Enrollment Change Form Comprehensive: Fill & Download for Free

Why can’t the rest of India follow Tamil Nadu in socioeconomic development?In fact Tamil Nadu had contributed many flagship programs for people’s welfare which had been picked up and followed by other states and even by the Union government. Only thing is these schemes have become so much ingrained in the popular psyche that most of us have even stopped consciously noticing them, just like we do with the air/oxygen we breathe.Compulsory Free Education up to Primary/ Secondary levels : This was first introduced in Tamil Nadu (then Madras by the incomparable K.Kamaraj way back in the early 1950s during his first tenure as the chief minister of the state. This was then taken up and implemented by almost all other states in due course.Mid day Meals/ Nuitritious Meals scheme : Originally started once again by Kamaraj to encourage enrollment of more poor children in schools, and later expanded and further refined by another great chief minister M.G.Ramachandran in the state of Tamil Nadu. This is now being practiced by almost all the Indian states and the Union government.Maternity Benefit Schemes for poor pregnant women: Muthulakshmi Reddy Maternity Benefit Scheme (MRMBS) is a welfare measure launched in Tamil Nadu way back in 1985 when M.G.R was the chief minister of the state to financially assist the pregnant women in the poorer sections of the society. Successive governments, irrespective of the party in power, not only continued this scheme, but further improved upon it to benefit a large number of poor women in rural areas during their first two pregnancies. (By mid 2000s when I was the Manager of my bank in one of the backward districts of Tamilnadu, I had been actively involved with the successful implementation of this scheme, and witnessed first hand the benefits this conferred on the rural womenfolk) Later on this scheme has been adopted by the Union government and being implemented at the national level under the name Pradhan Mantri Matritva Vandana Yojana.Universal Health Care schemes for the poorer segments of society : M.Karunanidhi when he was Chief Minister in 2009 first launched the health insurance scheme for the treatment of poor patients in hospitals across the state under the name Maruthuva Kappittu Thittam. Jayalalithaa who succeeded him in 2011 changed the name of the scheme to Chief Minister’s Comprehensive Health Insurance Scheme in 2012 by enlarging its scope and improving the provisions. This path breaking scheme has also been later adopted by many other states and by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi as his government’s flagship Ayushman Bharat scheme in 2018.Amma Canteens: Jayalalithaa as Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu launched in 2013 a scheme to open canteens across the state to provide decent quality food to people at lower,subsidized prices. Though pilloried by the pundits for causing loss to the public exchequer, the scheme was hugely successful among the common people. Many other states like Andhra, Karnataka, Odisha and Union Territories like Delhi NCR had subsequently adopted this popular welfare measure.I can add more, but I stop here because I wanted to focus only on major people friendly welfare measures pioneered by Tamil Nadu. Many 90’s kids and Millennials, whose general knowledge is primarily if not wholly based on social media like WhatsApp and Quora,raving only about Maharashtra or Gujarat Models or shouting about freebies and taxpayer’s money,may not even know about these measures. But the fact is, when it comes to socioeconomic development and public welfare measures, Tamil Nadu (and the entire South India in general) was already in uniform, when most of these boys were not even in liquid form.http://www.indiaenvironmentportal.org.in/files/file/ProPoor.pdfAyushman Bharat scheme to be merged with Tamil Nadu Chief Minister's Health Insurance SchemeAmma Unavagam - WikipediaBonus link dedicated to the freebie baiting gangs:Mother of welfare schemes

All the time. Parents and students, especially the last two weeks of the grading period and again after report cards are sent out, come to me and ask me to raise grades so the student can have a passing grade or a better grade so they can get into college. I hear so many sob stories. I make it clear in my policies, I do not change grades and I do not give extra credit points. Students have to do the regular work and turn it in on time. I have so many students turn in late work that I only give 10% credit for late work. Students who turn in late work are waiting to copy from a student who had their graded assignment returned. I tell them the 10% is for acting like a copy machine. I do not accept any late work during the last three weeks of a semester. If I did, I would get so much that it