[/quote]From what I understand from the school, in p5, parents can choose whether to take foundation or not. But in p6, parents have no say anymore. The school will decide whether he takes foundation chinese or not.


U can try but from what I read so far, Singapore doesn't recognize dyslexia in Chinese. Not being able to excel in an extra language is not a disability. MOE is also tightening the Chinese exemption according to my son's teacher. Seems like there have been a rush of parents trying to get exemptions.

In the meantime, brush up on his chinese skills, speak to him in mandarin at home, watch mandarin shows and when holidaying, go to China and make him talk to the pp there etc. U need to immerse him in the Chinese environment. Otherwise tuition also won't help.[/quote]

Yes, we've been doing all that for the past year or more. Except going to China. We brought him to Taiwan and Hong Kong instead. Since he was in P1 and P2, I have brought him to the library to borrow Chinese books and I would read to him. He enjoys listening to the stories. Even in the recent year, we have developed a habit of reading Chinese essays to him at bedtime at least thrice a week and he looks forward to it. On nights that we're unable to do so, I came home and found him reading the model essays on his own. He never used to converse in Mandarin with us but he's picking up as we speak more Mandarin to him. Every morning at the breakfast table, I would spend 20 min revising his Chinese with him based on words from his textbook in an effort to familiarize him with the characters. He even designed a simple board game to make our revision more interesting and fun.

Despite all these effort, he continued to fail his Chinese tests after tests, exams after exams. My heart broke when he had a heart to heart talk with me as I laid on his bed 2 nights ago. He told me that he doesn't know what's wrong with him but all the characters seem so difficult to remember and no matter how hard he tries, he tends to forget the previous learning when he's exposed to new characters. He is just unable to retain them in his memory. And because he cannot recall or recognize the characters, he has great difficulty understanding the sentences. Hence, he ends up picking the wrong answers all the time. He was so demoralized and frustrated. He looks at me helplessly. What else can I do to help him?

It pains me that after putting in so much effort, we hardly progressed at all. He cleanly forgets and cannot recall most of the characters that we have been revising daily! This is when I asked myself if my child needs professional help. I am not a parent who is looking for a shortcut solution to a problem. Getting him exempted for chinese is our last option. But it is such a pity if he ends up in normal tech or normal academic even though he excels in the other 3 subjects.

I believe that if given a choice, most parents will not consider this option. We have never experienced such a challenge in learning Chinese within our family or extended family. It is new to us. But if a child is showing persistent signs of a suspected disability in learning, we should not ignore it and push him to perform and learn like the rest of the children. It is not fair to the child. I'm sure MOE allows for such exemption because there are genuine and valid cases where such provisions must be catered for. If MOE has always based the grant of such exemptions primarily on medical reports, then they can't be granting more exemptions just because parents are all jumping onto the bandwagon. Unless in that particular year, more children are tested and diagnosed with learning difficulties. If that's the case, the increased number of exemptions can only be attributed to the increased awareness of learning disorders.

Honestly, I'm not sure if I'd genuinely be happy deep down if my child is found to have some learning disability and manages to get an exemption for Chinese. I believe I will be very relieved for him as he can then learn the language without the stress. But as a parent, I would wish that he doesn't have any learning challenges and could excel in Chinese like his older sibling and even myself and my husband. But everyone is different and we love him the same nevertheless.

I believe finding out the root cause is more important than getting the exemption. We can't help him if we don't know what's wrong. What works for most children may not work for some. This is something that I have learnt.

Thanks, I did ask his teacher about foundational Chinese. He told me that I need to consider it carefully and the school will not make the decision for us as it has an implication. When I probed further, I realized that taking Chinese at the foundational level is guaranteed to get him into Normal stream in secondary school regardless of his performance at the other 3 subjects.


