Turned away by 20 schools
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Schools, in the East, says: No vacancy, wrong subject combination
This despite appeals by MP Teo Chee Hean, and Education Ministry
By Josephine Chew
TEARS of joy. Happy hugs. Sighs of relief for a hard-won N-level pass. That's what this girl could have had yesterday.
Instead, tears over what could have been. No-one to hug. No exam success to savour. All because she had to drop out of school this year - through no fault of her own.
Got your N-level result yesterday? Out celebrating today? Pause for a moment and consider her plight - and appreciate your good fortune.
Jane (not her real name) had to support herself because her stroke-afflicted father was unable to work.
The 16-year-old doesn't want her real name published because she doesn't want schoolmates to look down on her.
She wants to return to school. But, after sending letters to more than 20 schools in the East, she still hasn't secured a place.
For two months, her aunt has been trying to help her. Madam Jennifer Ang, 39, an accounts manager, has written on Jane's behalf to the Education Ministry.
She sought help from their MP, Rear-Admiral Teo Chee Hean, during a meet-the-people session two weeks ago.
All to no avail. Why?
'No vacancy.'
'Wrong subject combination.'
'We don't have enough space in our Mother Tongue classroom.'
The rejections came in a flurry.
Her only option is to return to her former school, Woodlands Ring Secondary, which still has a place for her.
The problem is, Madam Ang, with whom Jane has been staying since March, lives in Pasir Ris.
If all the schools in the vicinity continue to reject her, she will have to commute for more than three hours a day, two buses each way just to continue her studies.
'I'm very frustrated because I really want to study,' said a determined Jane who showed The New Paper the school work she has been keeping up with.
She even bought a new book on Physics (not one of her former subjects) that she has been studying for more than two hours a day in case she cannot get her Bio-Chem subject combination.
'But if no-one around here takes me in, I'm going to be exhausted all the time from the journey - how will I be able to do well then?' -
WHY DID SHE DROP OUT?
She was interviewed at her aunt's five-room HDB flat, that houses six people.
After her father suffered a stroke in April last year, he was in a coma and warded at Singapore General Hospital. It took him a year to recuperate and there was no-one to support the family.
Though he is home now, he can only potter around and cannot return to his job as a hotel chef. He used to earn nearly $2,000 a month.
Her housewife mother couldn't help either.
Jane's parents had had a bitter divorce in 1999. Both parents didn't know what was going on in Jane's life.
Her mum has since remarried and Jane gets to see her only occasionally.
NO MONEY FOR SCHOOL FEES
So when her father's Giro account that paid her school fees ran out of money, she decided she had to drop out of school.
It was a tough decision. And she regrets it dreadfully, said Jane, in tears.
In February, she started working 10-hour days as a supermarket helper in Yishun. She quit in October.
'It was a traumatic time for me. Dad was in a coma but I couldn't even see him because it was the Sars period,' said Jane, who aspires to be a tourism major at Temasek Polytechnic, and then study at the NTU.
'And I was only starting to come to terms with my parents' divorce. They didn't even tell me they had divorced. I found out only recently that my mother had remarried - I don't know when.'
She had been shipped off to live with her aunt and grandmother in Pasir Ris at age 10. It was only after she asked why she was no longer living with her parents that her father told her that they had divorced.
At 12, she moved back to Woodlands and continued her studies there, till she moved to Pasir Ris again.
Though she did fairly well in Secondary 1, she failed in Sec 2 because she fell into bad company.
'I couldn't stand going home and staring at the four walls. No-one was around, no-one knew what I was doing,' said Jane.
'Even when I stayed out all night, no-one said anything. My immediate family doesn't think education is important.'
But even so, she came to her senses in Sec 3 and made a startling comeback. From her 33.3 per cent grade in Sec 2, she achieved 54.3 per cent in Sec 3.
She shot up from last to 7th place in her class, and second last to 37th in a level of 106 pupils.
Teachers at Woodlands Ring Secondary School said it was a shame that she had dropped out.
'She was a good student and took a lot of initiative. If it were not for all her family problems and her dropping out, I think she would have done well in her N levels this year,' said her Sec 4 form teacher, Mr Sheikh Faraz Sheikh Rashid.
Jane and her aunt showed The New Paper the thick stack of papers - result slips, letters to and from schools, letters to and from MOE - as a show of their commitment to get Jane back at school.
Said her aunt: 'I'm shocked, I always thought that schools do what is best for the child. She's a good girl, considerate and independant - none of us even knew that she had had to drop out. But when I found out, I told her that she could stay with us.
'And if anyone gives her a chance to prove herself, she will succeed and I will support her till she finishes her studies.'
A principal of an all-girls school in the North who declined to be named was suprised.
She said: 'I hope it's not because the schools don't want to risk her being a blip in their banding results. I'd be happy to take her if she wants to commute here.
'She really shouldn't be penalised for having been unfocused during a difficult period in her life.'
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JUST TOO MUCH TO CATCH UP?
JANE and her aunt, Madam Jennifer Ang, 39, wrote to over 20 schools in the East.
Two schools - Pasir Ris Secondary and Siglap Secondary - gave Jane interviews at the Education Ministry's request.
But both said they were unable to give her a place because of different subject combinations and lack of space.
Her preference was for Chem-bio and Math Syllabus A while some of the schools had Physics-Chem and Math Syllabus E.
'It wouldn't be educationally sound to slot her in at the graduating level,' said Pasir Ris Secondary principal Cheng Hwee Yeang.
