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When she realised she had an important O-level paper in the afternoon on the day after Deepavali, her heart sank.
Not again, thought Secondary 4 student S. Sandhiya, 15.
Three years ago, her brother was in her position. He sat for his O-level combined-humanities paper a day after Deepavali and scored a B4 for the subject.
This year, the first O-level mathematics paper falls on Oct 27, the day after Deepavali. The second paper follows on Oct 28.
Sandhiya said: "My family's going to sacrifice their Deepavali celebrations for me and not go visiting. Very few people are going to visit us too."
She is not alone.
"Some of my friends may be staying at home to study while their families go visiting," she added.
Sandhiya's uncle, Mr S. Tharmaraj, 39, an IT systems administrator, wrote to The New Paper about her situation on Monday.
Mr Pandiyan V., general secretary of the Tamils Representative Council, an umbrella body for 35 Tamil organisations, also wrote to the Singapore Examinations and Assessment Board (SEAB).
The letter, addressed to Mr Raymond Lim, SEAB's director of corporate services, was also copied to Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam, and Education Minister Heng Swee Keat.
Mr Pandiyan wrote: "Non-Hindu students...will have a distinct advantage, as they would have 1½ days of additional preparation time for a key paper in a national examination."
His letter added that the Indian community is "quite frustrated" with SEAB as a similar scheduling issue had surfaced in 2008.
Mr Pandiyan told The New Paper: "I'm really hoping that something can be done about the exam dates." Mr Tharmaraj felt that even if the paper is in the afternoon, it is still "not fair" to the students celebrating Deepavali.
For many in their community, the festival is not just a one-day affair.
The days before Deepavali are spent making goodies, buying new clothes, and cleaning up one's home.
Mr Pandiyan said: "The festive mood usually increases as Deepavali draws near. If children cannot be involved, traditions are being eroded."
SEAB chief executive Tan Lay Choo yesterday explained why the board has no choice.
SEAB's reply
"With more than 100 examination papers to be scheduled in 18 days, we have tried our best to minimise scheduling conflicts and inconvenience for candidates as far as possible," she said.
She added that SEAB scheduled the mathematics paper on the day after Deepavali taking into consideration that the subject is less content-intensive "and candidates would have acquired sufficient mastery and practice before the examinations".
Teacher S Puvan, 27, echoed this.
"You need to practise from way ahead. One day more or less of study time is not going to make that much difference," she stressed.
Besides, she added that since students already knew the timetable, they could plan in advance their revision schedule.
"They could then enjoy Deepavali, which could serve them well before the exam, as they have time to relax," she explained.
But Sandhiya is not convinced.
She said: "The day before the examination is still very crucial for me to revise what I already know."
Ms Tan Lay Choo, chief executive, Singapore Examinations and Assessment Board:
We recognise that the situation is not ideal for the Hindu candidates and their families.
We seek your understanding that the GCE O-level examination timetable is scheduled with careful considerations, taking into account the challenges and constraints we face.
With more choices and options in our education landscape, our 45,000 O-level candidates offer some 2,000 subject combinations. With more than 100 examination papers to be scheduled in 18 days, we have tried our best to minimise scheduling conflicts and inconvenience for candidates as far as possible.
We also schedule papers with a large number of candidates earlier during the examination period, to give markers sufficient time to complete their task.
In this way, the O-level results can be made known to candidates in late January of the following year.
Students can then select their post-secondary options and get themselves ready for the next stage of their education journey.
This year, Deepavali falls on the Wednesday of the week when the papers with large candidatures have to be scheduled.
In recognition of the importance of this day to our Hindu students, we chose not to schedule any papers on the eve of Deepavali, but were unable to do so for the day after.
We have scheduled the mathematics paper in the afternoon on the day after Deepavali, taking into consideration that mathematics is comparatively a less content-intensive subject and candidates would have acquired sufficient mastery and practice before the examinations.
The papers scheduled in the first week of the examination timetable are as follows:
Monday Oct 24 pm: English Language Papers 1 & 2
Tuesday Oct 25: No examination
Wednesday Oct 26: Deepavali
Thursday Oct 27pm: Mathematics Paper 1
Friday Oct 28 pm: Mathematics Paper 2
Going forward, we will continue to refine our processes and also seek the inputs of the community when we plan the examination timetable.
This article was first published in The New Paper.
