DSA Appeal 2011

[samontheway]

micko07:

samontheway:

Since some friends here talks alot about \"immoral, disloyal or unfair\", what about S1 appeal? any difference between them in terms of immoral or disloyalty or unfairness?

The difference is that in taking up a DSA CO, you have essentially committed yourself to attending that particular school in advance, possibly depriving other deserving applicants of a DSA CO at the same time. S1 appeal cases have not.

Sry, I don't think so.
1. number for dsa or s1 is fixed and seperated. for a 420-case, 210 for dsa, 180 for s1 and 30 for S1 buffer. Moreover, 50 of 210 are for wl.
2. different cca has different budget, it's almost impossible for a netball place to deprive a string ensemble one. vice versa.
3. according to MOE website, Co is basically an offer; accepting an offer means the one would not participate S1. Neither primary school principal nor open-house organizer talked about the \"no transfer allowed\". (I did not attend the HCI one since it's a boy school.) Actually, this topic is mentioned on 22 oct-- 3 months after open-house. Before we went to appeal, we had the suggestion from our primary principal, then we paid to fill in the appeal form.
4. thanks for any consolation and encouragement if my dsa appeal is not successful. We would definitely try our best in this school. However I have another kid who is in p6 next year. this is the another reason I care so much!

[keroppi]

samontheway:

3. according to MOE website, Co is basically an offer; accepting an offer means the one would not participate S1. Neither primary school principal nor open-house organizer talked about the \"no transfer allowed\". (I did not attend the HCI one since it's a boy school.) Actually, this topic is mentioned on 22 oct-- 3 months after open-house. Before we went to appeal, we had the suggestion from our primary principal, then we paid to fill in the appeal form.

Sorry to hear that. For me, I personally heard it from my DS' primary school DSA talk that MOE will enforce the no appeal rule from this year (for those who have accept an CO). They said something about wanting to teach our kids to honor their commitment. They also told us that MOE is aware of and are sealing up all loopholes, backdoors and crevices that parents turn to every year.

I wish you all the best in your appeal and that your child will do well in whichever school she eventually goes to.

[Alchemist]

Chenonceau:

Going forwards (judging from the new Minister's new emphasis on character and values), maybe the new criteria for a successful scholarship application 6 years later will be \"ability to honour commitment without being forced to by legal means\"? After all, the top schools attract the best and produce the best. The PSLE t-score and 'A' level results form only one dimension of a more holistic assessment of \"best\".


Scholarship boards have a lot of problems when students sign, and then later, they find a dream job that pays way better than their first assignment in the civil service... and they then blame the government for not telling them earlier.

That's funny

[lwx99]

It is mentioned in MOE website that:


MOE will consider appeals for transfer after the S1 Posting Exercise. Such transfers are subject to availability of vacancies and will only be considered for pupils with:

■Serious medical conditions (e.g. chronic heart conditions, kidney problems)
■Dyslexia and Autistic Spectrum Disorder
■Physical disabilities (e.g. using wheelchair, crutches)

http://www.moe.gov.sg/education/admissions/secondary-one-posting/posting-results-release/

So why are MOE and schools entertaining transfer for students that went through S1 posting??? Don't cry foul if MOE suddenly \"plug this hole\" and enforce the rule strictly without informing parents. How would you feel?

On the contrary, if you check through the entire website, there is nothing that explicitly say no transfer after students accept DSA CO.

[lwx99]

In marriage, both parties took an oath to be committed to each other till death or sickness do them apart. But they are allowed to divorce. Do society or govt allow divorce only due to "extenuating reasons" because they want to teach the citizens to be responsible, committed individuals?


You can pay to break scholarship bond, I am not saying it is right to do so, but at least there is an alternative. But in the case of students that accept DSA CO, there is no way out and no U-turn for them, and in many cases, their primary schools and the DSA schools did not communicate the "new directive" to them. In fact, many schools are rather clueless and still proceed with post psle-result recruitment for students, anticipating the big movement of transfers as in previous year. My point is there is a communication breakdown, you cannot blame the parents entirely.

