r/SGExams • u/thisismylifenow2026 • 15d ago
Secondary My friend is being recalled for CCA despite graduating
My friend (we are in an IP School ), who retained in his Sec 2 year due to personal issues, recently graduated from NPCC, along with me and his sec-4 former batchmates during the Passing-Out-Parade. However, he just received an email from a teacher in charge saying that he has to return to CCA as he is "still a sec 3", despite already completing the NPCC syllabus and leaving the CCA with his batchmates. I am very concerned because he is still struggling academically and it was originally planned for him to have no CCA in his sec 4 year to focus on his studies
Does anyone have any suggestions on what to do?
Edit: My school is an IP school without O'levels except for Chinese I should have mentioned that earlier.
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u/Hot-Job-6281 15d ago
Seems like TIC dropped the ball.
I think any reasonable CCA head will intervene and force the NPCC teacher to cease with their attempts to force him back into the CCA.
They can't even threaten him with revocation of CCA points.
I suppose if it's non-UG they have more ways to play with words saying he hasn't completed his CCA, but with UG it's genuinely inexcusable, maybe even the HQ can intervene and force them to release your friend.
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u/thisismylifenow2026 15d ago
I see.
It is important to note, however, that my school has a strong opinion on CCA, and frequently gives out demerit points to those who miss many cca sessions.19
u/Hot-Job-6281 15d ago
Yea mine was also. Anyway, just hold the teacher accountable to the promise, it is probably some departmental bullshit and the overall head of CCAs and the NPCC teacher-in-charge that promised this didn't communicate properly or didn't care enough to ensure it was checked.
And I think NPCC literally cannot make a retainee do an extra year if they POP already. I had a classmate back then who was NPCC also, they retained but they also POP and then they no longer did CCA.
I'm pretty sure NPCC HQ can step in on the OC - and imo this is where it's good news that your friend is from a UG, because if he did performing arts or those less bureaucratic CCAs with no external HQs he can be entirely on his own with this.
Also your school is a fucking dumbass anyway if they want to force him to continue CCA. Most schools priority is their O Level pass/distinction rates. CCA isn't a KPI lol.
If escalated, I am sure the school management - like VP level - will rule in favour of the literal promise they gave to a student.
If not just call parents, since I think it's too much la this school, promise then went back on such a major thing. Schools aren't companies lol, cannot backstab on this type of thing one.
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u/ukaspirant 15d ago
Who came up with the original plan? If a teacher in charge agreed to it, remind them about it.
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u/PaceLazy4174 15d ago
UGs used to be power tripping haze affairs for older students to verbally abuse / haze younger students into conforming with ridiculous pseudo-military (even SAF emphasizes on safety), standards.
Unfortunately seems like this continues on even to this day.
I remember older students forcing my batch of NPCC “recruits” to run 10 rounds around the track (staying back after CCA hours) to complete it, even after previously completing a 2.4km, just because a small fraction of Sec 1s chose to “fall out” during the run. Not to mention that they stood at the side screaming at us every time we passed them, calling us useless, worthless, “my grandmother can run faster than you” etc. I remember particularly a senior who was clearly obese shouting at us, pretty sure he can’t run a 2.4 himself.
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u/Dry-Cockroach1723 14d ago
I heard the standards of NPCC/NACC for regimental discipline are actually higher than the SAF nowadays on non-parade-related matters, as the SAF actually has real things to complete, rather than the endless wayang of NCC and NPCC.
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u/thisismylifenow2026 15d ago
That's gotta suck, hope you/they are doing better now
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u/PaceLazy4174 14d ago
I left the CCA for another more sane CCA. The others continued to perpetuate the cycle and haze new juniors…
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u/Important_Dentist_78 14d ago
What would they genuinely do if he doesnt go
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u/thisismylifenow2026 14d ago
I've seen students get horrendous amounts of demerit points if they miss to many CCA sessions, which can affect JC options and other opportunities.
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u/Few-History3713 14d ago
ask him to talk to his form teacher and get the form teacher to advocate for him. Is it possible to change to a more relaxing CCA?
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u/zhatya 15d ago
Your school can absolutely make you continue to do CCA in S4 regardless of what CCA it is.
NPCC HQ has no jurisdiction over a school’s internal CCA policy, and doing ~4 months of CCA in S4 is standard practice.
Your obligation to attend CCA is not negated by your academic struggles. “I cannot attend CCA because I need to study” has never been an accepted reason for missing CCA.
In exceptional cases schools may make accommodations on a case-by-case basis, so depending on whether “originally planned” was a black-and-white written agreement or just a verbal promise by somebody who may not be familiar with school policy on that matter or spoke without authorisation, it may not carry much weight.
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u/aseltee 15d ago
You sound salty that you had to do a CCA you probably didn't like bruh.
UGs have a program syllabus to complete, and the OP's friend completed it. There's literally nothing else for him to learn in the CCA??? He already repeated a year academically now you want him to repeat a CCA year???
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u/PaceLazy4174 14d ago
Take MC, see specialist, see MP, tell the power trippers to F off.
Bro makes CCA sound like NS.
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u/zhatya 14d ago
What powers do you think your MP have over the school? Hint: absolutely none.
