Student Denied PSLE Cert Cuz Of $156 Overdue Fees; Stranger Helps To Pay It

2019-11-27 , 10:00 am

Imagine this:

You’re 12 again, and you’re lining up to receive your Primary School Leaving Examination (PSLE) certificate.

“Ye boi,” you utter to yourself. “You’re gonna own this. The teacher’s gonna look at you like you’re the second coming of Albert Einstein and the third coming of Nathan Hartono.”

You breathe in.

“Sike.”

Slowly but surely, the queue thinned out, and before you know it you’re face to face with your favourite teacher Ms Seah.

Oh Ms Seah, you thought. If you were like 20 years younger, I would totally like, date you. We would go playing in playgrounds and enjoy ice pops together. If only-

“Reader Tan,” she said. “Are you spacing out again?”

You come back to life, distinctly embarrassed.

“Sorry Ms Seah,” you mumble sheepishly before extending your hands like a prisoner on death row reaching for his last meal. “How did I fare?”

“Well erm about that…” she couldn’t quite meet your eyes as she said that. “I can’t quite give you your certificate yet.”

“WHY? DID I REALLY DO THAT HORRIBLY?”

“Well, it’s abysmal, to say the least, but no that’s not the reason. The reason’s because…”

She spoke, and your world thinned out.

You’re not getting your certificate… because you can’t afford it.

Student Denied PSLE Certificate Cuz Of $156 Overdue Fees

Now, the introductory paragraph might be a slight bit exaggerated, but the gist is true:

A student was unable to collect her PSLE certificate because she had accumulated “backlogged school fees” amounting to some $156.

According to reports, the incident occurred last Thursday (21 Nov), during which Primary 6 students all around the country headed down to collect their PSLE certificates.

A Kind Samaritan

Thankfully, a kind samaritan caught wind of the student’s troubles and successfully managed to bail her out.

This is in accordance with a Facebook post by one Gilbert Koh, who chronicled the entire fiasco on the social media site.

Lest you can’t read, here’s a transcript of the text in question:

“Felt really upset when someone told me that her daughter could not get hold of her PSLE report card as the student owns a backlogged school fee of $156 due to financial reason.

She only managed to get hold of the photostated copy of her PSLE result – rubbing salt into the wound of poverty.

Fortunately, a Good Samaritan paid for her school fee and she managed to acquire the actual PSLE certificate recently which she will need to produce when applying for admission into a secondary school.

I wonder how many poor Singaporean students could not get hold of their actual PSLE report card when they owed school fees due to their adverse family situation.

Moreover, it is also not alot of money owed but the shame in getting a photostated copy of the PSLE result slip must have weighed heavily on the shoulders of those who are poor and needy when most of their peers have the genuine ones.

We spent tens of millions annually on scholarship and bursaries for foreigner students but yet there is apparent neglect to care for our own!

Shame on you MOE!

NB:- if your child could not get hold of the genuine PSLE certificate due to owed school fees, please let us know – we would like to help. We will pay directly to the MOE via AXS so we need a copy of the actual bill of school fee owed.”

And lest you’re a serial TL;DR campaigner, here’s the rough gist of it:

Mr Goh learnt that someone’s daughter was unable to get her PSLE report card, as the student owns a backlogged school fee due to financial reasons
She only managed to get a photostated copy of her PSLE result
Thankfully, a good samaritan paid for her school fee, and she successfully attained her certificate
Mr Goh wonders just how many are in such a plight
He writes on how the poor and needy seem to be neglected in such a case, when Singapore spends tens of millions annually on scholarships and bursaries for foreign students
Mr Goh offers assistance to children who face such difficulties

Netizens Simulate The Protestors Of Hong Kong

After news broke out, Netizens turned up in swarms on Mr Goh’s Facebook post, and not-so-subtly began to air their dissent and dissonance in the tightly fitted boxes of a Facebook text space. Unsurprisingly, much of the anger’s directed towards the kingpins first made famous in the I Not Stupid franchise:

The Ministry of Education.

But if there’s a silver lining, it’s that all the furore’s online, and nothing’s lethal.