What started as an attempt to pay off school fees in order to allow students to collect their exam results’ certificates that would have otherwise been held back by the Ministry of Education, has now morphed into a project to pay for and fund the school fees of needy children by activist Gilbert Goh.
Goh, who runs a non-governmental organisation counselling unemployed Singaporeans, shared the thank-you note a boy in Secondary Three left him, after they cleared his balance in unpaid school fees of S$128 before MOE’s Financial Assistance Scheme (FAS) set in.
Goh wrote that that boy’s and many others’ fees are “paid off through our crowdfunding site which is (sic) donated by one hundred over Good Samaritans”.
“It has garnered over $10,000 worth of donations and so far we have used up close to $5000 benefitting a total of 17 needy kids struggling to pay off the accumulated school fees due to various financial reasons. Some donors have also passed their donation to me privately”, he wrote in a social media post yesterday (Dec 16).
Sharing more about the boy in Secondary Three whose fees they just paid, Goh said that the child’s single mum struggles with day-to-day expenses after her divorce. Both she and her son live with her sister and she is currently unemployed.
“We are scheduling a home visit soon to better understand how we can help the family”, he added.
Because the release of the GCE N Level results are to be released on Thursday (Dec 19), Goh urged netizens saying, “If you know of anyone with unpaid school fee, please let us know so that we can help to pay it off unconditionally – especially since the release of GCE N level certificate is just round the corner”.
He explained that if students have unpaid school fees, the school may only release the child’s results slip, withholding their results certificates until the balance is paid.
To help older students, Goh wrote, “We are also open to funding polytechnic school fee from needy families but subject to a cap of $500 per household. We are seeing a case next week to assess the family situation before approving the fund”. /TISG