Minister Chan Chun Sing shares how students reacted when facing difficulty accessing Student Learning Space system

The first day of classes moved to full home-based learning (HBL) hardly went smoothly, as some students had trouble accessing the Student Learning Space (SLS) system on Wednesday morning (19 May).

All primary and secondary schools, junior colleges and Millenia Institute, as well as special education schools, moved to full HBL from 19 May to 28 May, amid the evolving new strains of COVID-19 in Singapore.

In a Facebook post yesterday, the Ministry of Education (MOE) said that it has “immediately activated additional system resources” after it was made aware of a “slowdown” in the SLS system.

“As at 9.30am, teachers have reported that the system is back on track,” said the Ministry, before offering an apology to those who were affected.

Following that, newly-appointed Education Minister Chan Chun Sing shared on Facebook an “interesting story” from a teacher on how three students reacted when facing difficulty accessing the SLS system yesterday morning.

Mr Chan, a former Minister for Trade and Industry, took over the MOE on Saturday (15 May), following the cabinet reshuffle announced by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong on 23 April.

The first student said that he would “go and do something else” until the system is back on track.

The second student told the teacher that he wanted to be an IT engineer in the future, so that he can fix IT problems.

“A third said he would complain to MOE (or was it to the Minister?),” he wrote. “I wonder what proportion of the students gave which answer.”

Nevertheless, Mr Chan believes that yesterday’s issue of accessing the SLS system is a reflection of “tenacity”.

“If despite our efforts and things still don’t go smoothly, may we not let circumstances define us but let our responses define the outcome,” he remarked.

Speaking to parents on Thursday morning (20 May), the SLS system is working fine.