SINGAPORE — The practice of withholding a pupil’s results slip due to fee arrears accumulated by his parents will be reviewed for all levels. This will be completed before the release of the next Primary School Leaving Examination (PSLE) results, Education Minister Ong Ye Kung said on Monday (Jan 6).

In a written response to parliamentary questions filed by Members of Parliament Teo Ho Pin (Bukit Panjang) and Lim Biow Chuan (Mountbatten), Mr Ong acknowledged that this practice may cause embarrassment or awkwardness to the pupil through no fault of his and may also not be fully effective in urging parents to pay off miscellaneous fees owed. 

“We do not want the children to bear responsibility for the arrears accumulated by their parents,” Mr Ong said. He announced in December last year that the practice of withholding PSLE results slips over unpaid school fees would be reviewed. 

A petition to revise the longstanding practice was set up in November after activist Gilbert Goh claimed in a Facebook post that a girl who owed S$156 in school fees due to financial difficulties had received a photocopy of her PSLE results slip rather than the original. 

The petition has accumulated more than 9,000 signatures so far.

Responding to the specific case of the girl whose family owed S$156, Mr Ong said that he looked into the pupil’s situation and noted that her parents were given a copy of the application form for MOE’s financial assistance scheme but they did not apply. 

“On the day of the PSLE results, she had received her results in the same way as everyone else, except hers was a copy. Teachers did not observe her to feel embarrassed or emotionally affected. She has since been successfully placed in a secondary school of her choice near her home,” he said. 

Her parents have also since applied for financial aid.

Around 2 per cent of each primary school cohort every year do not apply for financial assistance and still accumulate arrears. Last year, 645 students were in such a situation.

Mr Ong, who had earlier privately responded to the petition owner Terence Tan as well as other members of the public, reiterated several of the key points he made then in Parliament. 

As school fees are highly subsidised, the monthly cash payment for primary schools are low. Parents pay S$6.50 for miscellaneous fees, with another S$6.50 paid by Edusave, he said.

“But a small payment is still required, to demonstrate that as parents and families, we have a part to play. In fact, most families take this payment very seriously, and it inculcates in children the value of commitment and playing our part, however small,” Mr Ong said.

Some parents still end up accumulating arrears but may apply for the financial assistance scheme to help cover these fees.

“There is a view that it is difficult to apply for financial assistance in school. However, the application process is not difficult. When families need assistance, teachers and staff would help in filling up the forms,” he said, noting that a large proportion of the form is to “tick the menu of assistance required”.

The results slip is withheld only as a last resort, Mr Ong added, stressing that schools are sensitive to this and will ensure that everyone gets their results slip “the same way”.