Long queue & long faces at poly

[metalslug]

http://newpaper.asia1.com.sg/news/story/0,4136,195414,00.html?

Long queue & long faces at poly
Easier if enrolment exercise at Republic Poly done online: Students
March 12, 2009

LONG WAIT: Students queueing to complete their course enrolment. TNP PICTURE: AUDREY TAN

THE queue went all the way out of the school hall.

It wasn't for a free gift or a job application, it was just to enrol for courses which start next month at a polytechnic.

The places for all the courses have already been decided.

No wonder then that among the more than 500 students who turned up at Republic Polytechnic (RP) yesterday, there were red faces.

The reason: The polytechnic required prospective students to go to the campus in Woodlands to complete the enrolment procedure.

Some students wondered why RP, the newest polytechnic in Singapore which started operations in July 2003, couldn't have done the entire enrolment procedure online.

Waste of time

Students who live far away from the campus found the procedure unnecessary and tedious.

Amanda Soh, 17, who lives in Pasir Ris, said she had to travel for over an hour to get to the campus.

Others felt it was a waste of time.

Lye Long Fang, 21, who was queueing on behalf of a friend, estimated that there would be more than an hour's wait for those in the middle of the queue.

'Judging by how slowly the queue is moving now, I doubt that my friend would be able to enrol by today,' he added.

RP accepts applications from 9am to 5pm for the enrolment period which began yesterday and will end on Friday.

Of the five polytechnics in Singapore, only RP and Singapore Polytechnic require their students to go to the campus to enrol.

A spokesman for Singapore Polytechnic said that there was a queue, but it was manageable.

At Temasek Polytechnic, Nanyang Polytechnic and Ngee Ann Polytechnic, the application process is done online.

Said Yong Zi An, 18, a RP student: 'If we could apply online, it would save me travelling time and costs.'

Second-year RP student Yong Zi Kang, 18 said: 'This is a minor issue. I would care more about the admission criteria.'

Ngee Ann Poly student Nicholas, 19, agreed: 'Yes, courses offered by the school are more important.'

For both Republic and Singapore Polys, there are two parts to the enrolment procedure.

The student is required to fill up forms online, then go to the campus to complete the enrolment process by authenticating their documents.

A RP spokesman apologised for the delay.

'Republic Polytechnic deeply regrets and apologises to the students and their parents who encountered delays in the enrolment exercise today.

'We are taking immediate remedial steps to ensure that over the next three days of the enrolment exercise the process will be a smoother one for all,' he said.

Audrey Tan, newsroom intern, with additional reporting by Bernice Huang

 

[scoobyhoo]

i always heard this sentence in my school days, in my army days, reservist day, and when i get older...

"who complain? who? come out! who? come out! don't let me catch you, hehen"

 

[metalslug]

http://newpaper.asia1.com.sg/news/story/0,4136,195548,00.html?

Queue eases at Republic Polytechnic
March 13, 2009

The New Paper, 11 Mar.

HE WENT to Republic Polytechnic (RP) on Tuesday, the first day of enrolment, hoping to finish the admission procedure quickly.

Yang Jia Wen, 21, and his mother, Madam Ong Choo Geok, 58, arrived at the campus in Woodlands at 3pm.

But he did not manage to enrol before the booths closed at 5pm on Tuesday.

The enrolment booths are open from 9am to 5pm. The poly's enrolment started on Tuesday and will end tomorrow.

The New Paper reported yesterday that there was a long queue and many students, who took hours to register, were upset by the wait.

However, when Jia Wen made another trip to the poly yesterday, he was pleasantly surprised at how smoothly things went.

A spokesman for RP said the school had introduced measures to ease the congestion.

He said: 'Manpower at the different booths were increased by about 20 per cent.'

Students have to go to about five different booths to complete the registration, which includes verifying their personal particulars, making payment and taking photographs for their student cards.

At the booth where students had to input their personal particulars into the school's database, the number of computer terminals was increased from 20 to 24.

This was the station that held up the queue because students spent the most time there.

Big improvement

When The New Paper was at the poly at 2.30pm yesterday, there was no queue.

'It's much better today. Compared to yesterday, the queue was a lot shorter,' Jia Wen said.

Another student, Khoo Sing Yee, 17 agreed, saying: '(The queue) moved very fast today. I didn't even have to queue for registration.'

The school attributed the large crowd on Tuesday to a larger intake this year.

The spokesman declined to mention the percentage increase of this year's intake.

Most students had completed their registration on the first day.

Audrey Tan Ruiping, newsroom intern