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SINGAPORE: He was once a thug who toyed with weapons, exchanged blows in gang fights, got wasted on drugs, and earned pocket money by terrorising vendors.
But on Thursday, 21-year-old Lim Kah Loke joined hordes of sweaty-palmed 17-year-olds around Singapore in the wait for their O-Level results.
The former delinquent, who was released just last February after two years in the Changi Reformative Training Centre, said that most of his former gang members are now in jail, and he did not want to end up roaming the streets or squatting in a jail cell all his life.
"Joining a gang is not the solution because none of us can really prove that that's the way," said the aspiring musician, who has immediate plans to go into an engineering course in a polytechnic after obtaining three passes in his O'Levels. "Peer pressure is really strong but you have got to do what is right and never give up on your future."
Similar to him, his classmates at the City Harvest Education Centre (CHEC) are youths who have walked the uncommon paths but have strived to excel despite challenges.
Another graduate, Sam Chiew Han, a lively and outspoken 19-year-old, also took her second shot at O-Levels last year.
Despite good grades in a mainstream school three years ago, Sam felt that the syllabus was not challenging enough and would skip school to read books in Borders bookstore.
"I had no direction and I didn't know where I was heading, so I quit school after Secondary Three," said Sam, who worked in the Factory Outlet Store (FOS) shortly after for S$4.50 an hour.
Strangely enough, while it was books that got her out of school, they were also the main reasons why Sam decided to go back to school.
"I love Manga. And I love writing," she explained, while proudly pointing out her Manga paintings in her portfolio. "I need to be good in English so that in future, I can draw, write, and produce my own Manga. And without an O-Level certificate, I cannot go to design school."
While the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts (NAFA) is her immediate route to a great graphic artist, Sam has her sights on bigger things. She hopes to enroll in top design schools in the United States for her degree, and work in Japan in future to produce top notch Manga for comic lovers around the world.
"As you can see, these students are capable of doing well in life," said Jelaine Ang, a Marketing Communications Officer at CHEC. "They may have made a mistake but all they need, really, is a place where they can have a second chance to get it right."
Set up in 2002, the CHEC is a non-profit organisation which offers wayward youths another chance in the race for paper chase.
This year is the best performing year yet for CHEC - with its top student, 24-year-old Jonathan Soh, scoring a total of five distinctions.
- CNA/yb
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