Principal wants 100% pass, advises girls to take ITE route

From the Straits Times, dated 12 Jan 2008

Sec 5 class advised: Go to ITE instead

Excerpts

Principal tells students that they are unlikely to do well at O levels

A group of 27 girls in a Secondary 5 class in a mission school - which shall remain unnamed - were advised by their principal on the first day of school last week to seek transfers to the Institute of Technical Education (ITE), since they were unlikely to do well in the O levels this year.

To back her point, she even flashed the girls' detailed N-level grades on the board in class using an overhead projector; she also stressed that she wanted 100 per cent passes in her school.

The result: teens with punctured self-confidence and some fuming parents.

The girls, who had done well enough in last year's N-level examinations to get to Sec 5, were looking to repeat their good performance at the O levels this year and move on to the polytechnics.

Those with strong N-level results had a new option this year: They could have skipped Sec 5 and headed for higher-level technical courses at ITE, but the deadline for applications closed on Jan 2.


The Principal's Side of the Story

Principal's stance

THE school principal told The Straits Times yesterday she was merely trying to give her girls a 'wake-up call' when she spoke to them on the first day of school.

She confirmed that she had used an overhead projector to display the girls' results, but that it was to impress on them that they would have to work hard to qualify for a place in the polytechnics….

……When given the principal's side of the story, two of the parents interviewed said that if all she wanted was to give the girls a wake-up call, she could have done it differently.

One parent said: 'I would have preferred it if she had called the parents in and given them the hard facts, instead of destroying the confidence of the girls.'

Any comments from anyone?