All seemed bleak when he first scored an aggregate of 187 points for his Primary School Leaving Examinations. Here, he moved onto the Normal Academic Stream, attaining 21 credits for his O’ Levels - securing himself a spot to pursue a diploma in Republic Polytechnic. Today, Luke Robert Parimanam is an accomplished individual pursuing his degree at a local university.
24 year old undergraduate Luke Robert serves as a testament to the fact that perseverance and self-belief are inalienable traits that one has to embody to attain the seemingly impossible.
Luke recalls the year 2000 as a year of dejection, citing his PSLE score of 187 as the main factor for his downcast esteem during that period. Dejection was to hit home again as he sat for his O level examinations 5 years later, scoring 21 points despite being a hard working individual. Not one to be deterred by minor setbacks, he enrolled himself into a sports diploma in Republic Polytechnic and attained a whopping GPA of 3.52 at the end of his 3 year stint. The result? A seat to pursue a business degree in Singapore Management University, a distinguished educational institution that most junior college students find difficult to enroll into, let alone an aspiring polytechnic graduate.
Today, he is a first year student pursuing a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Management at the prestigious Singapore Management University.
Not one to live off the crumbs of others, Luke Robert not only designed the concept for both of the books he wrote, he also set up his own publishing company under the name of Heaven and Hell Studios.
“My years at Republic Polytechnic instilled in me the learning that it is only through solving problems systematically and without fear that one becomes accustomed to success,” says Luke with a burst of confidence.
This year culminates the 10th anniversary of Singapore’s youngest polytechnic, Republic Polytechnic. It first raised eyebrows in the academic fields in 2002 when it adopted the PBL(Problem-Based Learning) approach to learning – inducting itself as the first educational institution in Singapore to do so.
Everyday, students are tasked with a problem for the day by a facilitator who helps facilitate and not spoon-feed students towards their learning objectives. Students are then grouped into clusters of 5 where they learn to work with each other and derive a solution which is presented before the entire class, before the end of the lesson.
It was this method of independent learning and self-determination that appealed to him most, attests Luke.
“In usual classroom circumstances, we are told to sit before a lecturer and listen attentively. However, in RP, we were encouraged on a daily basis to self-direct our learning by sharing thoughts and opinions with each other. I can safely say that the PBL method of learning eradicated the word, “Impossible” from my mental dictionary. As long as I could imagine it, it was possible.” says Luke.
He first discovered his flair for writing during his freshmen year in Republic Polytechnic and he conceptualized and wrote his first book installment : GENESIS in a short span of 2 years.
Followed shortly was APOCALYPSE, his second book installment which he wrote and published during his stint in National Service. Despite being turned down by 15 publishing companies who branded him as “amateur” and “inexperienced”, he remained undeterred.
Not one to give up, Luke invested $12,000 of personal savings as capital towards the setting up of his own publishing company.
He released both books on the numerically stupefying date of 11.11.11 last year.
Currently, both books are available at Kinokuniya and Times bookstores across the island.
Despite being swamped with academic commitments as a university student, Luke has begun undertaking writing duties for his 3rd book which he hopes to release this year on the 12th of December 2012 (12.12.12).
“Republic Polytechnic is a considerably young institution when compared to other polytechnics. We might not share the same tradition and history as the other polytechnics but developing strong potential in students like Luke remains as one of our core beliefs.” lauds Republic Polytechnic principal Mr. Yeo Li Pheow.”
Translated from Tamil Murasu’s 9th February 2012 issue.
Original Article written by: Pandiyan
Translated by: Prabhu Silvam
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