Top student in PSLE this year from China
November 26, 2009
The top student in this year’s Primary School Leaving
Examination (PSLE) is a China national Qiu Biqing, 13,
from Qifa Primary School, who achieved an aggregate
score of 290, with four A*s and a Distinction in Higher
Chinese.
She could barely speak any English when she moved here from
China in 2006 with her family.
Her father, Mr Qiu Guo Hua, 45, is a research fellow at the
National University of Singapore, and her mother, Madam Xie
Xiaojin, 42, is a research assistant there. It is not known if they
are PRs or citizens.
Six other top PSLE students are also from neighbourhood schools.
These primary schools include South View, Greenridge, Gongshang and
Rulang.
The number of China students studying in Singapore’s schools is
not revealed by the Ministry of Education. Besides those already
studying in Singapore, a number of them come on government
scholarships to pursue their tertiary education in Singapore.
While Channel News Asia made no mention of Qiu’s
nationality, it was highlighted by the Straits Times which has been
trying hard to revamp the image of China nationals working and
living in Singapore.
Yesterday, the Straits Times gave prominent coverage to
a Fu Yun, a new citizen from China who was awarded the “Good
Neighbour Award” by the People’s Association though there are four
other recipients.
Ghost writers have also appeared frequently on the
Straits Times Forum defending the new migrants from China. After an
Australian tourist wrote in to complain about a China service staff
who could not speak English, the Straits Times published a leter
from a Singapore Indian a few days later sharing his positive
experience with a PRC customer service staff.
Due to the declining birth rate among locals, the ruling party
is trying hard to increase the population via immigration
especially from China and India to maintain the racial balance in
Singapore.
About 76 per cent of Singapore’s populations are made up of
ethnic Chinese. They usually have less children per head than the
Malays. In Malaysia, Chinese now consists only 25 per cent of the
population, down from 40 per cent in 1957 when Malaysia attained
independence.
Though Singapore is predominantly a Chinese society, the ethnic
Singapore Chinese has more in common with the Singapore Malays and
Indians than the mainland Chinese.
Singapore Hokkien is a hybrid of the native Min-nanese dialect
from Xiamen and Bahasa Malaysia. Singapore Chinese are also more
accustomed to Malay food such as Mee Rebus, Mee Siam, Lotong and
culture than those from central and northern China where the
newcomers are largely from.
Unlike other developed countries like Australia, Canada and
United Kingdom, the Singapore government is very liberal or lax in
its immigration policies. There are few criteria imposed on PR
applicants such as their length of stay in the country or their
fluency in the English language.
In the United
Kingdom, one has to stay there continuously for a period of five
years before one can even apply for a PR while for Australia, one
must stay two out of five years in the country.
There seems to be no such restrictions in Singapore. One
China
national by the name of Zhang
Yuanyuan who caused a furore in Singapore
blogosphere lately with her public, if not outrageous proclamation
of her allegiance to China revealed that she got her PR within 2 months of
application after she started work as a Chinese language teacher in
a private school. Zhang originally came to Singapore on a student’s
pass with only a diploma from an unknown institution in
China.
For
prospective Singaporeans who wish to work in Australia or Cananda,
they must first pass a basic English proficiency test here at their
own expense. Over in Singapore, one need not pass any language
tests to apply for PR or citizenship. In fact, the Singapore
government is so generous that it will provide free language
courses for the newcomers out of a $10-million Community
Integration Fund.
Ms Qiu will be continuing her secondary education at Raffles
Girls School and she is likely to excel in her academic studies.
However, it is a big question mark if she will pursue her
tertiary education in Singapore or even stay on in Singapore after
she completes her studies.
Like many of her compatriots from China, she may decide
either to return to China or seek greener pastures elsewhere.
Singapore may end up “incubating” talents for other countries
rather than winning and keeping their hearts here.
