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Accept changes and move on

In his commentary “School mergers: More questions than answers” (April 25), Dr Leong Chan-Hoong waxes lyrical about elitism in the pecking order of junior colleges and secondary schools.

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Edmund Sum Siew Kee

In his commentary “School mergers: More questions than answers” (April 25), Dr Leong Chan-Hoong waxes lyrical about elitism in the pecking order of junior colleges and secondary schools.

It should be obvious, however, that merged schools should have similar academic results, which is the point of streaming.

In every cohort, there are more average pupils than elite pupils. It stands to reason that the average schools are obvious candidates for merger, since they exist in greater number.

Moreover, being the schools less in demand among parents and students, they would bear the brunt of falling cohort sizes.

I support the mergers because they should result in more efficient use of educational resources.

The pairs of junior colleges and secondary schools chosen for merger were sensible, especially considering the student demographics in both schools.

I am surprised that Dr Leong wrote as if it was an exercise “kept hush-hush till the last minute” that disregarded the memories of school alumni. In fact, the JCs will be shut down only in 2019.

Given the existence of alumni at any juncture, there is never a best time to close a school. It is not going to materially affect alumni, whereas if the shutdown were delayed, students would shun the schools anyway, knowing that they are closing down, which would create more problems for school administrations.

We should accept that the merger plans and timing of the announcement were appropriate and get on with life.

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