Woodgrove Secondary outdo Kuo Chuan Presby Primary with $10 Penalty
Kuo Chuan Presby Pri threaten to confiscate the $5 deposit if student do not attend the YOG games. Woodgrove Sec School up the amount to $10. Seems like our schools are competing with one another on the penalty meted out for students who chose to stay away from the games and study for their exams instead.
http://sg.yfittopostblog.com/2010/08...tition-venues/
Exams to blame for many empty seats at YOG?
By Republic Polytechnic’s Michelle Weers
Could school exams be the reason why so many seats at the Youth Olympic Games (YOG) competition venues remain empty?
If so, it begs the question, what should be the students’ priorities: supporting the Games by showing up, or doing well in their school examinations?
Earlier on Thursday, YOG organisers moved quickly to release previously “sold-out” tickets, making available a total of 320,000 tickets available across 26 sports.
The move comes after fans complained they were unable to purchase tickets at “sold out” events even though large swathes of seats at games venues remained vacant on the event day itself.
The Straits Times reports that the problem could be in large part due to the Ministry of Education’s bulk purchase of 80,000 free passes for students — many of whom either skip the Games totally or turn up to watch the action for only one or two hours before leaving.
But Victoria Junior College student Kelly Koh, 18, told Yahoo! Singapore that upcoming exams could be the reason behind the poor turnout.
“I think the bad turnout is probably due to it being near the upcoming examinations. N-Level preliminary exam is around this period and the A-Level prelims (from August 30 to September 29) are fast approaching,” she said.
CHIJ Toa Payoh student Jazreel Wong, 17 agreed. She said, “My school gave us tickets for the YOG competitions but I chose not to go because my O-Level prelim exam begins next week.”
Yahoo! Singapore learns that some schools have taken an even more forceful approach to ensure their students turn up for the Games by imposing S$10 fines for those who are absent.
“I was given tickets to a football match between Iran and Papua New Guinea. Out of 6,000 seats, only about a few hundred was filled,” said 17-year-old, Al-Zulkarnaen Bin Adam from Woodgrove Secondary School.
“I went to this match for free and if we do not turn up, we have to pay S$10,” he said.
For Kuo Chuan Presbyterian Primary, students have been asked to place a S$5 refundable deposit for games that fall on non-school days.
Its principal Clifford Chua told Today newspaper that this was to ensure that they learn the value of responsibility and not take this rare opportunity for granted, by wasting the ticket and depriving others of the chance.
But he was quick to add that despite the scheme, pupils who fail to turn up, even without a valid reason, will eventually get their deposits back.
Minister for Community Development, Youth and Sports Dr Vivian Balakrishnan is keen to address the issue of empty seats at venues but recognised that it is a complex issue.
“What we realise is that although all the tickets are sold, some people come late or they leave early, ” he told The Straits Times.
The Minister has now vowed to make available more seats, even those that have been “booked” but are empty.
“More tickets would be released on the spot if there are empty seats at an event that was initially sold out. I want to ensure that every single seat is filled and that all our athletes get the support that they so richly deserve,” he said.
He admits there will be a possibility of two people vying for that one seat but gave his assurance that organisers will do their best to arrange seats for everyone, “even if it means kicking someone like myself or the officials out of the official seat.”
Whatever the case, the glaring empty seats do not make for good television.
Housewife Jamaiah Rawee, 47, who watches the games on TV at home, said, “I don’t feel like this is an Olympic Games because the turn-out is so small!”
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Originally Posted by SNAblog
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