would be physically impossible for me to grade it all. When I was younger, I would try and would end up staying awake for 72 hours straight to do it. I ended up having a stroke so I stopped this madness. I turn in my grades on the last day of the semester and go home and enjoy my break. I spend it with my family.There were two times a principal changed my grade for me. In CA, the teacher is the only one that can assign the grade. Administrators are not allowed by law to change grades or direct teachers to change grades. If an administrator directs a teacher to change a grade or changes a grade without the teacher’s written permission and full cooperation, then the administrator can have action taken against their credential and can be immediately fired by the district.One time, I had a student who was a star basketball player. Unfortunately, he was a straight F student. On top of that, he had been suspended for fighting several times. He should have been expelled. The school board had a policy that students who got into fights twice in a year were to be expelled. He had been in 5 fights that he started by the time basketball season started, and he engaged in a few more fights during the basketball season. During the first semester he earned all failing grades and yet somehow he was allowed to play. The principal said that since he was a special education student, he could make an exception for the student. I knew that was wrong so I reported it to the district.A few days later the basketball coach was told to remove the student from the team, he was not qualified due to grades and the principal could not make an exception. Within a few days, the student was back on the team. I asked the coach and he said he made grades. I said he still had an F in my class and had an F in his math class. The math teacher was a good friend of mine. I was told he had Cs in all of his classes.I checked his grades online. The coach wish right. So I went to the registrar to fix the mistake with the biology grade. The math teacher did the same with the math grade. Two Fs disqualified the student from playing. She notified the coach and the district office. She then put in a request to find out how the grade changes happened. When a grade is changed, the system records the date and time and who did it. There is also supposed to be a written grade change request on file with the school’s registrar.The investigation discovered the principal emailed the assistant superintendent of the district to ask him to change the grade so the kid could play basketball. The kid was black and so was the principal and assistant superintendent. The reason was to provide this kid a chance to get a college scholarship through basketball. This kid was illiterate, he could not even read at the first grade level. He was a junior with 35 credits, 30 of which were not legitimate. All the grades were changed back. I filed a complaint that was heard by the school board. They took it up in a closed session. I testified and the principal was asked to explain himself. He denied making the changes, even with his email. The assistant superintendent admitted his part. The school board voted to terminate the employment of both, effective immediately. Had they not, I would have filed a complaint with the state commission on credentialing.The second time was with the principal that was the replacement. I had a transfer student. She had been expelled from a private school and she did not have a transfer grade. She transferred in half way through the second quarter. I informed her and her mother she would need to make up the work for the time she was not at our school since she did not have a transfer grade. If she did not make up that work and take those tests she would be credited with 0s for those assignments and would fail the semester. Mom thought this was not fair. It is not right that she gets a semester’s worth of credit for 5 weeks of work. Our district does not offer partial credit.Mom wanted me to transfer the grade she claimed her daughter had before the expulsion without any proof. She said due to the expulsion, the private school would not provide transfer grades. It was not my problem and I could not go on her word. The student did no work during the rest of that 1st semester and so she failed.The second semester, she did work and maintained a grade of C. In that semester I had a stroke and ended up being off for 2 years. Mom finally was able to get official transfer grades. The principal told mom that I would change the grade to an A because that was her transfer grade in biology. The principal tried to change the grade but the registrar refused and said I had to do it.The principal tried to call me at home and actually became upset because she could not understand me. She thought I was purposely avoiding her. I had lost the