It has been done before in the past before the ez-link card era
where students are issued with a seperate student pass and use a
seperate fare card to pay for transport. Concession pass holders
simply bought stamps and paste on the student pass. Its actually
the same in the past; BCs & inspectors have the right to demand
to see the student pass when they suspect misuse and it can be
confiscated too - I have mine confiscated before cos my face didn;t
really match the photo btw and it caused some inconvenience getting
it back. It was also permitted as the card was issued by
TransitLink, not MOE alone. The student pass like the current
ez-link could also be used to borrow library books etc.
However back then, in my opinion students didn;t make a lot of
noise cos the concession still remains, they could simply continue
using the card as long as another suspicious BC/TI demands for
their student pass, for which they could just claim ignorance and
pay adult fare for that one trip alone.
The student pass/national ID is USELESS when it comes to
verification during important events such as national exams. I
recall vividly that my teacher stressed over and over again that
ez-link card is not accepted during the GCE exams - its NRIC or one
has to find the chief examiner and beg her to sign a slip to act as
a temp ID. It is also definitely not accepted to gain entry into
important installations such as MINDEF (it used to, and was
promptly stopped when it was discovered that it may pose a security
lapse).
There is the official NLB library card to borrow books in lieu of
the ez-link card (or student pass back then) and its issued free of
charge. I'm sure that there is an alternate way to access school
systems in lieu of the barcode as its a pretty unreliable method of
authentication, its just that the students might find it a hassle
to approach the relevant teacher in charge and so claim that
ez-link card is the 'only' way.
Nobody said about bringing that huge laminated piece of paper
called a BC around everywhere and everytime - its only on specific
occassions where one is informed beforehand that it is
required.
Thus it is in my personal opinion that confiscation of the card
doesn't really affects the life of students that much, its just
that most are disgruntled at having to pay adult fares until the
card is returned to them.
The identification function as I explained earlier is limited and
there are alternatives available. It would also take like at most
2weeks for it to be returned and not months. It is also hard for
MOE as a government ministry to issue such peripherals which is
best handled by a seperate company in partnership. (I can vouch
that there is a heck lot of costs etc alone in setting up a new
card production centre as it isn;t as easy as just printing,
pasting and issuing).
In addition, I didn't even mention anything about the Straits
Times, so don't assume and put words into my mouth. Papers could
mean everything from The Sun to Wall Street Journal. Factual
reporting is in my opinion better than ungrounded and unsupported
online articles, and commentaries aren't what newspapers are for -
they are merely a side.
I don't work for the public transport sector either; I just don't
see the logic behind your reasoning and your horribly flawed
interpretation of terms. The *ouch* of having to paying adult fare
asides, I don't really see how the confiscation of a "national" ID
have so much impact on student's lives.
