ISB Advertising: Ministry of Education

Since April 2016, PC3785T has carried advertising for MOE, encouraging students to join them as teachers.

Until 2019, this advertisement was green, and featured MOE’s “Shaping the Nation” campaign, with the text “Your classes may be forgotten. Your lessons will never be.” on both sides.

A link was provided to moe.gov.sg/teach, which directs viewers to the MOE webpage for applications to join them as a teacher.

The black “YOU” seemingly graffitied onto the rear of the bus is an intentional part of the design and not an act of vandalism. According to the driver of this bus, even his colleagues have asked him about it before! The original version of the green advertisement did not feature it; it was a later addition.

In January 2020, with the new year, the advertisement was replaced with a new MOE ad, in a striking yellow colour reminiscent of school publicity materials. This ad is a lot “cleaner”, with less clutter. The front and rear now simply feature the MOE logo and the words “Ministry of Education Singapore”, but the logo on the front is slightly off centre.

The offside ad text reads “Change the future. Yours and theirs.” But with the “o” represented as a pair of lobes (in a brain?), the large word ended up looking like “Chonge” instead.

Meanwhile, the nearside text in Helvetica reads “A life of learning. It all begins with a teacher.” The link for moe.gov.sg/teach is still provided.

In January 2022, the ad was updated yet again. The new ad is again yellow but a lighter shade, and the MOE logo is rendered in pure black and yellow instead of the full-colour version. At least it’s centred now!

The offside no longer has “Chonge”, instead featuring the slogan “Teach lessons that outlast classes”, accompanied by cartoon images of a watering can (the teacher?) and a flowerpot (the student?).

As with the 2020 ad, the nearside is a lot blander. This ad replaces “A lifetime of learning” with “Values that last a lifetime” in green. The windows behind the exit door still say “It all begins with a teacher”, but they were not reused from the previous ad – they are now in Arial instead of Helvetica.