ability to speak and was paralyzed on my left side due to the stroke. It took two years of speech, physical, and occupational therapy to rehab. It took a year for my speech to be coherent enough for most people to understand me. Even then, I would still easily become confused. I could not go anywhere on my own because I would get lost and while talking I would forget what I was talking about.The first day back to work, the principal came to me and said I had to change the grade to A. She promised mom I would and told mom the daughter would not have to make up the 1 semester of biology. I did not have a chance to see the transcripts or even look at the student’s grade from two years before. I was trying to get back to dealing with the complexities of teaching, and I started a week into the second semester.Well, it turned out the principal looked at the wrong transcript, she had the transcripts for another student with a similar name that had transferred into a different class of mine around the same time. I had calculated her grade correctly.The student that came from the private school still did not have transcripts. So I went to the registrar. She contacted the private school to have a frank discussion with their registrar. The sent us the records. The student had been expelled 6 weeks before she was enrolled in our school. mom took a 6 week vacation before enrolling her daughter at our school. She had not been enrolled in biology at all. She had no biology transfer grade.I then printed out my emails from two years prior showing I offered to let the student make up the work and mom said she would not because there would be a transfer grade.I went to the principal and showed her what her mistake was. The principal did not want to go to mom and own up to the mistake because it meant the daughter would not graduate. The principal directed me to change the grade. I said, are you sure you want to do this. She said yes.I sent an email to the principal with a synopsis of the issue and asking again if she was directing me to change the grade. She responded by email that she was directing me to change the grade to an A.I filled out the change of grade form and in the box for the reason, I wrote directed by the principle to do so even though the student has not earned an A and legitimately earned her F and has not done anything to warrant a change in the grade. I attached the email I sent to the principal and her response. I emailed the entire thing to the registrar.I then stopped by the registrar’s office to make sure she had all she needed. She did. The next day I got a notice to appear before a closed session of the school board the following week. Yep, you guessed it, the meeting was on a Tuesday night. During the meeting the principal carefully explained why the grade should be changed because she made a mistake due to both girls having very similar names. She had spoken to both mothers and confused them and thought this was all about the same student. She had promised that the grade would be changed and because of that the girl did not take the 1 semester of biology when she had a chance and now it is too late to do so and she would not be able to graduate due to the principal’s mistake. She is further confused to be explaining this before the school board because she thought I was okay with this.I did tell her that for being a former English teacher, she really has little reading comprehension. What part of if you direct me to change the grade I will take this to the school board because this is unethical and a violation of the Education Code.At the conclusion, she was terminated and told to not bother returning to school on Wednesday. Her belongings that were still in her office would be delivered to her house.A month later we learned she was facing Federal charges for misappropriating federal money at the high school she was a principal at before she came to us. We were told she came to us to live closer to her home. That was not true, she was fired from that job and she signed a non-disclosure agreement and the district gave her a glowing recommendation. She misspent federal grand money that was supposed to hire extra armed security to protect students from the gang activity in the neighborhood and used it instead to fund theater productions and buy books for the library. She was a theater arts teacher when she was a teacher. As a result, there was a shootout on campus between rival gang members. It started off campus and moved onto campus. There were no armed guards to protect students and a couple of students were killed and several were injured.She ended up with 2 years in Club Fed and loss of her administrative and teaching credentials and loss of her pensions. Upon her release, she had to move in with a daughter. She had divorced her husband when she became a principal.

