{"id":14441,"date":"2026-07-01T00:03:00","date_gmt":"2026-06-30T16:03:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alumni.nus.edu.sg\/thealumnus\/?p=14441"},"modified":"2026-06-23T07:52:50","modified_gmt":"2026-06-22T23:52:50","slug":"a-life-shaped-by-learning","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alumni.nus.edu.sg\/thealumnus\/2026\/07\/01\/a-life-shaped-by-learning\/","title":{"rendered":"A Life Shaped by Learning"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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Come rain or shine, the late Mr Tan Peng Hock was wholeheartedly committed to education.<\/p>

Before he embarked on a decades-long teaching journey, Mr Tan\u2019s unshakeable passion for studying began during his time as a geography undergraduate at the National University of Singapore (NUS).<\/p>

\u201cIn those days, the Bukit Timah campus was experiencing many flash floods,\u201d recounted Mr Tan\u2019s wife, Mdm Chua Gek Choo. \u201cHis mother told him to stay home, but he insisted on going for his classes, no matter what. That was how much he loved studying at NUS.\u201d<\/p>

Thus began a lifetime dedicated to bringing this same joy of education to generations of students. Starting out as a judo coach at St Joseph\u2019s Institution (SJI), Mr Tan soon found his true calling in the classroom as a geography teacher.<\/p>

More than the subject itself, it was his constant encouragement that stayed with his students. Throughout his career across several secondary schools in Singapore, he would always remind them to keep studying.<\/p>

REMEMBERING MR TAN’S IMPACT<\/strong><\/p>

When Mr Tan passed away in October 2025, an outpouring of love and support came flooding in.<\/p>

Decades after he had taught them in secondary school, many of Mr Tan\u2019s past students still carried his lessons with them. They arrived in throngs at the funeral to pay their respects, sharing with Mdm Chua how Mr Tan had always encouraged them to study and patiently worked with them through their schooling years.<\/p>

\u201cA few of them even came straight from the airport just to see him for the last time,\u201d Mdm Chua said. \u201cThey kept telling me about how he was a good teacher who was very close to them.\u201d<\/p>

Touched by this tribute from his students, Mdm Chua found immense comfort in knowing her husband was loved and well-regarded by so many.<\/p>

CARRYING THE LEGACY FORWARD<\/strong><\/p>

Before his passing, Mr Tan left a bequest to NUS through his estate. In keeping with his lifelong passion for education, the Tan Peng Hock Bursary will provide much-needed financial support for students at NUS. True to Mr Tan\u2019s constant encouragement to his own students to \u201ckeep studying\u201d, the Bursary will make this possible on an even greater scale.<\/p>

\u201cHe made it clear in his will that he wanted to give to support students at NUS,\u201d said Mr John Chua, Mr Tan\u2019s brother-in-law and executor of his estate. \u201cHe believed very strongly in education\u2014that everyone should have a chance to be educated.\u201d<\/p>

In this way, Mr Tan\u2019s legacy of teaching lives on. From shaping countless young lives in his classrooms, his generosity and belief will now allow generations of undergraduates at NUS to experience the education that he so greatly treasured.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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Just like Mr Tan, your values and beliefs can create impact for future generations. If you want to make a lasting difference through legacy giving, please email our Legacy Gifts team at <\/em>legacygift@nus.edu.sg<\/em><\/a> or call +65 6516 8000 to speak with us. <\/em><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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Photo: The late Mr Tan Peng Hock with his wife Mdm Chua Gek Choo<\/h6>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A bequest from the late Mr Tan Peng Hock (Arts & Social Sciences \u201969) to NUS will support undergraduates financially, extending his lifelong belief in education and opportunity. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":14442,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"elementor_theme","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14441","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-life"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alumni.nus.edu.sg\/thealumnus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14441","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alumni.nus.edu.sg\/thealumnus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alumni.nus.edu.sg\/thealumnus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alumni.nus.edu.sg\/thealumnus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alumni.nus.edu.sg\/thealumnus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14441"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/alumni.nus.edu.sg\/thealumnus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14441\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14577,"href":"https:\/\/alumni.nus.edu.sg\/thealumnus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14441\/revisions\/14577"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alumni.nus.edu.sg\/thealumnus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14442"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alumni.nus.edu.sg\/thealumnus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14441"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alumni.nus.edu.sg\/thealumnus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14441"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alumni.nus.edu.sg\/thealumnus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14441"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}