From the New Paper:
Mr Ravi Philemon, a manager at a shelter for homeless families here, first got to know about Lynn’s case in the middle of last year, when the family approached the shelter for help.
They feared they might lose their home as they had not been paying the monthly $900 mortgage on their four-room flat in Woodlands for the past 11/2 years, he said.
Mr Ravi stepped in when he realised the girl had not been attending school.
He said: ‘I called the kindergarten and was told that the mother had to pay the registration fees and deposit before her child could be re-admitted to school.
‘Surely no child should be deprived of an education under any circumstances.’
Read the full report in the New Paper.
*Ravi Philemon is also a writer with The Online Citizen. He blogs here: http://singaporesocialactivist.blogspot.com/
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I thought we’re a world class society and this incident has shattered all illusions.
why din the family apply to Comcare for help??
F.23. We will also do more to ensure students from families in need continue to have every encouragement..…..This will help students whose families face financial difficulties during the economic downturn.
G.18. We are upgrading both the hardware and software of the education system. We are providing better facilities for an all-round education in every school…..we intend to spend an average of $9,200 per student in our schools each year over the next five years – or an increase of about 60% compared to the previous five years. : Tharman’s Budget Speech.
PAP Talking cock again?
Well done Ravi!
Mmm…PAP never seems to achieve what they say, so that will be another case. first world country yeah?
furthermore we have first world leaders who like in their ideal little world and lost touch with the people
There will always be pple who slip through the net though. Let’s play hide and seek, see who can find them all
Either talking cock #post gemami.
Or
Failing in their duties !!
patriot
Yes well done Ravi.
I salute you and hope more Singaporeans will follow your footsteps to do something for Singaporeans who are down and out.
Cheers!
kudos to Ravi! You walk the talk. Good effort, please keep it up!
Cheers.
This shows help is always on hand, if people have the determination. We cannot rely entirely on the govt to look after people.
Why advertise your good deeds Ravi?
fake samaritan #9: I can help this one person (anonymously)…and I believe what the right hand gives, the left hand need not know…but the bigger question is how many more like lynn and her child are in Singapore??? Can I help them all??? By the media highlighting this case, would more like her be given more help by the PCF kindergartens???
I truly do appreciate the compliments here and elsewhere…thank you….
Well done Ravi !!
You set the example for all to follow.
Huh? You mean you’d be deprived of education even in a 1st world country where education is compulsory as dictated by the governor when you can’t afford it? What a rude shock!
Yes Ravi did great but I have to ask what happened to our dear CDAC? Aren’t they the ones supposed to help needy Chinese students? What are we paying them for?
You have done all of us proud, Ravi.
We, non-ministerial material, must learn to look after ourselves.
Those self-enriching and selfish pretenders have simply lost touch with our society. Just look at the way they projected themselves in the pa-lee-men the last few days. And the way they bullied the nmp and opposition mps.
One idiotic mp even went all the way to prevent govt funds from going to help the chinese and asked for all funds to be centralised at the CDACs.
Thanks to TOC for highlighting the plight of our distressed fellow citizens. And once again, thanks to Ravi for his compassion and initiative.
eternalhap.. self-reliance is good but is not mean govt should not help at all. esecially not when the gahmen itslf is impoverishing sgreans .. labour ‘unions’ giving cart blanch to employers, setting national wages , deliberately depressing wages, and pursuing eocnomic policies that cause structural unemployment . gahmen reward itself via pegging its rsaalary to gdp growth btu gdp growth does not benefit the majority of the workers.
I saw the New Paper article on Ravi and realise that its the New Paper and TOC , not Ravi himself writing about his efforts.
Wow, the New Paper is in a way making Ravi known to the people.
no play play.
The family should have downgraded to a 3room flat. i am not saying what Ravi did is not appreciated. But damn it – these parents DO NOTHING for their kids!
I am one of those who have leechers for family members. And the least I could do for lazy bums in my family is NOT to clean the room they sleep in.
#15 Don’t rely on CDAC! They tell you you have to return to re-apply for financial help 3 or 4 months later.
It is a shame that our PM in June of 2005 launched the ComCare Fund to ensure that no child will be denied access to pre-school education just because his or her family is poor. Their website goes on to say “MCYS will work with Voluntary Welfare Organisations (VWOs) and Grassroots Organisations (GROs) to proactively reach out to needy families to get them to put their children in kindergarten.” And here they said the family didn’t hand in the form.
I guess proactive means giving them a form, that’s all. Wasn’t there an article recently saying there’s aid available but a lot of people who genuinely need it don’t know it’s there and how to go about applying for it?
Ravi, you are right in doing what you did. I salute your efforts in helping with the homeless and the helpless. Let us hope this sheds some useful light on the situation that poor innocent kids face and how little is being done for them.
#21 @fighting fit True that some families don’t know who or where to turn to. Also, many keeping quiet about their plights. There are also many who knows, but do nothing.
Even the down and out may have a little humaness and pride. They may think they want to see what they can do for themselves first before they go admitting they need aid from govt or handout from charity. They may also be too ashamed to admit they can’t fill up a form in English.
If someone who passed the poor family the form still didn’t do anything to followup and see if they want to turn it in or if they need help filling it up, then that someone is really can’t be bothered or out of touch with the reality.
There are departments who have budget surpluses and then spend them on unplanned (or perhaps not so necessary) things just so that next year’s budget won’t be cut. Here, we see an instance of gov people who have the tax dollars to aid but don’t follow up to get that aid out.
They don’t hand in the form, it is their fault?? What sort of attitude is that.
Ravi Philemon, thank you for helping this family out.
I read the article. First, school is compulsory, and the girl should not have to pay for her books. I understand the Singapore Education system, but education has to be made free to those who cannot afford it. The small amounts of money that this family is getting will be tough, to survive and live in Singapore.
Keep up the good work Ravi!
The plight of the lower end society in Singapore should received the most attention by the establishment. These people should not be left cold on the street to fend for themselves. This country is partly made of by these people.