I’m sure it’s a terrible feeling to be asked to repeat an academic year instead of being promoted to the next level. Some students never fully recover from the esteem-destroying act of having to stay behind while their friends advance.
Thus, when two repeat students (they already knew their fate) approached me at the end of last year, I took a sensitive approach to handling them as their morale was very, very low. One (boy) had to repeat Sec 4 (IP) and the other (girl) had to repeat Sec 3.
I coached them for most of December and intensively in Jan and Feb, and their results have been very encouraging. At this time last year both had failed their first math tests, but this time round, the boy had topped his class overall in math (taking into account 2 tests) and the girl had scored A1 in one test and a good pass in another.
I’m very proud of them that they have been able to put their past behind them and move on, successfully. We cannot change our past, but we can certainly influence our future. No time is a good time to give up on doing something that is good. Don’t give up learning and working hard towards a noble goal.
Rgds,
Ilyasa
