Wednesday, October 11, 2006

The recent outbreak of norovirus in schools here has brought up what I believe to be a key concern among many Singaporeans: What happens to pupils who are much too ill to take part in examinations? Especially when it comes to nation-wide examinations like PSLE or 'O' Levels. What are the procedures in place to ensure that students with valid reasons are not short-changed?

Despite the assurances of the ministry that pupils affected would be scored in a fair manner, many students who were clearly sick and in no state to attempt the papers still turned up for them. It may simply be kiasu-ism at play, but the concerns of students and parents alike are valid. How exactly are the students scored? What constitutes fair scoring? The ministry has not revealed its formula for calculating scores in such cases to the public. Questions still rankle. Would the ministry take into account the CCA records of the student? Or simply use academic scores? Would achievements outside of academic and co-curricular activites be considered?

Granted, that this is the first time that a disease outbreak has occured in the same period as national examinations. But surely the ministry should have anticipated something of this nature to crop up, especially in this post-SARS climate. The health of the students should come first, not the examinations. Making the intricacies of the scoring system public, and putting it through the rigours of public scrutiny can only strengthen the public's faith in the ministry.

i heard the crickets at 5:59 pm

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