PSLE Results
It is the time of the year when parents of Primary 6 students have to make the all-important decision of choosing Secondary Schools. Three years ago, I went through this process without questioning. With the benefit of hindsight, I now question the rationale for requiring parents to make this very important decision without the benefit of the most important piece of information - the PSLE results. We have all attended briefing by the Primary School, attended Open Houses of Secondary Schools and seen the ranking of Secondary Schools in the press. But all this information cannot help us make the choice without the critical information - our child's PSLE results.
It seems to me that this pre-selection is to provide the MOE with the lead-time for administrative processes since no posting can take place anyway before results are known. In the past, only those students in the top 10% were given a second option to reselect the Secondary School. However, the rest of the 90% did not have this opportunity. Ironically, it is this 90% group of students that would face difficulty getting into the school of their choice. Hence, they would have a greater need for a second chance. I was aware of several cases where parents would have made different choices with the benefit of their children's actual results.
With today's Information Technology, I believe the paperwork can be reduced so that everyone (besides the top 10%) has the chance to make informed decisions. In fact, parents should be allowed to access their children's results and submit their choice of schools over the Internet wherever they are and not have to be physically in Singapore.
One common difficulty that most parents face in judging their children's performance in PSLE is predicting the Mother Tongue (Chinese) results. This contributes a big swing factor to the final score. We, as parents could overestimate the child's ability to perform under intense exam pressure, thereby adding to the mounting pressure to achieve the results needed to meet the selected school's cut-off point. In a sense, we have to take a gamble with the pre-selection. PSLE examination is round the corner, there is stress on both parents and students. Do we need more?
I am aware several parents, including myself, have communicated the above concerns to the MOE well ahead of this time for the school selection. I hope the MOE would empathise with the parents' dilemma and carefully review the policy. If the MOE in its wisdom decide not to change its policy in this matter, I hope it will explain to parents the rationale for this decision. The schools certainly could not give me any reasons other than saying it is MOE's policy.
I hope that this letter will generate a healthy exchange of views between the MOE, schools, parents and even the students themselves so that a fair if not win-win policy can be applied for all.
Mrs Lim