Impact on My Life

The year was 1980. I was going through a rough patch in my early school years. Having gone through 2 operations for hernia, I missed quite a few classes. I was falling back on my school work & resulted in me not doing well in my subjects. My form teacher then was teaching me Chinese lessons. I can still visualise her image but unable to put a name to the figure. She wasn't giving up hope on me. She brought me back to her home and  gave me personal tuitions on a few subjects. I was naive  and playful and did not appreciate the efforts. I failed my Primary 4 year end exams. The image of a disappointed teacher still haunts me till today.

That very same year, MOE introduced a new scheme for failures like me. I was transferred to the Extended Stream the following year. Students from different schools around the district who failed their final exams the previous year were placed in a new class. We were the pioneers who had to undergo 8 years in Primary School. The students in my class were all from different schools, except me and another student- Mervyn Koh. Not surprisingly though, the entire class were boys.

With my new found commitment to do well, I started my journey with all my new found classmates. I did well from then onwards but was often haunted by the fact that I spent 8 years in Primary School. I even took the PSLE exams in the same year with my brother who was 2 years my junior.