NDP

NDP rocks.

Yes, it does. It it taking up the whole life out of us.

What is, in your view, NDP? Does it appeal to you being cheered by the adoring audience, your fellow Singaporeans, shouting "ONWARD SINGAPORE!!"? Well, under all that swaying bright red sea of flags and banners is actually a lot of sweat, blood and flesh. We, the people who are going to perform and entertain you on the big day, are actually almost worked to death during the gruellling practices. The very people about to have their streaming this year.

This damned NDP have taken every Wed or Fri since March and at least 1 week of our holidays. And now even our school curriculum. Every Saturday during June when most of the nation's secondary 2 students can sleep right up to noon, we are at the National Stadium, running to and fro on the green field raising flags high in the air for at least 2 hours. Don't make me talk about the full day rehearsals. Ok, I know that since this is NDP, there will surely be sweat. You might even say that the Army guards, instructors, teachers-in-charge are all sweating it out, helping us to run this program smoothly. Ah, but they are paid. Money is a very big form of inspiration. Dont shit about money being unimportant, and the pride for our country is more important. No money = no you. And earning money is helping Singapore's economy anyway. Now what about us? Two measly CCA points for running and training for 5 months, and then performing for the country twice, once SYF once NDP. What shit is this. And they dont even do much anyway (teachers can slack because they do not need to teach) , aside from the instructors (they are paid a hell lot more than teachers). So why did we even choose to do this in the first place? Oh no, we did not even have a choice. Mr Foo simply decided one day: "Ah! I shall have my school to be in NDP! It will bring glory to the school, country and even give the students a whole new experience!" and then we had to do it. Sort of like God saying "Let there be light!" and there was light.

This is simply taking too much of our time. This starting week of the new term already has Mon, Wed, Fri, Sat all booked up for full day NDP rehearsals. That means we go to school on these days and get chartered to the National Stadium just to practice, from 10am right up to 7pm. Can you imagine? On school days we instead of having classes, go and run about the field to celebrate the country's birthday. And I expect those elite schools like Hwa Chong and Raffles would have enrichment classes while we were training for NDP during the holidays. I suppose the sec 1s shouldnt mind NDP too much. It is both an enriching and fun experience for them, plus they get 2 CCA points. They have too much time on their hands anyway. We, on the other hand, have our streamings to worry about. Ah. Hopefully, just hopefully, we will have enough time for studying. We might just adapt quick enough to balance the activities and our studies at the same time. Yeah, and I might even enjoy performing and quit school to join Tan Ah Kow's Dancing Troupe and eat nothing but tofu everyday.


Disclaimer: This post is absolutely fictitious, and any person or place described above that bears any similarity to that living, dead, demolished, undemolished is pure coincidence. I do not bear any responsibility for any influence of opinions the above has on anyone. Prone to grammar/spelling errors.