I am Edwin, a local born citizen, and am now in my twenties. I acquired a CAT certificate from Singapore Accounting Academy (SAA) in 2005, and a diploma in Computer Engineering from Temasek Polytechnic in 2006. Due to the employment market condition back then, I chose to pursue a degree in Banking and Finance instead of continuing to complete the ACCA with SAA. This marked the beginning of my predicament.
Singapore was, and still is, vigorously marketed as an education hub by our government. As a loyal citizen in support of the government’s movement, I chose to take up distance study via a private education institution at home instead of pursuing other options such as going overseas for further education. My decision was based upon the following expectations/assumptions which, in my opinion, are not unreasonable-
A good government will take good care of the basic needs of its citizens, such as, amongst others, housing; education; employment; food, water, energy; and security.
Education means imparting of knowledge, inculcating values. Therefore, education institutions are perfect venues for extremists to inculcate their values. For this important security reason the education ministry should take great interest to tightly control all education institutions, as extreme thinking can and will destroy a nation.
A good education ministry will take good care of the well being of all students.
Local born students will get the same, if not better, protection from the authority than foreign students since the top leaders stressed repeatedly that “Singaporeans will come first”, “No Singaporean will be left behind” etc, etc.
The basic duty of a student is to study, pass examinations and acquire the desired certificate. The rest of the arrangements should be the responsibility of the school(s)/authority(s).
In October 2006 I was enlisted into the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) under the national service requirement. By May 2007, I had completed the basic military training and a trade course, and was posted to an operational unit where I was a staying out personnel. In order not to waste away the daily evening hours, I decided to sign up for a part time course with Brookes Business School (Brookes) for a University of London (UOL) degree course in Banking and Finance (Course) in July 2007. Registration was done after checking and confirming with the Education Ministry’s website that Brookes was legally registered with the Ministry of Education (MOE), and approved by MOE. Brookes was also registered as a member of CASETRUST. The Course was further listed on the MOE’s website. Besides MOE and CASE, DBS, our national bank too lend support to Brookes by offering to provide study loans to all suitable/eligible Brookes’ students.
As military personnel doing part time courses, I had to dash from camp to class after my duty hours and from school to home after class, most of the time having my dinner late at night. In order to catch up with my studies and course assignments, I had to sacrifice many precious sleeping hours to ‘burn the midnight oil’. Yet in the day I had to perform my utmost to serve the SAF and the nation. I received thumbs-up from my superiors for my service and they rewarded me with an excellent testimonial at the end of my service as their appreciation.
After spending ten over thousand of hard earned dollars, not to mention two years’ worth of hard work, blood, sweat and tears, including attending lectures, completing project assignments and taking examinations, I finally graduated in April 2009, but yet to receive my well deserved certificate.
After the breakout of the Brookes saga in July 2009, the education ministry has done nothing to aid the innocent yet helpless students, like myself. The first reaction from the ministry was denial of its mistakes and responsibility, by making ridiculous statements such as “assuming everything is in order” (quoted from news reports) and “it is a business deal between students and Brookes” (also quoted from news reports).
I was surprised to learn that the authority had adopted a 'light touch' approach in regulating the education industry as mentioned in the parliamentary reply on 20th July 2009. I do understand that mentioning/explaining the ‘light touch' approach in any of the ‘education hub’ speeches will inevitably send many students packing, including myself. But deliberate exclusion of such vital information regarding this ‘light touch’ approach, shall be viewed as deceptive when the authority adopted the ‘hands off’ approach after the fall out of the Brookes saga.
All affected students were left to fend for themselves, seeking individual salvage solutions. I first approached CASE for help and was directed to the small claims tribunal (SCT), whose jurisdiction is to hear cases with claim sums of up to S$10,000 only (a sum which is far less than what we have spent for the Course alone). The next logical approach for me was to seek help from MOE. The person in-charge could not help me because the case was and still is in the hands of the police, to which I was directed.
I managed to meet up with the police on 4th September 2009 and was advised to:
write directly to UOL to confirm the authenticity of the Course and the related certificate; and
engage a lawyer to make a full claim against Brookes.
I wrote several times to UOL but they fail to respond. I was back to square one again directionless.
In a recent discussion with an education industry expert, he questioned the legitimacy of the course and the related certificate due to the way Brookes conducted the courses. This is beyond my wildest dream. How could this be happening in a nation that longed to be the education hub? I had spent two precious prime years of my life slogging in order to acquire the needed qualification for me to join the industry of my dream. Now, I may end up with a fake degree. In view of this situation, I might need a further two years and further hard work to achieve the desired results, not to mention the added financial burden. By then, I will be approaching my thirties, and yet without any relevant working experience. It is a known, undeniable fact that no employers in this current day, who will consider let alone decide to hire a person without the relevant experience, especially in the industry I am seeking to build my career in. As such, it is foreseeable and indeed true that my life will go down the drain. Currently, without the required qualification and working experience, and after countless job applications, I managed to gain only a part time employment working 'graveyard' hours.
I am puzzled and would like to take this opportunity to invite knowledgeable personnel to come forward and help me answer the question of legitimacy for the course/certificate. There were over twenty students in my class and many more in other similar classes, and I believe that these students are suffering the same fate as me. I look forward to these other students to step out and join in the support group I’m planning to start. Others who are interested are most welcome to participate. Please contact me at [email protected].
My parents are retired without any source of income. In order to help put me through the Course with Brookes, they had committed to a bank loan with DBS, and are still required to service it knowing that all these monies they had paid and have to continue paying, will go down the drain. Now they can no longer afford to support me financially for another course and the end result is obvious. Furthermore, engaging a lawyer for a full claim against Brookes does not guarantee money returned, successful or not, and worse still we have the legal fees to consider. Although I had received a paper judgment from SCT against Brookes for the claim sum of S$10,000.00, this judgment is worthless so long as Brookes and its management continue to ignore it or unable to comply with it.
