Dumping Their Child In School?

I have seen an increasing proportion of international pupils in schools nowadays & the primary school that I'm teaching in, is no exception. For these international kids, I see two distinct types - those that are strong in their subjects (sometimes even stronger than our local pupils) & those who are exceptionally weak in their language (especially English language).

In one P4 class that I used to teach last year (they were in P3 previously), I have noticed that half of the class are international students! I think probably about 17 out of 38 of them! In this class, there are pupils from (i) Vietnam, (ii) China, (iii) Japan, (iv) India, (v) Bangladesh, (vi) Thailand & (vii) Myanma. Its so diverse that I couldn't believe it... & I'm the co-form teacher of this class. These kids are playful, roudy, no interest in their studies, etc... but I find them a nice & friendly bunch... unless my other P4 classes. Aiyoh... headache...

What REALLY puzzles me is why do the parents of these international kids just fly from overseas into Singapore & drop off their child in a primary school, expecting the school to make a MIRACLE out of them! I have probably guessed that they wanted their child to go through the Singapore education system because it is sound & established... but the problem lies in that their child comes straight into P5 or P6 without knowing English!

Let's face the truth - if a child doesn't know how to spell, speak &/or write, they are REALLY going to have problems catching up in school. Its not that the school isn't able to help them... we can, but it takes TIME for a child to learn! I have two P6 pupils from China who are going to take their PSLE this year, but they are not even able to speak proper English! Furthermore, they can't spell & write properly either. Even when the child injures himself, he needed to ask for another boy to accompany him down to the general office, because he is not able to tell the office staff about what happened to him. This is dangerous! Isn't it? Aiyoh!

Personally, I think that these parents do not know that they are ruining their child's future because their child is not able to cope with all the pressure & pace of learning in school. I mean, let's face the truth - proficiency in a NEW language isn't learnt in a span of a few months! Even for an adult, it can be challenging... what more for a child?

Schools have a bridging program for these weaker international pupils (which is a good proactive effort) but would a few months be sufficient for them to pass their PSLE? Especially when there are local pupils who go through 6 years of primary school & STILL have problems passing their exams. I really don't know... but personally, I think its rather late to suddenly throw a child into P6, especially when he/she is very, very weak in English. Furthermore, this lack of proficiency would affect all their other English medium subjects too. SIGH... why...