COVID-19 numbers have risen exponentially this year, running in at almost 3000+ Diagnosis a day, ICU has more than 60% Utilisation rates and Death Rates are steady at a minimum of 10 a day. Stress and Anxiety levels climb alongside the rising infection rates. The future is uncertain and the school has made no efforts to address the concerns faced by students. I urge students to stand up and make their voices heard, not just in SMU but in the other schools as well. 

During the first wave of COVID-19 cases, the school promised that it has since learnt from the process and evolved to meet the needs of students. Unfortunately, the last year has only proven that the opposite is true. 

Before coming into this year, the school required all Y2 and above SCIS Students to complete Computational Thinking, the flagship core course of SCIS students and known as one of the most intensive courses for SCIS, alongside this Y2 students had to take pre-assigned mods and Y3 students had to complete 2 project heavy mods. There was no room for discussion and SCIS students felt that as long as the cases remained low during that time, any group work could be easily split between 6 people. However, since the Term started the school announced that groups have to be capped at 5, whilst, the Government announced that a maximum of 2 people can dine out. As the cases increased, the school put a limit on the number of people allowed within each GSR, placing a further obstacle to group as students are limited to only working online. 

Mid way through the term, while cases were steadily climbing, the school announced that physical classes were back on, and proceeded to send a list of courses where students were required to return for physical class, and just a week before the official restart of Physical class, the school sent another email cancelling the original plan to restart physical classes. This caused unnecessary anxiety and fear because the Delta variant had just been discovered, had the school learnt from the initial waves of COVID-19 they would have stuck to their decision instead of consistently changing and providing last minute information to students.

Planning for Mid Terms were no better, because of the sudden changes, many mid terms dates were shifted and yet project deadlines remained the same, causing an overlap in submissions, further adding to the workload of students. Many students were unable to cope with the amount of changes and eventually sort to online avenues to vent their frustrations, such as SMU Confessions.

Now that Finals have come around and the cases peaked at ATH last week (5,000+) cases, the school has just sent an email that Finals will be conducted on Campus to prevent cheating. At this point, it should become apparent even to the blind that the school's priority is student's grades as a proof of their success during COVID-19 above student's mental well-being.

Many students live together with the vulnerable group at home in close quarters. A room full of 40 people adhering to Social Distancing measures do not mean that the rest of Singapore who use the same public transport during those times would also adhere to the same social distancing measure. If 1 student were to fall ill, it would mean that the other 40 would have the potential of becoming carriers of COVID-19. ART is also by no means a fun nose picking experience, for students suffering from sensitivity it can be quite a painful experience that can last a day or 2, which can be very disruptive. Not to mention ART tests are only 82% accuracy rates.

Counter Arguments that I've seen online:
Students fail to adapt to circumstances and are using SU as an excuse to rescue their grades
Response:
Not everyone has a privileged environment to resist the rising amount of community transmitted cases. Lower privileged students studying at home have to live with constant disruptions that arise from their environment around them (Neighbours, etc)

COVID-19 and crippling mental health has been around more than just this year
Response:
That is indeed true, but the difference between this year is that the cases are now an all time high, there is no longer the safety net that you might not be a carrier. Especially when the virus transmits faster in cooler and crowded spaces. Furthermore, even with vaccinations, it does not mean that the Elderly are totally protected against COVID-19. Over time the effectiveness of the vaccines gradually drop https://www.latimes.com/science/story/2021-11-04/study-shows-dramatic-decline-in-effectiveness-of-covid-19-vaccines . There has also been the problem of isolation, previously, we could still meet in school and gather outside but now there are restrictions in place for that. On top of that, only this year there has been constant changes being dished out on the fly by the school. These changes are by no means minor changes and these changes require student to make significant adjustments to mentally prepare themselves or readjust.

SU is just a way for failing students to push up their grades
Response:
No one is forcing you to SU and SU doesn't give you better grades. Students who do generally worse during COVID-19 are students who do not have the proper study environment. They are unable to cope with the stresses of isolation and the lack of avenue to substantial financial aid (Like part time work) to supplement these shortcomings. These students are by no means slackers and I've personally met a few who are extremely hard working but because of their current predicaments, they are unable to fully concentrate on their studies causing a vicious cycle in their grades and their own mental health.

But lazy students can act as less privileged students and use this opportunity to help themselves.
Response:
Lazy students already do badly, even before COVID-19 one more SU isn't going to magically pull their grades up. This will only benefit students who have fallen into desperate situations during this year that made it almost impossible to concentrate in class, such as family members falling ill or testing positive. This is the equivalent of saying if you stain your precious items, you throw it away.

Update: 07112021

If you don't have a conducive environment, then all the more we should have Exams in School. 
Response:
That would be okay if the cases were low, keep in mind that cases are at all time highs now, if I had to choose between Online Exam and increased chance of spreading COVID to my loved ones, I would definitely choose Online Exam even if it may be less conducive and I will definitely not score as well as if I were to take it in school. In this case, the school has made many changes without consulting the students first, and because the changes had a negative impact they decided to backtrack on their decision; this constant back and forth with decisions has caused stress and anxiety on students who have to make arrangements catering to these needs, hence SU would be an easier decision since students can choose the mods they want to SU. 

Physical Exams will prevent cheating
Response: The dual camera system with lockdown seems more effective because there is a recording. The Zoom camera has audio recording, so you can't have someone feed you answers, Lockdown prevents multiple screen set ups, and the questions set by professors for exams are inference questions not memory work. Even with Physical Exams, there is no gurantee that the student won't cheat, if they want to cheat, they will always find a way.