同善堂中學歷史悠久，它的前身是同善堂義學。義學始於1924年，為貧民而設，初時只收男童，但關於這所義學的歷史多語焉不詳，故本文嘗試探索該義學早期的一些發展。本文於論述時盡可能以原始資料為依據，筆者先是從《華僑報》篩查和整理與同善堂義學相關的報導，再檢閱《澳門政府公報》和澳門檔案館的檔案資料，並參用同善堂歷史檔案陳列館庋藏的已數字化的各類文物、檔案和文獻，其中亦包括近年出版的三種史料叢刊。筆者探究的主要是該校從創辦到新小學校舍啟用後的一些具體情況，諸如經費的籌措、義學校的管理、學生和教員的基本情形，以及校務的拓展等，並藉此了解前賢為社會育才的善舉，以及義學對推動澳門普及教育的貢獻。

Escola Tung Sin Tong, a long-established school, is descended from a gratuitous school named Escola Gratuita "Tong Sin Tong" founded in 1924 for impoverished boys. However, the history of this gratuitous school is not clear in many aspects. This paper attempts to explore the early development of this gratuitous school. First-hand reference materials were used as much as possible in this paper. The author first screened all news related to Tung Sin Tong released in Jornal Va Kio, then searched the Macau Official Gazette, retrieved the archives collected in Macau Archives, and also used various types of artifacts, archives, and documents collected and digitized by Tung Sin Tong Historical Archive Exhibition Hall, including three historical documentary albums published in recent years. The author probed into many details of the school, from its establishment to the opening of a new primary school building, such as fundraising, the school management, the general situation of students and teachers, and the expansion of this school in terms of its scale and general affairs, so as to understand the good deeds of the community leaders in nurturing talents for the society and the contribution of the gratuitous school to the promotion of universal education in Macao.