With good results and encouragement from teachers and peers, I was confident of a successful application for the diploma course in aviation management and services at Temasek Polytechnic. I was rejected last Friday and so was my subsequent appeal.

The course manager told me the class quota was filled and applications were decided on a system crafted by the Education Ministry. If so, it seems unfair to ITE students like me who cannot possibly achieve any better at the institute.

Are ITE graduates still 'second-class' students compared with their successful O-level counterparts?

As for class sizes, can polytechnics cope? Do they have enough resources to handle qualified applicants so industry can obtain as many graduates as possible to satisfy the expected boom in jobs?

Bryan Chung Hoe Weng