[samontheway]

lwx99:

It is mentioned in MOE website that:


MOE will consider appeals for transfer after the S1 Posting Exercise. Such transfers are subject to availability of vacancies and will only be considered for pupils with:

■Serious medical conditions (e.g. chronic heart conditions, kidney problems)
■Dyslexia and Autistic Spectrum Disorder
■Physical disabilities (e.g. using wheelchair, crutches)

http://www.moe.gov.sg/education/admissions/secondary-one-posting/posting-results-release/

So why are MOE and schools entertaining transfer for students that went through S1 posting??? Don't cry foul if MOE suddenly \"plug this hole\" and enforce the rule strictly without informing parents. How would you feel?

On the contrary, if you check through the entire website, there is nothing that explicitly say no transfer after students accept DSA CO.

So far, we neglet another possibility on \"unallowed dsa transfer\": the schools are using moe.. that means, MOE is kind of excuse.

I heard one parent visited moe \"http://bbs.sgchinese.net/thread-5145666-1-1.html＂　and she was told \"no such a directive at all\". Actually, no loophole at all.

[Chenonceau]

Alchemist:

That's funny

It's not as far fetched as it sounds. A few years ago, someone suggested to me that MOE places the top schools' top students on watch list. These students' holistic development and behavioral qualities are monitored. I really dunno how true this is.

I do know however students who've been offered scholarships EVEN BEFORE they took A levels. There is no way the government would have enough info to offer these scholarships to IP students (who only have PSLE certificate) if they had not already gathered a wealth of data on these students.

Each scholarship costs at least 400K (if you're looking at universities ranked in the top 5 globally). No one (in their right mind) wants to offer 400K on a silver platter to students who have in the past demonstrated that they don't think commitments are worth honouring. The issue goes beyond paying to break the bond. The organisation loses time it could have spent grooming someone else for an important function 20 years later. When people break bond, the leadership pipeline shows up a gap and possesses HR challenges 20 years later.

I must specify that I'm just guessing at all this based on what I have observed.

[jtoh]

Chenonceau:

It's not as far fetched as it sounds. A few years ago, someone suggested to me that MOE places the top schools' top students on watch list. These students' holistic development and behavioral qualities are monitored. I really dunno how true this is.

I do know however students who've been offered scholarships EVEN BEFORE they took A levels. There is no way the government would have enough info to offer these scholarships to IP students (who only have PSLE certificate) if they had not already gathered a wealth of data on these students.

Each scholarship costs at least 400K (if you're looking at universities ranked in the top 5 globally). No one (in their right mind) wants to offer 400K on a silver platter to students who have in the past demonstrated that they don't think commitments are worth honouring.

I must specify that I'm just guessing at all this based on what I have observed.

I do think this is likely. It's like in our Uni days, the top students were identified and asked to go for tea sessions and interviews with top MNCs without even applying. So DSA CO-breakers, beware.

[Chenonceau]

jtoh:

Chenonceau:

It's not as far fetched as it sounds. A few years ago, someone suggested to me that MOE places the top schools' top students on watch list. These students' holistic development and behavioral qualities are monitored. I really dunno how true this is.

I do know however students who've been offered scholarships EVEN BEFORE they took A levels. There is no way the government would have enough info to offer these scholarships to IP students (who only have PSLE certificate) if they had not already gathered a wealth of data on these students.

Each scholarship costs at least 400K (if you're looking at universities ranked in the top 5 globally). No one (in their right mind) wants to offer 400K on a silver platter to students who have in the past demonstrated that they don't think commitments are worth honouring.

I must specify that I'm just guessing at all this based on what I have observed.

I do think this is likely. It's like in our Uni days, the top students were identified and asked to go for tea sessions and interviews with top MNCs without even applying. So DSA CO-breakers, beware.

Kekekekeke! I won't go so far as to say beware lah... it is just that the end of the academic road is not the PSLE... nor the top school. One of my consultants' DD was in a no name primary school. She didn't do well enough in PSLE to get into any of the top 4. Yet, she beat a lot of top school students to clinch a place in Stanford AND a prestigious scholarship to pay for it, a couple years back.

The MOE is serious about this character thingy, it would seem... so such cases will prolly go up. Grades are not all that matter at the end of the road.

[jtoh]

Keke! It’s about time MOE viewed placed importance on character rather than pure academic achievements. The peeping tom scholar comes to mind.