MY WIFE and I decided to home-school our son, Simon-Kyle Rocknathan, in 2006.

The Ministry of Education (MOE) gave its approval and granted us exemption from compulsory education.

We educated our son in accordance with the stipulations set by MOE.

He took the Primary School Leaving Examination (PSLE) this year and received an aggregate score of 242. He scored A* for Mathematics and Science, an A for English and a B for Chinese as a second language.

We were then informed by MOE that "there is a different benchmark for home-schoolers" and that "the Secondary 1 Posting Exercise does not include home-schooled pupils who sat for the PSLE and wish to enter national secondary schools".

Home-schooled pupils were to approach schools directly for admission or approach the MOE for assistance in seeking admission to a school with vacancies.

There are three issues at hand:

Firstly, why is there a different benchmark for home-schoolers when they sat for the same PSLE papers as their peers in national schools?

They should be assessed on equal grounds as their mainstream peers.

Should there be any moderation, it should be done on an equal basis as all pupils took the same exams.

Five of the seven homeschooled candidates who must resit their exam next year had grades that would have qualified them for secondary school.

Secondly, when we asked MOE if there was a provision for the exam papers to be reviewed, it replied that we could apply to have the exam papers reviewed by "an official from the Singapore Examinations and Assessment Board (SEAB)".

PSLE papers were marked by the SEAB. Shouldn't an independent party be appointed for the review for such a major national exam?

Thirdly, there appears to be discrimination against home-schoolers when it comes to the Secondary 1 Posting Exercise.

Mainstream pupils are required to submit their six secondary- school choices by Nov 26.

Home-schoolers need only submit their three choices through the MOE by Dec 12, after which MOE will facilitate the admission application to a "school with vacancy". This procedure is normally adopted for mainstream pupils who have fared poorly and cannot be admitted to a school of their choice.

With the above in mind, the purpose of obtaining good grades by a home-schooler in the PSLE is undermined.

We would appreciate it if these areas of concern could be addressed and remedied.

Mr George Rocknathan

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