I REFER to Mr Santokh Singh's column 'Help kids with tough subjects instead of dropping it' (The New Paper on Sunday, 1 Mar).

We experienced a similar situation when my daughter was doing her GCE O levels in 2007.

During her first term, the teacher-in-charge told her to drop Principle of Accounting (POA) as she wasn't one of the top scorers in the subject.

We were surprised as my daughter did not find the subject difficult.

She had passed all her tests but not with flying colours. We e-mailed the school on this matter but did not get any response until we sent a copy to the Ministry of Education.

Then the principal replied to us.

She arranged for my husband to meet the teacher-in-charge and herself. We insisted that our daughter continue with POA as she was confident she would be able to make it.

Then, my nephew referred us to a tutor for POA. He assessed and tested my daughter, and told us to give him about five months to help her improve.

The tutor was surprised that my daughter was told to drop the subject.

What does this show? That the school teacher is impatient, and if he can make lower grade students drop the subject, it will make his job easier.

In the meantime, the teacher left her out of one of the POA activities, and even told her that he would test her again in a month's time. The teacher told her that if her grades do not come up to his expectations, she would have to drop the subject.

But after a month, she scored 75 per cent in POA.

Demoralised

It is a shame that a tutor can do a better job of nurturing a child than a school teacher.

After the O levels, my daughter went to a private university and would be completing her first year this year.

Imagine what would have happened to our daughter had we not taken up the issue with the school?

She would have been demoralised.

I urge all parents to be firm in their beliefs when dealing with such situations.

Don't just leave it to the school or teacher to make the decisions for your child. They're your children, not theirs.

FROM READER DORIS TAN S M

This article was first published in The New Paper.