Can Poly students finally be the equal of JC students?

Update

Lower fares are coming 1st April. But as expected the poly students did not get what they are clamouring for. No equal to JC and ITE students. I hope Bernard (organizer of the petition) live to fight another day. 

_______________________________________________________

The Public Transport Council (PTC) is going to decide on new fares soon, as reported today. Hopefully there will be reduction in fares in light of the worsening economic conditions. More interestingly to look out for is whether polytechnic students will finally get what they deserve: same bus and train fares and concessions as JC students. 

The topic of whether Polytechnic students should enjoy the same concessions as Junior College students has been revisited many times. Over the years, it has been a ritual for someone to raise the concern in the forums of newspapers and every time the answer given by SMRT and SBS is always the same, i.e. Any concession given to the students will cause additional burden to commuters paying the full fare as they are effectively subsidizing the existing concessions. Its such a templated standard answer that bbqchickenwings can memorize it. I think some people can even reproduce the excuse given by the transport companies word-for-word. 

Recently, a group championing the cause is finally making some headway. The student activist group actually managed to meet representatives from PTC, TransitLink, SMRT and SBS. We will know soon whether the students are successful in convincing the representatives regarding the concerns or whether its just a left-ear-in, right-ear-out thing. 

Students are not the only ones supporting the cause. bbqchickenwings has previously quietly supported and now officially endorse via this blog (added the logo on the right column of the blog) the petition for Fairer Transport Fares for Polytechnic/Tertiary students. Even their teachers are getting into the act, writing to the forums. Article from Today, 18 February.

Letter from Chen Khin Wee 

Academic Associate, Republic Polytechnic 

I FOUND Transport Minister Raymond Lim’s remark in “Households spend less in 2008” (Feb 13), that “some polytechnic students are better off than others”, rather mystifying. Does this fact not apply to junior college (JC) students as well? Is he saying that all polytechnic students are well off and all JC students needy and therefore need the student concession more than their polytechnic counterparts?

I teach at a polytechnic and I can say for sure that my students are not rolling in money. I estimate that at least half of the students in my classes have to work part-time after school and during weekends to make ends meet. When I join them for meals I can see how carefully some of them choose the food they buy to conserve their limited pocket money.

While I am very proud of their self-reliance and financial independence, I am sure this extra-curricular activity alsoaffects their school work. 

There are about 20 JCs in Singapore but only five polytechnics. Unlike JC students, who have a greater chance of enrolling in a school near their home, the average polytechnic student has to travel some distance to attend classes.

Some of my students travel an average of three hours a day, often taking a complex “combination” of bus, MRT, and walking — students proudly refer to this as their B-M-W — just to get to school and home. This adds up to considerable travelling time and expenses.

Before writing this, I checked with some of my students to see how many benefited from the “targeted assistance” that the minister referred to. They looked back at me blankly and asked “What’s that?”

If the minister’s argument holds, then concession for JC students should be removed as well, and the real needy ones identified and given assistance. Many polytechnic students could use reduced rates.

Pretty cool huh. BMW. bbqchickenwings previously never knew he had been using a BMW for the last 20+ years of his life. (Is this a generation gap thing? Gosh, bbqchickenwings is out of touch) The writer made poly students sound so rich. Their schoolwork is slack enough for them to go out and work part time and they all have BMWs. Look at JC students, every day need to mug and become the elite of the elite, 人中之龙. Where can the JC students find the time to do part-time? So they need concessions even more eh?

So will the polytechinic students finally get some concessions?

The answer is NO. In Singapore you do not go up to a statutory board or government-linked company, tell them you want some changes to be made and expect them to follow suit. If the PTC and transport companies follow suit, its a lose-lose-lose situation for them. They lose the extra revenue from the poly students, they lose their standing on a higher platform by seemingly succumbing to an activist group and most importantly, they (i.e. including the government) will look like they lose the authority over the citizenry. 

Potential hell will break lose. The government will be worried that this will set a precedent for people to have petitions and activist causes of all kinds. More students may start petitions. (Historically, students always leads revolutions as they have too much time on their hands. Adults are too busy working and trying to feed their families, don't you agree?) The organizers of the petitions will be seen as heroes, like a certain Chee Soon Juan. The government has enough trouble with one CSJ. They do not need many more CSJ-wannabes asking people to sign petitions of all kinds. 

Petitions cannot be seen as a force for change in the government system. That is why bbqchickenwings is skeptical that polytechnic students will get what they want this time round, especially as the petition group had just met men from the PTC and transport companies. 

So what can be done. The petition group has already done their part. They have been heard. Now is the time to loosen the noose. Let the petition lose some steam and if the transport operators think it is justifiable, they will eventually give concessions to poly students. 

bbqchickenwings will be more than glad to eat his words and stuff chicken wings into his mouth if proven otherwise the next few days.