After watching the videos, I feel that Singapore should have a more inclusive education system

where everyone is able to learn regardless of disabilities or language barrier. Jega, who grew up with
dyslexia didn’t manage to learn like a normal student just because him and his family didn’t know
about his condition. To add on, Singapore’s education system should also help students who are
unable to read or write English more as these students may have grown up in an environment where
they don’t speak or read English often. That’s why teachers should play a part in helping these
students more.

In CNA’s documentary, Write of Passage, Diana Ser gathered 5 adults who are English illiterate, and
tries to help them learn English again from the beginning. However, how did these adults get
through Singapore’s world-class education system unnoticed by their teachers? I’m sure that at least
one or two teachers may have noticed it but didn’t bother to help them. For instance, when I was in
primary 3, I had difficulty in learning science because I couldn’t grasp the concept. It was clearly
shown in my assignments and test, and yet my teacher didn’t bother to ask if I was doing well or not.
I know that it’s a student’s job to go forward and ask for help but it was difficult for me that time.
However, when I was studying alone after school, one teacher came up to me as they can see me
struggling and offered me help. Some students may find it difficult to ask for help directly as they
may not want to show weakness, thus, I think that teachers who are aware of this should step up
and offer help.

Being English illiterate in Singapore at a young age isn’t rare, in fact, it’s common. However, what
makes these 5 adults different from us would be that they are starting a new at an old age, which
can be difficult sometimes. But how did they become a hidden minority in Singapore in the first
place? For a few of them, they successfully finished their primary school education and yet they
can’t fluently read and write English, which doesn’t really make sense since the Ministry of Education
made primary school education compulsory for everyone so that they are able to read and write
English at a basic level. Uncle Jimmy, a primary school dropout didn’t manage to finish his primary
school education just because he didn’t have the passion to study back then. Furthermore, his living
condition back then was not decent too, which may be a factor in why he dropped out of school.
Similarly, Xiao Ling, a mother of a daughter only finishes her ‘N’ levels before she stops pursuing her
dreams. On the other hand, Jega and Stephen finished their ‘N’ and ’O’ levels before going to ITE and
Polytechnic respectively, finds learning English difficult for different reasons. Jega, who grew up with
dyslexia and didn’t know about it, can’t process English words like others normally, thus, he had
difficulty in learning. Whereas Stephen, who completed his ‘O’s before pursuing his Diploma in
Engineering finds learning English difficult because of a language barrier. For Maya, it’s an entirely
different story. Maya was able to write, read and speak English fluently before her stroke took all of
that away from her and now, she’s trying to gain back what was lost. These 5 adults in Singapore
became a hidden minority with different kinds of problems each is facing daily just because they
can’t communicate properly.

Out of all the 5 adults, two the inspired me the most in confronting English illiteracy or re-learning
English would be Maya and Jega. Maya captured my attention because not only is she a stroke
survivor, she also didn’t fall into despair and found herself a new goal in life to work forward to
which is something I really look up to. Furthermore, her intention to re-learn English is really
touching as she wants to order food for her partner. If I loss my ability to speak and walk I will have
probably given up in life.
Another person that really inspired me would be Jega, he had the courage to reveal this secret to his
family and to gain their acceptance. I personally can never be like him as I fear for a lot of things like
what if I get disowned or what if my family don’t accept for what I am. Moreover, he managed to
handle primary and secondary school without knowing that he has dyslexia is something that really
amazed me.

Like the 5 adults in the CNA video, many of our elderly also face similar situation every day in
Singapore just because some are not able to speak or understand English. To make things worse,
Singapore is a fast-paced society, everything is changing and evolving every day, if many of our
elderly wants to adapt, they must be English literate. Additionally, the younger generation these
days don’t really speak Chinese at home and more of English, which can create a language barrier
between the older and younger generations. Lastly, elderlies in Singapore may also face difficulty in
communicating with their neighbours if they don’t know English which may cause misunderstanding
between neighbours. It is crucial for these elderlies to seek improvement in their English so that they
can keep up with today’s society, they can do this by reading more newspapers, articles, books or
browsing online to read news. Furthermore, they can also watch more English documentary to
improve their English. Elderly will definitely have their family’s support as this will lead to ease of
communication between the young and old generations. We as the younger generation must also do
what we can to support our grandparents so that they have the confidence to re-learn English.