Whether or not he has a medical condition that affects his learning ability is not for me to determine until he is assessed by the professionals I guess. He was a severely premature baby at birth with a birth weight of 1 kg and the hospital has followed up with him till he was seven. IQ wise, he’s of the normal range, so there was no follow up visits with the psychologists. But I was once told by a secondary sch teacher that a child could be dyslexic only in a particular language. I am not certain if there’s indeed such a possibility, hence I am discussing it here to hear more views and experiences.

Dear parents who have gotten their child exempted from MT,


I’ve just found out about this thread and reading it is such a relief to know that I’m not alone in the challenges that my son is facing in his MT. Today is his SA1 Chinese paper 2. He’s in P4 right now. We both went through some emotional moments preparing for it.

In P1 & P2, his marks for his Chinese subject was borderline, hovering between high 50s to 60s. By P3, he began to fail his Chinese in school (in the 30s range), alarming us. We began to look for good, experienced Chinese tutors for him and I personally coached him almost daily. He has an older sibling who had never struggled with the subject and had never received any Chinese tuition or home coaching but was able to score A in PSLE despite being in an English-speaking home environment. As for the rest of his subjects (English, Math & Science), he does quite well without any tuition or home coaching at all. His marks for Math and Science are always in the mid to high 80s range and English in the mid 70s.

Feedback from tutors and school teachers about his learning attitude has always been very positive. It is the same experience I have with him. Generally, he’s a very well behaved boy. So basically, he puts in a lot of effort to learn the subject but somehow he seem unable to retain the knowledge learned for long. The Chinese characters can never enter into his long term memory. He forgets them and can’t seem to recognize them within days! He can score as high as full marks for ting xie but yet he can fail to recognize the same characters if he is tested within a day or two in a separate test.

I started off with great patience because I saw his excellent, persevering attitude. That was encouraging. But after many months of constant revision and realizing that all my efforts went down the drain because he couldn’t seem to remember any of them… I felt so demoralized and frustrated. I lost my cool at him. I couldn’t teach patiently anymore especially when he couldn’t seem to get 80% of the mock exam questions correctly. He manages only 10-20% of correct answers! I couldn’t understand why. He simply sat there tearing helplessly as I raised my voice at him. I have always been patient but I simply lost it in that moment. I felt a lot of "fear" and anxiety… if he can’t handle Chinese at P.4, how is he going to manage P5 and PSLE? It is just going to get more difficult especially with the new syllabus/ latest exam format. I am aware that he can end up in the Normal stream in secondary school even if he aces the other 3 subjects but fails his Chinese.

Please, parents, kindly share with me how do I go about applying for exemption of his Chinese subject. We wanted him to learn the subject and my husband was dead against him getting an exemption for it. He thinks it is ridiculous given that we’re Chinese. But I really don’t have the heart to crush my boy’s morale anymore. He’s a good natured, cheerful boy but learning Chinese has been such a tormenting process for him. I think he may learn better without all the exams stress. Also, I am beginning to suspect that he may have some unknown difficulty in learning Chinese.

1. Whom should I approach first? The school?
2. Do we see a psychologist or psychiatrist? (I read differing advice on this thread and hope I can avoid wasting time going to the wrong assessor.)
3. Roughly how much is the cost difference between going to government and private hospitals?
4. I’m completely clueless… can someone kindly guide me through the steps in the application process please?
5. When should I apply for the exemption? My child is in mid P4 right now. Should I wait further so that I have more proof of his futile tuition and poor Chinese grades?
6. Is there a "validity period" for the exemption once approved? Will it automatically exempt him from PSLE and O levels?

Thank you very much!

Hi Marsilingmom & BBsDD,


I'm glad that our daughters are attending STC. Same class too? That's great! Hope we meet someday Perhaps through the parent support group.

May our girls have a wonderful time and fulfilling journey ahead with this school!

Hi All,


This is a rather quiet thread so I'm going to share my experiences. My daughter started secondary one in STC this year (2015). STC is our 1st choice in the schools selection. I can fully identify with cy1's sharing which also affirmed our choice.

