Forum Letter Replies
Special Education School Students Have Access to National Schools
In her letter “Special needs boy treated differently in Sec 1 posting” (The Straits Times, 4/1), Mrs Tan Lee Kiang asked why her son, who studied in a special education (SPED) school from Primary 6, was not posted to a secondary school of his choice in the Secondary One (S1) Posting Exercise after he received his Primary School Leaving Examination (PSLE) results.
SPED school students who pass their PSLE and are able to benefit from the mainstream curriculum can be admitted to our national secondary schools. However, because of their special learning needs, MOE tries to ensure that they are admitted to a school which has the necessary support to cater to their needs. Thus, a SPED school student who has sat for the PSLE and qualified for a course at the secondary level should approach the Ministry to facilitate his admission. If there are no vacancies in a secondary school of his or her choice, MOE will facilitate the student’s admission to a suitable school near his home.
We regret any misunderstanding that could have arisen in our communications with Mrs Tan. We have since contacted her so that we can assist in posting her son to a suitable secondary school. In the meantime, we will review our admission procedures to see how they can be further improved.
Director, School Planning and Placement Division
Special needs boy treated differently in Sec 1 posting (Mrs Tan Lee Kiang, The Straits Times, 4/1)
MY SON, who is 16 now, studied in a mainstream primary school until Primary 5 before being transferred to a special school for those with mild intellectual disabilities. He was unable to cope with English.
Last year, he took his Primary School Leaving Examination (PSLE) and scored an aggregate of 124, becoming eligible for the Normal Technical (NT) stream. But he was not posted to any of his six schools of choice.
My son’s school of first choice had an aggregate cut-off of 88. Besides, all the six schools he picked enrolled students in the NT stream with an aggregate range of 83 to 129. However, he was posted to a school with an aggregate range of 69 to 91.
We are upset that he has not been given the same treatment as his mainstream counterparts.
After he received his PSLE results, he was not given an application to select his secondary school. Upon inquiry, we were asked to register with the Ministry of Education (MOE) customer service, where staff assured that his registration would be based on his aggregate score and merit, like others who took the PSLE. His posting results clearly contradict that.
The mainstream students received their posting results on Dec 22 and were required to report to their posted secondary school the next day. During our registration at MOE customer service, the staff told us we could call on Dec 22 to check our son’s posting results, though he would receive them via mail only on Dec 23, one day after the mainstream students.
However, when we called MOE on Dec 22, we were told we had to wait for the mail. My son received his posting results on Dec 23 at 2pm. When we reported to the school he was posted to on Dec 24, we were told the deadline for mass appeal of transfer had closed on Dec 23 at 3pm and he was not eligible for appeal.
Singapore has always prided itself on its meritocratic education system. Why should a child with special needs—who has strived for his future and done as well as or better than some of his counterparts—be disadvantaged because he was not in the mainstream system?