"He really tahan with me for those few months even though I was very bad and always never wake up."

Image provided by Izz.

Izz took his 'N' Levels as a private candidate with support from Impart last year.

Tell me about your tutor.

"He’s a very nice guy lah, he really tahan with me for those few months even though I was very bad and always never wake up. I would sleep very late because I was playing with my friends all night. He would come at 8 or 9am but I couldn’t wake up, so when I was very sleepy I would ask him to go back. But he would still stay and ask somebody to wake me up because he knew it was important for me to take my N’Levels.

I could see him trying to get to know me more. I stopped school when I was Sec 3, so I really missed a lot of things. He had to teach things from A-Z, but he gave me break time to stop and take a smoke so I wouldn’t be very tired during lessons. We would stop studying to talk to each other about life, and he would get to know me more. I would learn about him and he would learn about me. The last few days with him were one of the most memorable – he brought me to Starbucks to study, and he told me he was going overseas for a teacher posting with MOE. He said he wouldn’t be able to tutor me anymore and he wished me all the best for my exams.

Until I met him, I didn’t really think that studying was important. Now, I know that it’s important for my future, so I continue going to school. I’m now in my second year at Mechanical Technology at ITE. They almost kicked me out, but I tried to come to school every day. I have to work and study and manage my family all at the same time, but I tahaned, went to school and tried to study. In six weeks, I will graduate."

Is there anything you want to say to people like you who are in the middle of exams?

"People can help you, but it’s useless unless you help yourself. I realized that when I saw that I had people who didn’t give up on me. These people at Impart, and other people saw that my future can be very bright. They showed me that there was no point wasting my life and because they believed in me, I wanted to prove them right. Just never give up lor."