Although STC is not among the top academical schools, we like the holistic education it provides to its students. We attended their open house last year and were immediately won over. Firstly, we were greeted by a very nice and spacious school compound with all the adequate facilities and classrooms. The overall environment is more than conducive for learning (lucky students!). They even have their very own hockey pitch and it's huge. Hockey is the school's niche CCA and pride as the team has been won many national awards. We were also pleasantly surprised to find one of their large upper floors converted into a very nice and cozy after-school care \"centre\" managed by the teachers. Students can chill and do their homework there after school or while waiting to go for their CCAs. It's free too!

As we walked around the school, we noted that their students were pleasant, helpful and confident. The sec three student leader who was our guide during the Open House shared with us on how she initially got into the NA stream in sec one. In sec two, the school allowed her to try out the express track and as she did well, the school officially promoted her to the Express stream in sec three. It was encouraging to hear that. We noted that the STC also has in place a very good leadership development programme for all its students. Students are encouraged to take up or try out leadership roles in the school.

My daughter underwent 3 days of orientation in the first three days of school and she had great fun plus bonded very well with her schoolmates and teachers. There was a parents' night on the final orientation day. At the end of the evening, we walked away fully convinced and confident that the principal and teachers are really very dedicated in developing and producing confident girls grounded in good character, values and leadership qualities apart from the academic achievements. I'm sure cy1 can attest to this!

My girl is in the top express class and we have witnessed her enthusiasm in going to school since the school term started. She sets her own alarm each day. She seem to be enjoying her school very much and liked the teachers and classmates there as well. We noted that she has become more kiasu too, haha. She has requested for tuition and has been seen revising her school work.

As a parent, I can't be happier and relieved that my daughter is in good hands of the school! We're so glad that we have put STC as our first choice though traveling to school takes a bit more time for our child. But it's totally worth it!

Hi Nettie,


Yes, I think they have stopped accepting PV for good. But can check with the school if volunteering as a grassroots leader may be an option.

My child is going to 1-1. See you on 19th Nov

Hi Magdalenesim,


Thanks for the offer but I prefer one that is nearer to our home & school as picking up & dropping off the kids will be a problem (esp since they are in different sessions). Thanks!

Hi Momotaro,

Sorry, I'm not sure if volunteering as a grassroots leader helps as I volunteered as a parent volunteer in the school the last time. My husband & I put in a total of 40 hours. Why don't you call up the school and ask? I think that they are in a better position to advise you.

Hi Nettie,
Thanks! I haven't enroll my kids in the BASC yet but I'm targeting the one in Blk 340 (2 blks away from SAPS). I like the fact that it's so near to the school plus my elder child already has friends there. Do you have any children in BASC?

Yes, I've received the letter from the school informing us of the orientation. 19th Nov - we will be there!

Hello everyone


I've just discovered this thread dedicated to SAPS & I'm so glad!

My girl is currently attending P3 and my boy will be going to P1 next year. I got my 1st child in through PV as we live more than 1 km away from the school. I'm planning to put both my children in BASC next year as I have decided to go maidless. I was looking at YMCA but it is a little out of the way, hence, I've narrowed down to the one near SAPS (just 2 blocks away) for a few reasons. One, for its convenience (esp so since I have 2 kids in different sessions). Two, my girl recommends it as some of her friends are there. Three, the BASC looks pretty decent the last I visited it & the centre's supervisor seem nice & approachable.

Anyone has any other recommendations? Or feedback? I hope I'm making the right decision by putting them in BASC. I feel that my kids are losing basic life skills with the reliance on maids. Also, their weekdays are not structured enough, allowing them \"free-play\" and lots of tv time.

Any good student care centres to recommend in Bukit Batok area? I’m thinking of doing without a maid and sending my kids to BASC instead so that at least I can be certain that they will eat a healthy lunch & finish their homework by the time they are home. I work long hours and do not have the time to monitor their school work during weekday evenings except weekends.


I’m thinking that BASC may be a better option as my kids will not spend a lot of time watching tv in the mornings/ afternoons - the maid can’t control them.

Can anyone share their experiences? Thank you!