{"id":82194,"date":"2026-09-04T18:55:58","date_gmt":"2026-09-04T10:55:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/?p=82194"},"modified":"2026-09-04T18:55:58","modified_gmt":"2026-09-04T10:55:58","slug":"teacher-leaves-500000-to-st-school-pocket-money-fund-in-his-will","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/?p=82194","title":{"rendered":"Teacher leaves $500,000 to ST School Pocket Money Fund in his will"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p class=\"text-primary article-summary font-tertiary-body-baseline-regular\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">SINGAPORE \u2013 Secondary school teacher Victor Lee left $3.5 million in his will to support education in Singapore, naming The Straits Times School Pocket Money Fund (STSPMF), National University of Singapore (NUS) and Nanyang Technological University (NTU) as beneficiaries.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text-primary font-tertiary-body-baseline-regular\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">Lee, who died three years ago aged 70, left 70 per cent of his assets to the three beneficiaries to uplift students and support education in Singapore.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text-primary font-tertiary-body-baseline-regular\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">He taught chemistry at Hwa Chong Institution and Bukit Panjang Government High School.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text-primary font-tertiary-body-baseline-regular\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">On Sept 4, cheques were presented to the three beneficiaries by the executors of Lee\u2019s will during a private reception.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text-primary font-tertiary-body-baseline-regular\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">Under his will, Lee left $500,000 to STSPMF, which helps children and youth from lower-income families with their schooling needs.\u00a0He also left $1.5 million each to NUS and NTU in honour of his father, Lee Sheng Li, who was an economics professor at both universities.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text-primary font-tertiary-body-baseline-regular\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">The executors of the will, Mok Kim Terng, 83, and another family friend who prefers to remain anonymous, met Lee 20 years ago at St John\u2019s \u2013 St Margaret\u2019s Church, where Mok is a volunteer.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text-primary font-tertiary-body-baseline-regular\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">Mok said Lee was inspired by his father\u2019s experience of growing up in Sichuan, China, without the means to pay for things.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text-primary font-tertiary-body-baseline-regular\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">Lee wanted to help others facing similar difficulties in Singapore, Mok added, noting that the pocket money fund was important in helping children at the start of their lives.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text-primary font-tertiary-body-baseline-regular\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">Tay Hwee Leng, general manager of STSPMF, said: \u201cWe are deeply grateful for Mr Victor Lee\u2019s generosity and foresight in remembering students in his will. His gift is a meaningful investment in the education journey of children and youth who may otherwise struggle with their everyday school expenses.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<figure class=\"landscape inline-media-wrapper\" data-testid=\"inline-media-test-id\">\n<div class=\"flex flex-col items-start relative w-fit\"><picture><source media=\"(max-width: 480px)\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cassette.sphdigital.com.sg\/image\/straitstimes\/e9af92cb66a775648118d6bc4136929def275376fc0288af8ffe88116b9bc35c?w=480\"\/><source media=\"(min-width: 481px) and (max-width: 720px)\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cassette.sphdigital.com.sg\/image\/straitstimes\/e9af92cb66a775648118d6bc4136929def275376fc0288af8ffe88116b9bc35c?w=720\"\/><source media=\"(min-width: 721px and max-width: 3999px)\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cassette.sphdigital.com.sg\/image\/straitstimes\/e9af92cb66a775648118d6bc4136929def275376fc0288af8ffe88116b9bc35c?w=900\"\/><source media=\"(min-width: 4000px)\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cassette.sphdigital.com.sg\/image\/straitstimes\/e9af92cb66a775648118d6bc4136929def275376fc0288af8ffe88116b9bc35c\"\/><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cassette.sphdigital.com.sg\/image\/straitstimes\/e9af92cb66a775648118d6bc4136929def275376fc0288af8ffe88116b9bc35c\" alt=\"(From left) Andy Loo of NUS, ST School Pocket Money Fund general manager Tay Hwee Leng, the executors of Victor Lee\u2019s will, other family friends, See E\u2019jin of NTU and lawyer Kee Lay Lian from Rajah &amp; Tann Singapore.\" class=\"aspect-landscape flex items-start shrink-0 object-cover landscape article-landscape mobile:w-auto tablet:w-auto\" data-testid=\"image-test-id\" loading=\"lazy\"\/><\/picture><\/div><figcaption class=\"mobile:mx-16 tablet:mx-00 pt-08 pb-16\">\n<p class=\"inline text-secondary font-secondary-captions-baseline-regular\" data-testid=\"inline-media-caption-test-id\">(From left) Andy Loo of NUS, ST School Pocket Money Fund general manager Tay Hwee Leng, the executors of Victor Lee\u2019s will, other family friends, See E\u2019jin of NTU and lawyer Kee Lay Lian from Rajah &amp; Tann Singapore.<\/p>\n<p class=\"inline text-tertiary font-secondary-captions-baseline-regular\" data-testid=\"inline-media-credit-test-id\"> <!-- -->ST PHOTO: KELVIN CHNG<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p class=\"text-primary font-tertiary-body-baseline-regular\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">Tay added that she hopes Lee\u2019s legacy will inspire others to consider how they can make a difference through giving.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text-primary font-tertiary-body-baseline-regular\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">Launched in 2000 as a community project initiated by The Straits Times, STSPMF helps families whose per capita gross monthly household income is not more than $1,000. The fund has helped<!-- --> <!-- -->more than 230,000 children and youth in need and provided more than $110 million in assistance.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text-primary font-tertiary-body-baseline-regular\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">Under the fund, a primary school pupil receives $65 a month, while a secondary school pupil receives $100. Students at ITE, junior colleges and polytechnics receive $125 a month.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<center><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.straitstimes.com\/singapore\/teacher-leaves-500000-to-st-school-pocket-money-fund-in-his-will\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Read Full Article At Source <\/a><br \/>\n<center\/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>SINGAPORE \u2013 Secondary school teacher Victor Lee left $3.5 million in his will to support education in Singapore, naming The Straits Times School Pocket Money&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":82195,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2611],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-82194","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-buzz-headlines","wpcat-2611-id"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82194","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=82194"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82194\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/82195"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=82194"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=82194"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=82194"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}