Many dedicated public officers work quietly behind the scenes, giving their best each day. Their efforts are not always noticed or recognised.
Was glad to read this post by MOE officer Kaliane d/o K. Sokalingham, who remembers helping a student in need and making a difference to her and her family. It is touching that the student’s family made the effort to keep in touch with her too.
I hope her story will inspire more public officers to look beyond routine responses and go the extra mile. Well done, Mdm Kaliane! :) – LHL
“When I was working at a secondary school, I attended to an application for financial assistance submitted by a Secondary One student. It was declined because her father’s salary exceeded the income limit allowed. As I noticed that the student’s mother was particularly upset by the rejection, I approached her to ask if she was all right.
She explained to me that she had been diagnosed with cancer. The family needed the financial assistance because most of her husband’s salary went towards her high medical bills. Moved by the family’s plight, I spoke to the school principal, who agreed to allow the use of the school’s advisory fund to help meet some of the girl’s education and transport expenses. No longer having to worry about the school expenses, the girl worked very hard and excelled in school.
After my transfer to MOE headquarters, she sent me a handwritten note. By that time, she had lost much of her eyesight due to her chemotherapy sessions, and I was very touched she took the effort to write the long note to me. She wrote that she was grateful to have met two people in her life whom she would never forget, and I was one of them. In her final stages of cancer, I visited her in hospital. When she passed on, her family invited me to her wake, because she ‘would have wanted me to be there’. I have never expected that my simple gesture could have touched their lives to such an extent.
It has been two years since the mother’s passing. The girl did well in school, is now working and we still keep in touch. It's the little things like these which keeps me going. I do not expect anything in return when I help others; after all, I am only doing my job. And ultimately, being able to help others is what makes me happy.”
Mdm Kaliane d/o K. Sokalingham
Senior Administration Support Executive, Service Strategy & Development Unit, Customer Services Branch
Ministry of Education
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