She and her family moved to Sri Lanka and India during World War II, where she received her education.
[1] After returning to Singapore, she attempted to register as a student at the then newly established School of Social Work.
The school then made an exception for her, admitting her the following year after she had spent the year exposing herself to social conditions in Singapore by teaching Domestic Science at the Singapore Chinese Girls' School and regularly visiting a creche and a youth club in People's Park.
While there, she studied sociology at the Universiti Sains Malaysia, where she obtained her Honours, Masters, and PhD degrees.
In 1986, she became a founding member of the Association of Women for Action and Research, and helped set up the organisation's helpline.