Would that be so even if she were willing to study the Physics component of the Chem-Physics paper on her own, as she is doing now?
'There would just be too much to catch up - you really can't cram two years of work into six months. Now, if she wants to come in at a non-graduating level, we could still consider her,' Madam Cheng said.
Coral Secondary, the school to which Defence Minister and Pasir Ris GRC MP Rear-Admiral Teo Chee Hean wrote, appealing for Jane, gave a similar explanation.
Said its principal, Madam Veronica Ng: 'She takes two different subjects from what is offered in my Normal academic classes.
'This means the child will have difficulties coping with the two differing subjects at Sec 4 level.'
Coral Secondary is of one of the schools that has produced a top scoring Normal Tech student this year.
But Jane and Madam Ang do not agree with the principal's sentiments. Jane feels she can catch up on her own, since she is already putting in an effort to learn Physics.
But five principals who spoke to The New Paper said it would still be difficult as she would have to sit out the normal class lessons for other students.
TUITION NO GUARANTEE
They also said that taking tuition is no guarantee for her success as students who have had an entire year of Physics school lessons were already taking tuition and struggling to cope.
When approached by The New Paper, MOE gave the assurance that it has procedures in place to help dropouts seeking readmission.
Said a spokesman: 'MOE is... checking with other schools whether they can accept her.
'There might be some delay in processing her case by the schools as schools usually reserve some vacancies for their repeat students at the Sec 4 level.
'There might also be some difficulties matching her subject combinations. MOE would, however, continue to work with our schools to seek a place for her admission by end December 2004.' -
Seriously, if she really wants to study.
What's stopping her from going back to Woodlands Ring?
So she will spend 3 hours to and fro on travelling time. So? I'm doing this, my sister is doing this, and many other people too, (and we'll not that hell-bent on wanting to study either).
If we who are without faith can do it, i'm sure it shouldn't be much of a problem for her, since she's so determined. -
too bad
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tt's the problem wif our education policy. Schools look down on Normal Academic pupils. They think tt they r slow, lazy, cause disciplinary problems, and stupid and tts y refuse to let them take the so-call "express subjects" (bio, pure science, A maths etc) Coming frm the Normal Acad stream myself, i can safely say that the education ministry shld do sumthing
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no leh depends mah maybe she still need to work while study. u travel 3 hours cause u no need to work mah to working and studying people 3 hrs daily is quite a lot of time ok
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Peasants can't study because of lack of money? Then what is our govt doing by giving out scholarships and sponsorships to foreigners from China to study in Sillypore?
(WHO'S NEXT TO BE TREATED LIKE A PEASANT IN SILLYPORE?!
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i think thats not a very fair thing to say. u don't have to look after a bed-ridden father, your mom is still at home with the family and u don't have to work to support the whole family.Originally posted by _Aaron_:Seriously, if she really wants to study.
What's stopping her from going back to Woodlands Ring?
So she will spend 3 hours to and fro on travelling time. So? I'm doing this, my sister is doing this, and many other people too, (and we'll not that hell-bent on wanting to study either).
If we who are without faith can do it, i'm sure it shouldn't be much of a problem for her, since she's so determined. -
KNN if i have to travel 3 hours to study, i might as well camp in school.Originally posted by HENG@:i think thats not a very fair thing to say. u don't have to look after a bed-ridden father, your mom is still at home with the family and u don't have to work to support the whole family.
(WHO'S NEXT TO CAMP IN SCHOOL?! ) -
*sees cooleo camping in his sch with a big big Artic AWP*Originally posted by cooleo:KNN if i have to travel 3 hours to study, i might as well camp in school.
(WHO'S NEXT TO CAMP IN SCHOOL?! )
(WHOS NEXT TO CAMP IN SCHOOL WITH AWP?! ) -
WHOS NEXT TO LOOK DOWN ON NORMAL ACAD STUDENTS?!
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I think that some schools are more concerned with polishing up their image than really helping a student that needs help.Since she is willing to put in the effort to learn Physics, why not give her a place.After all, whether she passes or fails Physics is immaterial.What's important is that she gets a place to study , which is convenient for her and her job.This girl's life is already quite unfortunate, yet her wish to study is not heard.It's silly bureaucracy which is to blame for her predicament.
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Can she try for private candidate? I think got minimum age requirement. Any private candidites can share?
There is O / N level preparation courses offered by ITE either at ITE centre or certain sch, but limited combination and venues. Can also try self help group like sinda, mendaki or CDAC for tuition class. Fees there are cheaps, 100 plus per semster or even free if got financial problems.
I think in SG, there is still alot of red tape and some time the top ppls may not understand how the whole system work. On one hand you rank the school and its administrators, then you expect a sch to accept any student and run the risk of being rank low. Yes the student was good, and dropout not bcoz of discipline prob, but who is willing to take the risk, remember there is 6 mths gap, except her former sch who know her or a sch run by educators.
3 hrs of travelling is siong lar. Must as well use that for revision. -
Well, since no one was posting on this topic, decided to spice it up a bit.~Originally posted by HENG@:i think thats not a very fair thing to say. u don't have to look after a bed-ridden father, your mom is still at home with the family and u don't have to work to support the whole family.
And of course i don't have to do all those, just talking about the distance part Only..~ -
not a nice way to spice it up...Originally posted by _Aaron_:Well, since no one was posting on this topic, decided to spice it up a bit.~
And of course i don't have to do all those, just talking about the distance part Only..~