Worried parent writes to
minister and gets personal replY
I Bv Lnow SI WnN
SHE did not expect a letter she had writ-
ten to the Education Minister to go viral.
But that is what happened, and now
Ms Monica Lim, 41, who also Posted the
letter on her blog and Faceboo! page, said
she is overwhelmed by the responses.
In her letter, she had called for the ed-
ucation system here to be overhauled,
and voiced her concerns that it was one
obsessed with results.
She also said schools here were in-
creasingly run like businesses, and that
the strong focus on results had stifled
creativity and other talents.
The owner of a communications agen-
"I amvery flatteredbut very sur-
cy said:
prised. From talking to friends, I know
that there were people who felt like me,
but I did not expect the flood of e-mail,
messages and comments I have received
from people who share the same
" thoughts. "
The mother of two children - Les-
ley-Anne Tan, 14, and Andre, 1O -
wrote the letter last month.
She said: "These are not new con-
cerns. I have writtpn to the Ministry of
Education previously, but received no re-
plies.
"But after the General Election, when
the Prime Minister said they would lis-
ten to our thoughts, I decided to put my
thoughts together and send another let-
ter.tt
Having two children with differing
abilities - her daughter excels academi-
cally, while her son is sports-oriented -
has enabled her to see how the current
system allows only a certain type of stu-
dent to thrive.
Her son. she felt, would do better in a
system which allowed him to explore
more areas and which cultivated his crea-
tivity and individuality.
Education Minister Heng Swee Keat
has responded. In his first reply, he said
he was in his first week of work, and was
in the process of "studying the many ob-
servations and suggestions" he had re-
ceived.
She then asked him to look at the
many comments the letter had attracted
on her Facebook page.
She said: "I got another response. He
said that everyone of us wanted to do
what was best for our children.
"He went on to say that while not eve-
ry wish could be met, we could achieve
more if we, the parents, teachers, educa-
tors, policymakers, worked in partner-
ship."
She added her letter had achieved its
objectives. "Realistically, I know he can-
not promise any more because he is new
and needs to study the system. His re-
sponse seems genuine, and i am glad
that my letter has got his attention and
generated awareness of policies which
should be changed."
Also see Fornm, Pago 439