Dear TRS,
I am writing to voice out my displeasure of the MRT service today and my displeasure for RP for barring students that got stuck in the train delay today.
I understand that there is already a complaint being published earlier on your website: "DEAR TRS, I AM FROM REPUBLIC POLY AND I MISS MY EXAM TODAY BECAUSE OF MRT BREAKDOWN"
However, this is a more descriptive article, and my personal opinions on today’s incident I was on my way from Jurong East to woodlands, where I was informed that the train would be delayed for 20 minutes, due to a train fault. Since I had a 1 hour buffer time, which I was going to use for my breakfast, I did not bother much. However, the delay was much longer than the 20 minutes, and hence, I informed my teacher that there is a huge delay from Jurong East to Woodlands, and he told me that he would inform the invigilators and rovers on duty. My exam was supposed to be 8.30 am, and I planned to reach at 7.30 am. However, I reached RP at 8.47am, and was hence barred from the exam by a facilitator due to the “15 minute rule” imposed by RP, even with a proof of delay from SMRT. The facilitator the only thing we could do now is to write in to our programme chairman and wait for news
Don’t get me wrong, I am not blaming the teachers of RP. The facilitators are did their job, as they would help us in every way they could, and we always know that we can always depend on them. I know that they would always fight for us, of course, when they know we are being treated unfairly. I understand that they have limited authority and they are just following the protocols given to them. However, they are the ones that are tying loose ends, and meeting face to face with students like us, and often misunderstood. Even though they are following protocols, some students still scream and shout at them, for it being unfair that they are unable to take their exams, as they are unable to see that it is not the facilitator’s fault. I would like to extend my apologies to them, on behalf of my fellow schoolmates, if we came in too aggressive on the facilitators.
However, that thing that I would like to voice out is that train delays are getting more and more frequent. As a school’s management, don’t you think that you should have a back-up plan on such occasions, where large numbers of students are being affected? As a student, my morale is affected, I have travelled to school for nothing, studied for this subject for nothing? Even if I am able to take another paper another day, known as UT4, would I have the same chances as my peers that are able to take the exam on the same day? Would it affect my GPA overall? A clinic is conducted, to inform us on topics that are important and we should focus on, before every UT. However, there was never such thing as a UT4 clinic, and UT4 is known to be the most difficult paper, to discourage people from skipping UT3, and only applicable for those that have an approved Leave Of Absence. Knowing such incidents could highly happen, why did they fail to foresee such a probable event? In the end, due to the train fault, I went to school for nothing and wasted my time, all due to unforeseen circumstances and poor planning by the RP registrar, which is really unprofessional, for a school that teaches students to act professionally.
I understand the rationale for barring. It is to train the students to be more punctual, and a better sense of responsibility, as they control their own timing. However, when such incidents happen, do you think that students should be barred when there is a train fault and hence they are late for the exam? Such last minute planning and inefficient recovery plan would deter students from continuing to stay in Singapore anymore, and move overseas.
And to SMRT, please rectify the issues we have with our transport. Next to me on the train was a NSF that is late for duty due to the train fault. It got me thinking if Singapore was in crisis, and the trains are faulty during that time, how they would be able to report for duty on time? This would be highly probable, due to the frequency of train faults recently.
All in all, I do hope that RP registrar could give us, the students a favorable response and do take more initiative on creating back-up plans should such incidents happen. And to SMRT, please do improve on the trains and the faults, as this does not classify as world-class standards. And to my fellow schoolmates that are affected by this, this is just a minor setback, do not let it affect your morale and continue to strive on for the other UTs. To other polytechnics, I do hope you have a backup plan for your own students, preventing such undesired things from happening. And lastly, for the facilitators, thank you for being so patient with us, even though we were frustrated with such events affecting our exams, and sorry for being too aggressive on you guys.
Just another RP-ian and TRS reader