I’d like to answer this from an Indian perspective.My parents moved to Singapore from India when I was 1 year old because my dad found work here. They enrolled me in local schools for the entire duration of my schooling from preschool to junior college. On the other hand, many of my friends (children of my parents’ friends who are also from India) studied in international schools. Some of these friends eventually transitioned to local schools. Besides this, I have experience in tutoring students studying in the Global Indian International School, so I know a fair bit about how the syllabus in the Indian international school compares to that of local schools.So, should you enroll your child in an international school? These are some things to consider:1. Do you have a choice?The Singapore education system has been undergoing some major changes in the last 5 years. Schools are being closed down and the total number of classes and/or class sizes are decreasing in the remaining schools. According to the Ministry of Education, this is happening because the country’s birth rate has been falling over the last two decades, which has resulted in smaller enrollment numbers.At the same time, schools are deploying more stringent policies and have been admitting fewer foreign students in recent years. During the admission exercise, they generally give priority to children who are Singapore citizens, followed by Singapore residents and finally, foreigners. This has resulted in some foreign students being unable to secure admission in local schools. If you cannot pay for your child to attend an international school, you may find it difficult to settle here.There are also certain points when it is easier and more convenient to seek entry into a local school than others. These include primary 1 (age 7) and secondary 1 (age 13). Your child will be required to sit for an aptitude test administered by the school to determine if they can cope with the rigor of study. He may be a class at a lower level than his peers of the same age if he has not been keeping up with his studies. If getting your child to complete their schooling as early as possible is a priority, then you are more likely to succeed in getting your child admitted to his current level in an international school which follows the syllabus he has already been exposed to.I would advise against trying to seek admission in a local school at the age of 12 (primary 6) as this is the year when students sit for a major exam. It is called the Primary School Leaving Examination, or PSLE, and is a stressful affair for both students and parents alike because the marks attained are used stream the students into the different secondary schools here. The children in local schools generally prepare for it over the course of their last 4 years in primary school leading up to the examination, and it may come as a big shock to your child if he was previously placed in a more relaxed academic environment.2. Can you afford it?The school fees charged by international schools in Singapore are expensive. Take for instance, the Global Indian International School. As of 2017, it charges SGD $2518.00 per term for Nursery and Kindergarten students, and this fee increases to SGD $3745.00 per term for Class 12 students. Note that these are the figures for the school fees alone. On top of this, you are expected to pay an activity fee, resource fee, technology fee, building development fee and other miscellaneous expenses every term, which can pile on several thousand dollars onto the tuition fee. If you’re spending that much on schooling, you may have problems saving money for the future e.g. for your kid’s college fund or even retirement. Enrolling in a local school can help save tens of thousands of dollars.At the same time, local school fees aren’t exactly cheap either. While the fees for Singapore citizens is highly subsidized and remains low, Singapore Permanent Residents and foreign students must pay increasing amounts of fees to attend school.It is probably a good idea to check with your company if they offer an expatriate package to help your cover the costs of school for your children.3. What are your long-term goals?Do you plan to settle down here, or work for a few years before moving out to another country? If you belong to the former category and plan to try and get Singapore permanent residence/ citizenship, it will help your cause greatly if you attempt to show that you are putting in effort to integrate into society e.g. by letting your children study in a local school. However, do take note that doing these things alone will not guarantee being able to settle down here. Immigration regulations have tightened significantly over the last decade and the Singapore government does not give out Singapore PR and citizenship as readily as before.If you belong to the latter category, it makes sense to enroll in an international school that follows the curriculum back at home e.g. CBSE or ICSE so that your child can continue with his studies in India with minimal disruption.Another word of caution I’d like to give is for parents who would like their children to attend university in Singapore. Admission to local universities depends less on where you studied i.e. local or international system, and more on your citizenship status. I had an Indian friend who had average grades for her A levels but couldn’t secure a seat in the courses of her choice even though there were local students with similar grades who gained admission into the course. Yet, there were students who had done very well on their CBSE exams back in India (scored >95%), taken the SATs and gotten admission into top courses.From first-hand experience, an Indian friend and I graduated with the highest possible grades for the A levels. We had good extracurricular activities and work experience at the hospital with contributions to research. Both of us wanted to study medicine. Yet, neither of us were selected, while there were local students who got in with far less. She went abroad to read medicine in the UK. I had to settle on another course as my parents didn’t have the funds to do the same.4. How is the nature of your job?Is it stable enough that you can stay here for a long time e.g. 5 years at a stretch? Some sectors which have a low turnover