A student steps onto the shoulder of a friend to scrawl "Boycott the examination" on the signboard of the Education Ministry.For some students, 1961 was a year wasted in school. Several hundred students of Chinese schools boycotted the Chinese Secondary Four examination.
The students were boycotting against the conversion of the 3-3 system adopted by Chinese-stream schools to the 4-2 system used in English-medium schools.
The government argued that the move would ensure conformity in all streams. This would help eliminate a serious anomaly in that the Chinese-medium Senior Middle Three Examination, taken after six years of secondary education, was only equivalent to the School Certificate examination which was taken after four years of secondary English-medium education
The Chinese-medium schools, however, felt that the 4-2 system (4 years secondary and 2 years pre-university) would deprive students of another two years of education. Unlike the 3-3 system (three years lower secondary, three years upper secondary), which guarantees a student of six years of education.
They also felt that they were entitled to continue with the "superior" traditional system as they already paid more attention to language.
The students formed human chains, in rows of five or six, and barricaded entrances with bicycles and tree trunks. They also locked up gates with bicycle chains.
Right from the start, it was obvious that parents were not going to stand any nonsense from the pickets. Parents would escort their children to the examination centres.
They either tried to talk their way in or brush aside the picket lines. Often, scuffles broke out.
During the boycott, 30 per cent of the students missed the examination.
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