In the 19th century, Singapore had several private Chinese schools, which mainly adopted traditional Confucian teaching methods and used Chinese dialects as the medium of teaching. 

In 1911, Taonan School became the first Chinese school to convert their teaching language from dialect to Mandarin. 

A new-style school was established as a result of the economic ties built between Singapore and Malaya, as well as the support of the Qing government between 1905 and 1911. The teaching style of the new-style schools differed from traditional Confucian education. The first school in Singapore which followed this new method was Chongzheng School, which was originally named Yangzheng School.

After the 1950s, the role played by clan associations in Singapore’s Chinese schools’ education was reduced partly due to the decreasing number of Chinese schools in Singapore. 

In 1987, the teaching language for all the schools in Singapore was standardised to English. As a result, the differentiation between English and Chinese schools gradually disappeared.