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.'