By 16th September 2009, there was no favorable news from the authority in term of aids to the Brookes’ students, myself included; I therefore decided to write to MOE seeking remedial solution(s). Since this is an education issue, MOE should be the right party to resolve it. The following table outlined the sequence of my letters to the authority(s) and their related responses:
DATE
FROM
ADDRESS TO
REMARKS
16 Sep 09
me
Dr. Ng Eng Hen (by post)
Letter to MOE to register our disappointment; highlighted our predicament and requested remedial solution(s) from MOE. Also stressed the importance of the time factor.
28-Sep-09
MOE
me (by phone)
MOE officer called and promised to give me a reply within one week but failed to fulfill his promise.
13-Oct-09
me
Dr. Ng Eng Hen
Reminder e-mail, also highlighting the failed promise. Again stressed the importance of time.
27-Oct-09
me
Dr. Ng Eng Hen
E-mail reminder sent to Mindef address. Liken the authority(s) as spell caster; Brookes as prospector who took advantage of the already dazed innocent victims (the students). MOE should understand the simple logic that “the best party to reverse a spell is the one who cast it”. Also brought home the point of the minister's moral obligation.
12 Nov 09
MOE
me (by phone)
Senior MOE officer called offering me to attend the same course in another private school at our own expense. He also implied that the installment payment to the bank can be terminated but fall short of advising us the proper procedure.
19 Nov 09
me
Dr. Ng Eng Hen
Highlighted our disappointment with the above offer and stressed our predicament again by emphasizing the authority's role as spell caster; Brookes' role as prospector and the sufferings of the victims (students and families). Also requested MOE to coordinate the termination of our bank installments payment.
30 Dec 09
me
PM (by post) & e-mail
After a long wait without reply from MOE, 1st letter to PM was sent repeating our plea(s) with attachment of all our correspondences with MOE.
20 Jan 10
me
PM by e-mail
Gentle reminder, trusting that the overlooking of our plea(s) is due to the PM's very busy schedules and not that we are viewed as an insignificant lot. Again stressed the time factor.
9 Mar 10
CPE
me (by letter)
Letter from CPE dated 4 Mar'10 but received by me on 9 Mar'10, see attached for details.
18 Mar 10
me
PM; CPE
Letter to reflect our disappointment with CPE’s proposal that did not address any of our concerns and sufferings and also the deliberate time wasting by the concerned authority(s). CPE's proposal coming EIGHT MONTHS after the fall out of the Brookes saga is definitely too little too late.
19 Mar 10
MOE, QSM
me (by e-mail)
See attached for details.
30 Apr 10
me
PM/SM/MM/MOE
As CPE failed to react, I decided to send a final letter to the PM. By now I had more questions for the authority(s) than answers from them. In this last letter, I raised a total of THIRTY TWO questions that are still unanswered.
19May10
MOE-HED
me (by e -mail)
See attached for details.
4 Jun 10
me
MOE.HED/PM/SM/MM
Reiterated my position and requested the authority to be more responsible.
1 Aug 10
me
MP - Mr. Mathias Yao
Without further response from the authority, I wrote to the MP as my last possible official resort. A total of 26 attachments were sent, trusting that he will read through the contents and contact me soonest possible Since time is of the essence and we have wasted too much of it contacting the ‘wrong’ party, we believed that he could secure a viable remedial solution, that is fair and just, to this matter within the next fortnight.
5 Aug 10
me
MP-Mr. Mathias Yao
Sent the same as above.
Hitherto, there is no response from the MP. A ‘natural death’ situation will now result if the matter is not pursued any further, and this is exactly what the authority(s) are pinning for. After over a year and exhausted all possible official avenues, I turned to the more responsive other party(s), the alternative voices (the oppositions), for help hoping that they can assist to draw the authority’s attentions towards this outstanding issue.
In another related concurrent event, just like stoning a fallen man in the well, DBS, the bank which approved Brookes study loan, harassed us relentlessly for the repayment of the loan, even though we had written in to them on several occasions, including a letter to their chairman, to explain our situation. We had been making timely repayment of the loan before the Brookes saga happened. DBS had refused to take neither this timely repayment nor our explanations in our letters to them into consideration at all. They have turned a deaf ear and even blind eyes to the situation. They had even engaged a law firm Yeo-Leong & Peh LLC and a Credit Management Consultancy company to join in the foray of harassments. Their best offer so far was to work out another repayment plan, this fall far short of the termination of the installment payment that we are seeking.
We are ordinary folks with average intelligence, whereas DBS has all the financial big wits. We believe (and this is the obvious) that prior to entering into any form of agreement between DBS and Brookes, to provide Brookes’ students with a study loan, DBS would have performed all the necessary thorough checks on Brookes. The authorities namely MOE & CASE provided the references, and DBS provided the added confidence that Brookes is a sound entity and education provider. Brookes’ students and their respective families were therefore being lured into this ‘death trap’. Upon the fall out of Brookes, the authorities cleaned their hands and kept a safe distance (which they still do now). DBS in turn, turned around and bit us. We, the innocent victims are left to fend for ourselves without direction(s). Where is the justice and equality that we have pledged since we were kids?
We were encouraged recently to join in the mass pledge on National Day. What good is this pledge if we fail to practice what we pledged, especially so when such failure is top down?
In conclusion, I merely wanted a higher education (degree) as a stepping stone to build my career upon at home. However, due to this foul up which is not caused by me, I ended up with this unnecessary predicament.
Edwin
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