, let us look at the answers he gave during the interview.

MOCH: What qualities do you like about Hwa Chong?
Students in Hwa Chong are amiable and nice to teach. They are quite obedient. On the other hand, obedience is not necessarily a good thing. I hope that students are able to challenge me in a positive manner, giving me constructive feedback.

Moch: Do you have any hobbies?
I have no hobbies because I have no spare time! My life is quite routine. I wake up at 4:30am, clear my mail until 6:00am, at which point I head to school and clear my Ministry Of Education mail at 6:30am, I receive about a hundred mails a day, and I have to reply to every single one of them. My remaining free time is thus divided between two activities - Exercising and Sleeping.

MOCH: What is the most difficult decision you had to make in life?

There were only two major decisions I had to make. Who to get married to and what career to choose. I had no difficulty because the choice was simple. I became a teacher because I had no money to study, and the only scholarship I had was a teaching scholarship. Nonetheless, I realised that I really love what I do.

For marriage, It was simple. I only had one girlfriend.

MOCH: What was your childhood like?
It was very happy! I was not as stressed as all of you in this day and age. My parents gave me full autonomy in whatever I did. They even gave me permission to sign my own report card.

MOCH: Any special memories from back then?

I would say I really enjoyed my time as a scout. I learnt to cook on trees, something that most people do not have an opportunity to do these days. Survival skills are important, and if placed in a jungle, we could climb up a tree and cook on top to avoid wild animals. I recall my seniors setting fire to our tents, so after I cooked my food, I had to climb down to extinguish the fire. I also learnt about the importance of having friends, for we could always watch each other's back. Speaking of friends, I do not really understand how youths these days are able to know so many people on Facebook.

Note:

By Narayanan

Rameshon has taught in Hwa Chong Institution, plus several schools, and Republic Polytechnic as well. He has won many accolades and he was awarded Merit Award for 1991 marathon performance in breaking the national record of Singapore, at that time. He has made 22 male athletes do a marathon in sub-3hrs. He has made 7 female runners do sub-4 hours for the marathon, as well. He was inducted to the ‘Roll of Honour’  by the then College of Physical Education, organised by Singapore Olympic Academy, in 1998, for breaking the National record repeatedly 4 times, till he did 2hr 24min 22sec).

He also has a Coaching group and he trains them on Tuesdays and Thursdays, 7pm at Botanic Gardens. Those interested can call him at 91004369 for coaching assistance, to improve performance. There is also personal training that he does for many in a week. You can e-mail him at swift.rameshon@gmail.com.