SECOND CHANCE TO SHINE

Would you give up after failing your O levels not once but four times?

Most people probably would, but not 2nd Warrant Officer (2WO) Bobby Lin. The 43-year-old now holds a Diploma in Business and Management Studies from Nanyang Polytechnic (NYP).

He was one of the 27 Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) Regulars from the pioneer cohort of the programme to graduate on 26 May.

Fully sponsored by the SAF, the two-year full-time course is for Warrant Officers and Specialists (WOSPECs), and Military Experts (MEs) who do not qualify for diploma programmes based on their grades alone.

It is an opportunity for late bloomers as their work experience is taken into consideration during admission. Students have to first undergo and pass a six-month part-time bridging course.

"I am really very proud because after so many years of struggles, I have gotten a diploma at last. It is a great, personal achievement," said 2WO Lin, a Command and Control Intel System (CSIS) Warrant in Headquarters, Army Intelligence.

2WO Lin obtained only three O level passes in secondary school in 1989. He had then enrolled in the now-defunct SAF Education Centre (SAFEC), where he did his Basic Military Training (BMT), and repeated his O levels without success.

Over the next few years, he attended night classes at the Institute of Technical Education in Clementi, but fell short in his third and fourth attempts. And his academic struggle continued when he started his studies in NYP in 2011.

"It was hard to study full-time again after so many years," said 2WO Lin. "But all of us (from SAF) here helped each other with our own strength. Some of us are good in IT (Information Technology), while others were better in Finance or English or in studying techniques."

As for Staff Sergeant (SSG) Dileep Naidu Muthusamy, being able to graduate meant never having to feel embarrassed about his lack of academic qualification again.

The 26-year-old had once told his friends and neighbours that he was a diploma holder when in fact he only had four O level passes.

"I had low self-esteem then," said SSG Dileep who enlisted in 2006 when he was only 17 years old. "Back in those days, if you told someone that you joined the Army with only four O level passes, he probably would think that you couldn't have gone anywhere else."

Today, SSG Dileep, now armed with his diploma, can hold his head high.

Said the Node Warrant of Trunk Communications Company in 17th Command, Control, Communications, Computers, and Intelligence (C4I) Battalion: "I have always believed that having an education will open up my perspectives."

Besides obtaining knowledge in human resources, entrepreneurship, finance and management, the graduands got to hone their public speaking skills through the numerous presentations in project works.

NYP lecturer Lau Tong Yen was in awe of how the Regulars had performed in her Business Process and Project Management module.

"The class impressed me greatly with their challenging questions, the quality of the reports written and the presentations delivered," she said.

SSG Dileep added: "I have developed this new ability to structure my thoughts, I find that I can now communicate better in my work."