I can empathise with parents facing troubles over transport for their children at St Stephen’s School (School takes action to ease bus woes, Jan 30; Little choice but to rely on school buses, say parents, Feb 6).
I have four children: two in different primary schools, one in pre-school and the youngest is a baby.
My eldest child is in an all-girls school. Seven years ago when our second child was born, my husband and I took pains to buy a flat that was within 1km of an all-boys school for our son, as my husband is not an alumnus of any school in Singapore.
Regrettably, when we attempted to enrol the boy into that school, we were twice unsuccessful with the balloting process, and we had to enrol him in a school 8km away.
To compound matters, we subsequently found that the bus operator with his new school would not pick him up as we were not on the service route.
As for our third child in pre-school, the school bus operator has also stopped services for the past 1½ years, citing profitability issues. So we have had to figure out how to get three children to school on time, at around the same time, without school buses and without breaking the bank.
I had appealed to my MP and to the Ministry of Education for assistance to get my second child into the school that is within walking distance, but I was told this was not possible.
With all this talk of supporting families, it is my hope that the authorities will look into this issue.
Getting a child to school shouldn’t be so difficult. It is unrealistic to expect parents to own a car to ferry their children to and from school, or find people to accompany their children in a taxi or private-hire vehicle every day, twice a day.
There should either be guaranteed school bus services or a guaranteed place in a school that is within 1km of a child’s home.
Vicki Loh Hui-qi