Review points for Higher Mother Tongue
THE way the Education Ministry computes the points of O-level subjects for entry into junior college gives students offering Higher Mother Tongue an unfair advantage.
First, Higher Mother Tongue can be used to replace English as a compulsory subject.
Second, the student can offer standard Mother Tongue in place of any other O-level subject in the computation.
Third, a distinction for Higher Mother Tongue means the student can deduct two points for JC entry.
Fourth, students who pass Higher Mother Tongue do not have to study the subject in JC. This frees up their time, which gives them an advantage.
In other words, a student's ability in one subject is effectively computed more than once for JC entry. No other subject enjoys such a benefit.
Why is there such an emphasis on Mother Tongue when English is the main medium of instruction? Why penalise good students who may be weak in their Mother Tongue?
The Education Ministry needs to review the emphasis on Higher Mother Tongue and do away with the two-point deduction for JC entry. Higher Mother Tongue and Mother Tongue should be used only once in the point computation for entry into JC.
Ivy Tan Siew Hoon (Ms)
Not easy to recover ez-link deposit
RECOVERING the $2 remaining on my PAssion ez-link card has been a frustrating experience.
I visited one MRT station only to be told to go to another station. I was then referred to EZ-Link as the Passion ez-link card could not be processed at an MRT station.
I called EZ-Link and was told to contact the People's Association (PA). The PA officer said I needed to go to a community centre.
He also suggested that I use the balance at participating merchants. I tried to do this but was told that my card was unreadable.
So, on Jan 26, I went to a community centre.
I opted to have the balance transferred to my new card. This involved processing by the PA followed by 28 working days for EZ-Link to deal with my application. After that, I would have to apply for the transfer at an AXS machine.
My ez-link card was retained but no receipt was issued.
On Feb 6, I spoke to PA officers over the phone. It was then that I realised the community centre had made errors when inputting my application into a spreadsheet. It had also failed to return my card to the PA for cancellation.
This experience makes me wonder how many PAssion cardholders forfeited their deposits due to the obstacles faced in recovering them.
Beatrice Tang (Ms)
THE way the Education Ministry computes the points of O-level subjects for entry into junior college gives students offering Higher Mother Tongue an unfair advantage.
First, Higher Mother Tongue can be used to replace English as a compulsory subject.
Second, the student can offer standard Mother Tongue in place of any other O-level subject in the computation.
Third, a distinction for Higher Mother Tongue means the student can deduct two points for JC entry.
Fourth, students who pass Higher Mother Tongue do not have to study the subject in JC. This frees up their time, which gives them an advantage.
In other words, a student's ability in one subject is effectively computed more than once for JC entry. No other subject enjoys such a benefit.
Why is there such an emphasis on Mother Tongue when English is the main medium of instruction? Why penalise good students who may be weak in their Mother Tongue?
The Education Ministry needs to review the emphasis on Higher Mother Tongue and do away with the two-point deduction for JC entry. Higher Mother Tongue and Mother Tongue should be used only once in the point computation for entry into JC.
Ivy Tan Siew Hoon (Ms)
Not easy to recover ez-link deposit
RECOVERING the $2 remaining on my PAssion ez-link card has been a frustrating experience.
I visited one MRT station only to be told to go to another station. I was then referred to EZ-Link as the Passion ez-link card could not be processed at an MRT station.
I called EZ-Link and was told to contact the People's Association (PA). The PA officer said I needed to go to a community centre.
He also suggested that I use the balance at participating merchants. I tried to do this but was told that my card was unreadable.
So, on Jan 26, I went to a community centre.
I opted to have the balance transferred to my new card. This involved processing by the PA followed by 28 working days for EZ-Link to deal with my application. After that, I would have to apply for the transfer at an AXS machine.
My ez-link card was retained but no receipt was issued.
On Feb 6, I spoke to PA officers over the phone. It was then that I realised the community centre had made errors when inputting my application into a spreadsheet. It had also failed to return my card to the PA for cancellation.
This experience makes me wonder how many PAssion cardholders forfeited their deposits due to the obstacles faced in recovering them.
Beatrice Tang (Ms)
