4 May 2015

Mr Lee Hsien Loong
Prime Minister
Orchard Road
Istana
Singapore 238823
Dear Prime Minister,

Appeal – New Integrated
Programme Junior College

Background

We are parents of children who are enrolled in an Integrated
Programme (IP) offered collaboratively by three schools, namely
Catholic High School, CHIJ St Nicholas Girls' School and Singapore
Chinese Girls' School. This programme was announced by MOE in a press
release on 1 Sep 2010. The schools have been recruiting and accepting
students into this programme for the last 3 years with the
understanding that the new JC will be in the Bishan vicinity.

On 13 April 2015, our families were shocked and utterly
disappointed to learn about the latest development: a) the completion
of the new JC facility would be delayed again by another one and a
half years till end 2019 because of a "new LTA requirement". b)
the holding site for the new JC would be changed from ITE Bishan to
the old RJC at Buona Vista .

Our Disappointment

We and our children feel betrayed. The IP programme for these 3
schools was announced on 1 Sep 2010. For some years now, we have
already been made aware of the location and design of the new JC; it
is to be a multi level facility integrated to Bishan Park at the
junction of Sin Ming Ave and Marymount Road. We are now told the
campus will only be completed in end 2019 and students can only use
the school in 2020. Our boys and girls in Year 2 and 3 will not even
get to use this new campus. This is because of a "new LTA
requirement".

Many parents and their children had made their choice of school on
the promise of a new campus as well as the convenience of the
location. We dutifully listened to the Education Ministry's advice
to enrol our children in a nearby school. Now we are told to
understand and to accept the delay of the new building for a second
time and given a holding site that entails a long commute to and from
our homes.

Our Request

PM Sir: we are compelled to write to you as it is now a
cross-government agency issue.
Our plea is to have the new JC building back on its original
timeline. It has already been 5 years. According to URA master plan
2013, the land had been set aside for an educational institution. Why
is LTA now coming in to impose new restrictions causing the delay?
Can we not do away or relook at the importance of this "new LTA
requirement"? We are baffled as to why the authorities have not
monitored the progress more closely to ensure the planned timeline
was adhered to? We strongly feel students should not be penalized for
mistakes made by adults. It is not unreasonable to ask the agencies
involved to do the right thing and deliver what was promised.

However, given the efficiency in Singapore, we are optimistic that we
can still deliver the completed JC building by end 2017. Many larger
and more complex projects have been completed in lesser time.

Thank you very much for your time and kind attention to this
matter. We place our trust in you, confident that our government is
ever faithful in her promises.

Yours sincerely,

Parents of Students from
Catholic High School
CHIJ St Nicholas Girls' School
Singapore Chinese Girls' School