Free assessment books up for grabs at West Coast Lane is thoughtful gesture by 2 kids

Nathaniel Fetalvero
The New Paper
April 18, 2024

A local resident has been offering free assessment books to schoolchildren outside his home.

Stomper Mr H was walking along West Coast Lane when he saw a couple of styrofoam boxes outside of one of the houses. Curious, he took a look inside.

“There were brand-new assessment books. Several copies of them,” said Mr H.

“Homeowner seemed to be giving them out for free. I assume he is targeting nearby Qifa school kids who walk along this street to and from school.”

The Stomper added that he later saw schoolchildren from Qifa Primary School helping themselves to the assessment books.

TNP reached out to the resident of the house that the books were placed in front of and found it was owned by Mr Ken Yeo. However, he said it wasn’t his idea to put the books outside of his home but his children's.

The 51-year-old, who founded Unmanned Free Food Pantry, acquired the assessment books through a donation from local publisher Hodder Education to the pantry in late 2022.

“We were delighted, and slowly distributed them in a calibrated manner,” said Mr Yeo.

He thought the books had all been distributed until his kids, Kaylea and Jerald, rediscovered them while spring cleaning.

“Since Qifa Primary School is nearby and many students walk this road on their way home, we thought we could just put some boxes out to let them have free access to assessment books to help them in their revision,” 11-year-old Jerald told TNP.

The boxes were set up outside the Yeo family’s residence last week and about 25 books are picked up by the pupils daily, according to Mr Yeo.

Although the family has not spoken to any of the pupils who have taken the assessment books, 13-year-old Kaylea said she knew the gesture was making a positive impact.

“Not everyone can have that much money to buy so many assessment books and even if you have some money, one or two assessment books is not enough because you need constant practice,” she said.

To the pupils, Kaylea wants tell them to “study hard for PSLE and have a great future”. 

“I’d like to ask them what’s their weakest subject and tell them to take more assessment books from that subject to strengthen their knowledge,” Jerald told TNP.

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