The Japanese occupation of Singapore took place from 1942 to 1945 after the British surrendered in February 1942. One month later, in March 1942, the Japanese government adopted an educational policy as part of the “Principles for the Gunsei Disposition of the Occupied Area”. The objectives of the policy were to teach industrial technologies and the Japanese language as the lingua franca of the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere, to promote the spirit of labor, and to unite the cultures of the indigenous peoples of the southern region with Japanese culture under the spirit of Hakko Ichiu (universal brotherhood). Education was essentially a propaganda tool.

References

1. Forging a Singaporean Statehood, 1965-1995: The Contribution of Japan By Di Robin Ramcharan pg. 93

2. A History of Modern Singapore, 1819-2005 By C.M. Turnbull p.209

3. New Perspectives on the Japanese Occupation in Malaya and Singapore, 1941-1945 edited by Yōji Akashi, Mako Yoshimura pg 48-49