I am an alumnus of MacPherson Secondary School (MSS), which was built in 1967.

In 2003, the school merged with Woodsville Secondary School, and the merged entity started operating in a new building next door, while the old school compound was closed.

In 2016, MSS alumni were invited to visit their alma mater and were given a guided tour of the new school building's layout and the facilities within.

We could see the vast investments sunk into it and we appreciated the Government's efforts in providing the best in education.

Yet, when I next visited MSS this month, that school building had been flattened to make way for a condominium.

The irony is that the old school building built in 1967 is still standing, after 53 years. From 2003 until recent years, it had been used as a holding school.

In 2017, due to falling enrolment, MSS was merged with Broadrick Secondary School - this I can understand. But I had expected the vacated new building to be reconfigured for other purposes. It was, after all, built only less than 20 years ago.

A 2017 Straits Times article reported International Property Advisor's chief executive Ku Swee Yong as saying that an efficient use of space would be to make the buildings available for other educational needs, such as polytechnic continuing education classes for working adults (Compounds left empty after schools merge, Feb 10, 2017).

"This (could be) a fantastic chance for us to greatly expand our capabilities in education," he said.

It was a sound suggestion for our policymakers.

The SkillsFuture programme had just started two years before that and all Singaporeans were encouraged to upskill and reskill. For it to succeed, many professionally enriching courses or training programmes were required.

Suitable training venues would also have been needed - well-equipped classroom set-ups, central in location and, better still, near MRT stations.

The MSS building would have been an ideal site.

With the downward trend in Singapore's population growth, there will likely be further school closures and mergers.

I hope that vacated school premises returned to the state will be given a new lease of life.

Demolition ought to be the last resort for buildings that still have economic value.

Tay Kian Tiong