Mr Yee Jenn Jong, who served as a Non-Constituency Member of Parliament under The Workers’ Party from 2011 to 2015, shared an unusually personal post on Facebook on Wednesday (Nov 23) saying that he had sat as a parent waiting for the Primary School Leaving Examination (PSLE) results for his foster daughter that day.
Mr Yee shared a photo of some youngsters, presumably PSLE takers, sitting in a hall where a graphic was posted. It contained a quote from Irish poet William Butler Yeats that said, “Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire.” The quote had been shared by the school principal, Mr Yee wrote.
The school’s PSLE passing rate is at 100 per cent, with all its examinees qualifying to go on to secondary school. He wrote that the quote from the Irish poet reflects their family’s philosophy and that he is glad his older children “have found their paths in life.”
Mr Yee added that he was happy for his foster daughter.“Glad that our foster daughter did well today and she will anyway already be going via DSA to a secondary school. Had been an amazing journey for us in the fostering process too. All the best to those getting their results today and may you find your path in life.”
As the ex-NCMP’s children are grown up, he thought he would never again have the experience of waiting for PSLE results. But he was there because of their “foster daughter whom we have been looking after for the past 1.5 years.”
Mr Yee went on to commend Yumin Primary School in Tampines, writing that it has “very committed teachers who provided a lot of support.”
During his time as an NCMP, Mr Yee showed that education is one issue that he is passionate about. He is the co-founder of The Learning Grid, 360 Education, and Ignium Academy, and the About Me page on his website lists him as an Education Entrepreneur & consultant as well as a Start-up Mentor.
He also wrote a memoir about his political career titled Journey in Blue: A Peek into the Workers’ Party of Singapore, after announcing a few years ago that he would no longer contest for elections in the future to make way for younger WP members. /TISG
WP’s Yee Jenn Jong says the new PSLE scoring system “does not change anything”