First day at school AGAIN ...

My son was going to a new school again today. But it was thankfully the school which we wanted him to go to in terms of distance. I remember going to the school 3 years ago early in the morning and I was actually the first 50 to register but was not placed there.

Unbeknownst to everyone what kind of selection method was used to place kids to schools which are very far from their home. Initially my son was posted to a school 10km away and it was in a jungle next to a graveyard =_=". After finding out the location, I immediately appealed for him to be placed to a school nearer to my home and of course the first choice would be the school which I tried to registered him.

After 6 months of waiting, I got a nearer school but still it was far away but the next appeal would be when the school opens. In the first week itself, I tried to appeal for another change of place. Unfortunately the ministry is not open to appeals until the third week of school opening and I went back there on the Monday of the third week and was told to wait a week for results.

As the following week was a big holiday, I gave them 2 weeks but thankfully and finally I got the result which I craved for since the beginning. Thus, after much effort, travelling to and fro to school and the ministry I finally got a good news.

The second school's timetable was quite crazy, a first year student will need to spend almost 8 hours in school and 12 hours out of home. 8 hours of studying and activities and 4 hours for travelling. Wake up about 5am come back home at about 5pm. I can't even stand 8 hours in office but I have to work almost 12 hours a day and it makes me want to puke. So imagine what a year of 12 hours would do to a first year student???

In summary for those who might be going through the same pain :
1) Register your kid when they are 4 years old at your desired school, some open as early as April
2) Appeal at the school you are wrongly placed at when you get the placement letter
3) There is an appeal form at the second appealed school which you need to make 6 copies with other attachments + approval from the headmaster. Send 4 copies to the education ministry and wait ... Call them up to ask when the last appeal can be made so you can save your travel.

Cheers and good luck