rate, e.g. healthcare, education, or perhaps having your own business, may allow for this. On the other hand, there are sectors with high turnover rates e.g. IT, Finance, and even Science Research. Many of my friend’s parents who worked in the IT field moved back to India or moved on to other countries such as Australia or the United States for various reasons after living here for 5-6 years.If you are going to be here for a long time, then it makes sense to try for a local school.If you are going to move somewhere else within a few years, studying in an internationals school that follows your country’s curriculum will make the transition less difficult for your child.5. What kind of educational experience do you want for your children?The education system here is tough. It is designed to challenge even the most able and driven students. If your child does not put in consistent effort, it will be difficult for him to do well. This means having to put in several hours of regular study every day. There may be a significant amount of homework assigned daily, and your child may have to put in late nights working on extra practice questions to master the skills required to ace exams. This is unlike back in India where you could study the textbooks and the methods taught in them thoroughly and pass exams with flying colors.Even co-curricular activities are awarded marks here and play a role in admissions to schools and universities. Great emphasis is placed on preparing for and winning competitions instead of simply participating in activities for enjoyment and relaxation. It is hard to maintain the sort of laid-back lifestyle that children enjoy back in India. Some families I know of are unable to accept this and guide their children accordingly, so their performance suffers. While some children may thrive in such a system and emerge as individuals with a strong work ethic, others may find it to overbearing.In local schools, students are streamed into classes according to their exam performance as early as Primary 3 (age 9). While this has its benefit in allowing students of similar caliber to be taught at the right pace, it might negatively affect your child’s self-esteem and their ability to maintain close friendships because they are shuffled around between classes every 1-2 years.On top of this, the system here is different in that not everyone gets the opportunity to study from standard 1 to standard 12 and enter university with ease. There are different pathways which children open/close for themselves based on the number of points they get during the national examinations. For instance, students who do not do well in their GCE O levels (generally sat at age 16) go on to study at a polytechnic where they undergo specialized vocational training and obtain a diploma.While a diploma has its advantages in allowing you to enter the workforce earlier, it compels a child to make a career choice at age 16 with very little information, takes 3 years to complete, and makes it difficult to enter local universities. Furthermore, the degree course generally needs to be related to your diploma. What happens if you change your mind? Several of my friends found themselves in this situation after completing a polytechnic degree and decided to go abroad to Australia to do a foundation year and broaden their options. There are opportunities to move between streams, but trying to do this is time-consuming and not very straightforward. More importantly, the polytechnic system is unique to Singapore and may not be recognized in your home country.The available subject combinations in junior college (last 2 years of high school) are something to be concerned about as well. For one, the triple science combination is not offered. Students can only study Chemistry/Biology or Chemistry/Physics with one contrasting subject from the humanities in the local Junior Colleges. While this provides useful exposure, it has its limitations. For instance, students who choose to take up biology cannot apply for engineering courses easily. If your child wishes to study subjects like Medicine in India, he will not be eligible to write the entrance exam.Picture taken from: https://www.moe.gov.sg/images/default-source/default-album/sg-education-landscape-print9e3a5a33f22f6eceb9b0ff0000fcc945.jpgIf you want your children to stay in touch with Indian culture, and grow up knowing about Indian history and society, and be comfortable with their mother tongue, an Indian international school is a better option.As an expat, enrolling your child in an international school will also indirectly help you to form a support network with parents of other children who have been here for some time and can empathize with you better, which will help you to settle down here and feel less lonely.Finally, how ambitious is your child? He may be a brilliant student, but the harsh truth is that as a foreigner, the rewards he gets may not be commensurate with the hard work that he puts in if he studies in the local system. I remember feeling very sad as a child when I wasn’t awarded the book prizes and scholarships which classmates received even though I did better than them on exams. I couldn’t get into better schools even though I had the required scores. Singapore citizens with the same score got in. This story repeated itself when I tried to apply for competitive courses like Medicine with a very strong portfolio (according to my school teachers and research mentors), but failed to get accepted. An acquaintance of mine who had been nominated through voting for the position of head prefect had to be downgraded to Vice-Head prefect because the school wanted a Singaporean and not a Permanent Resident to perform the flag-raising ceremony during morning. Sure, a country has every right to put its own citizens first. But the kind of systemic discrimination a foreign student has to face here can leave one feeling very disillusioned. The gap between Singapore citizens and permanent residents is the greatest I have seen here compared to other developed countries.I hope this gives a comprehensive overview of the challenges that you may potentially encounter when navigating through the education system in Singapore. Whatever choice you decide to make, do it with your eyes open and keep the long-term future in mind!