Pupils collect PSLE results after overcoming hardships
One had to learn to speak, walk and write again, another has dyspraxia
At seven, Lim Rui Ze lost the ability to speak, walk and write after under going a surgery to remove a cancerous brain tumour.
He had an medulloblastoma, and it took months before he learnt how to hold a pencil again with the help of physiotherapy and occupational therapy.
Lessons at the Children's Cancer Foundation learning centre - Place for Academic Learning and Support - helped keep Rui Ze on track with his peers.
But three sentences were all the Tao Nan School pupil could manage during an English composition examination when he returned to school 15 months later as a Primary 3 pupil.
Yesterday, Rui Ze, now 12, collected his Primary School Leaving Examination results.
The New Paper understands that he is able to progress to secondary school.
His mother, Madam Shereen Wong, 41, quit her job as a teacher to take care of him.
When he was in Primary 3 and 4, she attended lessons with him and took notes so that he could focus in class. During recess, she would sit with Rui Ze in a meeting room to help him eat.
His teachers would roster two classmates at a time to spend recess with him as they were worried he would feel left out.
Speaking to the media at Tao Nan School in Marine Crescent, Rui Ze's father, Mr Lim Wei Hong, 41, said his son was allowed to use a computer for two PSLE papers - English and science.
The general manager said: "When he started writing again, it took him a while to learn how to write in between the lines. But he has improved a lot now. He may need extra time and help, but I am very proud of him."
Another student who received his results yesterday was Tejas Changaroth, 12, from St Gabriel's Primary School.
When The New Paper arrived at the school, he was beaming.
Eligible for the Normal (Academic) course, his results will be a ticket to pursue his dream as a broadcast journalist.
Tejas had been accepted by Holy Innocents' High School through Direct School Admission via its niche area of broadcast and journalism.
When he was nine, he was diagnosed with a developmental disorder of the brain, dyspraxia, at the severe scale.
Tejas struggled with motor skills and coordination, sometimes unable to tell between basic directions.
Mathematics, said his mother Shyamala Menon, was Tejas' greatest challenge.
The speech and drama teacher, 50, told TNP: "Long equations are the hardest. He gets lost along the multiple steps. His classmates would have moved on but he would still be lagging behind."
Tejas' teachers advised him to take the subject at the Foundation level, for which he got a grade three, meaning he scored in the 50 to 69 mark range.
"I just want him to be happy. He tried his best, and that is all that matters," said Madam Shyamala.
Rui Ze and Tejas were among the 40,256 Primary 6 pupils who received their PSLE results.
For four years running, 98.4 per cent of this year's cohort progressed to secondary school.
Of that, 66.3 per cent was eligible for the Express course, 21 per cent for the Normal (Academic) course and 11.2 per cent for Normal (Technical).
A total of 634 students, or 1.6 per cent, are not qualified for the three courses and may choose to re-attempt the PSLE next year.
Alternatively, they can apply to Assumption Pathway School or NorthLight School for a more hands-on learning approach.
Students eligible for secondary schools may submit their choices online till next Wednesday, 3pm. The Secondary 1 posting results will be released on Dec 20.
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