William Ding Chun Fong wins appeal

Former teacher William Ding Chun Fong, 36, on Wednesday won his appeal against conviction for molesting two schoolboys.

Four secondary school students accused Ding of molesting them in separate incidents between 2001 and 2005.

Ding denied the accusations and fought the case in an 80-day trial that spanned nine months.

He was found guilty in March last year by District Judge Jasbendar Kaur on three charges involving two boys and sentenced to a year’s jail. Ding was acquitted of six other charges involving the other two boys.

Ding choked back tears as an appeal judge on Wednesday acquitted him of molesting two schoolboys.

On hearing that he had won his appeal against his conviction last year by a lower court, he first appeared stunned. (story)

Singapore #1 among students

ASEAN university students are overwhelmingly gunning for one place to work and play - Singapore.

A survey of university students across the region last year finds the smallest South-east Asian country coming out the biggest winner.

More than half of the 2,170 undergraduates polled, or 54.3 per cent, said they would ‘most like to work’ in Singapore among the 10 Asean nations.

Malaysia is a distant second, garnering 11.2 per cent. This is followed by Brunei, Thailand and Vietnam.

As Mr Prapat Rucktajittakarn, 21, a senior-year student at Thailand’s Institute of International Studies Ramkhamhang told The Straits Times: ‘Yes, I would like to work in Singapore as well. As you can see from other students who used to work abroad, they probably gain more experience in their lives.’ (story)

Prisoners getting more interviews than you

Selected prison inmates no longer feel like they are on blind dates when they meet prospective employers to discuss jobs while still in jail. Under a new programme by the Singapore Corporation of Rehabilitative Enterprises (Score), inmates and employers understand more about each other well before job interviews are held.

Score partnered the Workforce Development Agency for this project.

Previously, there were no concerted efforts to screen, prepare and train the inmates before they signed up with prospective employers at job fairs.

But under the ‘Prepare and Place’ Project, inmates who are selected come up with the industries they are keen on working in. (story)

2 students develop early blindness detecting software

2 polytechnic students have successfully developed a software that helps doctors detect blindness early. The pair from Ngee Ann Polytechnic were among six winning teams which walked away with $500 each at the Polytechnic Student Research Programme on Tuesday.

Miss Melissa Tan and teammate Gracielynne Flores, both 20, based their research on 200 retinal scans from patients at the National University of Hospital.

The software automatically identifies and classifies various stages of the progressive disease - from mild to prolific, the most severe stage - allowing clinicians to give a more accurate diagnosis.

Further trials may be carried out at the hospital soon.

It took three months of intensive reading to prepare for the project said team member, said Miss Flores.

‘We didn’t know anything about it in the beginning, but that’s where the challenge lies,’ she said.

Diabetic retinopathy is a condition where the retina, which functions in a similar fashion to film in a camera, is damaged due to fluid leaking from blood vessels. In extreme cases, the patient will become blind. (story)

3 month course nets graduates jobs in health care field

Miss Rosyanti Abdullah was 49 when her company restructured last year and she lost her job. The O-level certificate holder spent 12 months looking for work, but found herself losing out to younger and better educated competition.

But after attending a three-month course that trains health-care assistants, she will start work this month at the Ling Kwang Home, a facility for the elderly.

‘I have been keen to get a job in health care for a long time, but didn’t have an opportunity until now,’ she said.

She is among 17 students who graduated on Wednesday from the second run of the health-care assistant course. The program trains those without prior experience to help take care of patients’ daily needs in community hospitals and nursing homes. (story)

Primary school teacher caught forging student’s answers

A primary school teacher was charged on Tuesday with eight counts of forging Primary School Leaving Examination (PSLE) Tamil language answer scripts of three students last October.Shanti Krishnasamy, 39, is accused of forging the pupils’ answer scripts intending to deceive the markers of the PSLE Tamil papers into believing that they were given by the students.

The alleged offences took place at a school in the northern part of Singapore on Oct 5 last year.

She was apparently invigilating the examination when the alleged offences took place. (story)

NTUC aims to help 35,000 find better jobs

35,000 Singaporeans will be given a leg-up by the labour movement to chart new careers or get better-paying jobs. This target, announced by labour chief Lim Swee Say during the National Trades Union Congress’s annual workplan seminar on Tuesday, marks a significant increase over the 26,800 it reached out to last year.

Among those who stand to gain include low-wage earners, those who have left the workforce such as housewives and retirees, as well as professionals, managers, executives and technicians (PMETs).

Many of them will be hot-housed at the upcoming Employment and Employability Institute (e2i). A one-stop shop for skills upgrading, job placement and career consulting, among other services, the centre will be officially opened by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong on Friday.

The cogwheels of assistance for such groups have been in motion since last year, when the labour movement implemented a host of programs to help them secure jobs. (story)

Child drowns marring new swimming program at school

New Town Secondary, the drowning of Danial Syawal Jailani, 12, was a terrible start to its swimming program. It was the first year the school decided that its Secondary One students should have swimming lessons during physical education classes.

And it was Danial’s third lesson in Clementi Swimming Complex.

It is unclear how he drowned.

His parents said he was a strong swimmer, whom they often took to public pools and to the beach.

Classmates agree that he was no novice. (story)

Student tops N-level exams

Selwyn Sim, 16, may be in the Normal (Technical) stream but he worked on assessment books for those in the Express stream. The Pasir Ris Secondary student topped the N-level exams with an aggregate of three points - the best ever results in the 10-year history of the Normal (Technical) stream. The N-level results were released on Tuesday afternoon.

Selwyn Sim scored grades 1 for all his subjects except Chinese, which he scored a grade 4. (story)

Exam results drop, slightly

The Education Ministry’s latest report card for the ethnic groups showed Malay performance slipping slightly at the Primary School Leaving Examination (PSLE), and at the GCE O and A levels.

Chinese and Indian students showed improvement at the PSLE and O levels, but both groups also dropped in performance at the A levels.

The good news in the data released on Friday is that children of all races did well overall at all the major examinations.

In the PSLE, over 95 per cent passed. At the O levels, over 95 per cent obtained at least three O-level passes and over 80 per cent obtained at least five.

And at the A levels, over 90 per cent obtained at least two A levels and two AO levels.

Across the board, Chinese students kept up their record of performing best at all three levels, their results outstripping the national average.

Malay students shone in mother tongue, outperforming Chinese and Indians at all three exams as in previous years. (story)