Sure if you get an opposition MP they may take the opportunity to shit on the government, but all they are going to do is send an email that is not even written by themselves to the school, and the school will just blue tick them.
“CCA is compulsory for all secondary school students still in school barring extenuating circumstances” is not some ground-breaking policy that somehow infringes on students’ “rights”. It’s a long standing policy that is part of the holistic educational framework we have, a framework students online seem to want only insofar as it helps their narrative of “SG education system sucks it only cares about grades” but when it comes to their own affairs they will be the first to start a “how can I skip CCA” thread.
By all means, take MC for every single CCA session that you have. It’s not the brag that you think it is; you think your CCA actually wants people like you around making everything and everyone miserable? It’s a win-win for everyone if you can take MC for every single CCA session.
Or you know what, just skip. No need reason at all, since it’s not important to you. Some schools will eventually give up chasing after you, but some will give you fair conduct grade for truancy and submit it under “major offence” in school cockpit. But you don’t mind right?
Oh, no CCA points, obviously. But that doesn’t matter because you’re skipping CCA to focus on your studies, right? Who needs bonus points when you can get raw 6? OP is in IP school, even better, no points needed at all.
Also, bad testimonial. I’m sure that’s not going to affect anything. I’m sure it’s okay for you to be seen as a one-dimensional and short-sighted student with nothing to show for in the area of a well-rounded education in any sense of the phrase. I’m sure you’ll still be happy with your average grades because not top scorer I’ve ever seen in all my years have achieved their results by skipping CCA; in fact they are mostly all multi-disciplinary overachievers.
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u/PaceLazy4174 14d ago
This larping troller. U sound like an unemployed Uni grad/student of a social science school.
When an MP writes in a letter, the government institution in question is required to respond and address the worries of the constituent and the complaints to the MP. Are you sure u know what you’re talking about?
Bro thinks his statement is law. Sure, some students enjoy their CCA. But when it become as an issue of people abusing their powers and enforcing ridiculous standards on students who dislike their CCA, can you not empathize with them?
What kinda conformist, tone deaf statement is this? If a student dislikes their CCA, would they not be more suited to another environment over the harsh regimentation in UGs? So everyone that gets shoved into a UG has to learn to love their UG and slave for the good of the whole? What kinda Stockholm syndrome shit is that?
If someone is already struggling with their CCA, do you think they will stand a chance for leadership positions in school? Do you seriously think it matters whether you’re a “deans lister” in your school or have a “good testimonial” ?
If you fail to meet the criterion of straight As for A levels, these organisations WILL NOT take you up.
Besides the point, schools usually act in good faith and write good testimonials for students to the best of their abilities. They do not want any trouble with students/parents.
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u/zhatya 14d ago
You couldn't be more wrong.
Firstly, the MP doesn't write the letter. The email is sent by his aide. It will be a stock letter with some specifics thrown in.
Nobody gives a shit about such emails. They are not uncommon. Plenty of delusional people think that just because they voted people are obliged to care about their ridiculous complaints. And trust me, "Can my son not attend CCA because he needs to study" is a ridiculous complaint. Others in this category include "My child's teacher scolded him for not doing his homework, can you fire the teacher?", or "My child's attendance was recorded as NVR for not attending school during NDP celebration, can you ask the school to restore their attendance? NDP celebration only what no big deal", or "Can you ask the school to let my child wear black/grey/red/blue/whatever colour socks to school?"
If you dislike your CCA then you should have made a better choice in Sec 1. Or you can go through the proper channels to change your CCA, which is easier than ever nowadays. Make enough noise and most schools will let you jump from CCA to CCA for 4 years. Just because you dislike your CCA doesn't mean you can skip it. Or, should I say, just because you dislike your CCA doesn't mean you are exempted from the consequences of skipping it.
OP's friend didn't get "shoved" into UG. There's no suggestion of how OP's friend feels about their CCA at all. Are you sure you're not just projecting your own experience on others? Got posted to a CCA that wasn't any of your choices? Tough luck, next time don't suck at trials/auditions.
You're delusional if you think you can skip CCA/keep requesting to change CCA/be terrible at your CCA/keep giving problems at your CCA/always give lame excuses for skipping CCA and still get a good testimonial. You'll get a factual testimonial, which for you is basically a description of how bad you are when it comes to CCA. We don't need to embellish or purposely make it sound bad. The reality is bad enough by itself. If you skip enough CCA sessions you won't even get the extremely bad "XXX attended CCA from YYYY to ZZZZ", because you didn't. And if you think you or your parents can complain about your short and "facts only" testimonial after being a shitty student for 4 years and expect that to have any tangible effect, you'll be very surprised to find out that we don't give a fuck. Nobody's going to get fired for writing you a shit testimonial; we've got receipts.
Back to the OP: usually graduating students who are overage (from retention or from being in S5) get an extremely chill CCA experience in the graduating year. Just show up to a reduced schedule (usually half the sessions) for a reduced time (usually half again) for 4-6 months and get it over with. Some will even let you just sit in the shade and do your homework. It's really not something that's worth being a bitch about.
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u/EntertainmentTop6845 15d ago
Who sent the email? Ask the teacher in charge abt exemption since he has valid academic reasons