Through the Eras

Timeline | 德明校史

1956 - 2001 ↗ (opens in new tab)

2002 - 2019 ↗ (opens in new tab)

2020 - 2023 ↗ (opens in new tab)

2024 - 2025 ↗ (opens in new tab)

Dunman High School (DHS) (formerly known as Dunman Government Chinese Middle School) is an autonomous ↗ (opens in new tab) co-educational secondary school in Singapore offering the Integrated Programme ↗ (opens in new tab). It has always been the top co-educational secondary school in Singapore in terms of academic results.

Its Chinese name Démíng (德明) is a transliteration of “Dunman”, named after a British Police Commissioner, Sir Thomas Dunman. The meaning of its name in Chinese is derived from a line in the Book of Great Learning (大学之道在明明德，在亲民，在止于至善) which is a statement that has influenced the Emperors of the Han, Tang and Song dynasties in Imperial China. It can be roughly translated as “the Dao (path) to the greatest learning lies in understanding the brightest virtues”.

In 1979, the school was selected to be one of the nine Special Assistance Plan (SAP) ↗ (opens in new tab) secondary schools. The school was renamed “Dunman High School” and began to offer both English and Chinese languages at the first-language level. When the Music Elective Programme (MEP) was introduced by the MOE in 1982, DHS was selected to implement the programme for musically gifted students.

From 2005 the school has implemented a customised version of the Integrated Programme called the Dunman High Programme (DHP), which allows all students to bypass the O-Level examinations and directly take the A-Level examinations.

德明政府中学（DHS）(原名德明政府华文中学)是新加坡一所男女同校的自治中学，设有直通车课程。在新加坡男女混合的中学中，德明的学术成绩一直名列前茅。

学校中文名“德明”一词音译于以英国警署署长德明命名的德明路，其义取自对中国汉、唐、宋具有深远影响的《大学》篇（“大学之道在明明德，在亲民，在止于至善”）。

1979年，学校被选为新加坡九所特选中学之一，并改名为德明政府中学，成为一所把英语和华语都列为第一语言的、双语并重的学校。1982年，当教育部首次提出开设音乐特选课程的理念时，德明便获选，为有音乐才能的学生设立该课程。

自2005年开设直通车课程以来，德明进一步发扬因材施教的理念，为学生量身设计校本课程，帮助学生免考 “O”水准而直接参加“A”水准考试。