Singapore Taekwondo Federation - 35 Joo Chiat Pl

i was one of the student in this school. great school then. i dont know now if still the same...

Very disappointed. My son, now 9 years old worked hard for 4 years to get his poom belt. On August 12, 2017, my son attended his Poom belt test held at the Singapore Cairnhill Community Centre and achieved a PASS grading. The grading was held by the Singapore Taekwondo Federation. It was stamped and certified on his report card. We have since moved from Singapore and enrolled him with a World Taekowndo Federation club in the United Kingdom, who is asking for his Poom belt certificate from the Singapore Taekwondo Federation. The instructor at our local club in Singapore told us that if he passed that they would send us his certificate and belt to our new overseas address if we can't pick it up. On September 10, 2017, my wife visited the club in Singapore (Lions Taekwondo Academy; Parkway centre) to pick up his Poom belt and certificate as we were instructed by the teacher at the club. When my wife arrived they changed their minds from what we were told up until the day of the test. Instead she was told that the Singapore Taekwondo Federation just changed their rules and the club will not issue the belt or certificate to any of the children until they take a second confirmation grading by their teachers because they changed all of the PASS gradings to a "PASS Provisional" grading. Of course we were no longer living in Singapore at the time and this was impossible to do. I contacted the General Manager at the Singapore Taekwondo Federation who refused to release the certificate because of the Provisional Pass on the grading card. Now we are in the United Kingdom and have found that the standards are different and our child needs to have a lot of book knowledge to include Korean to pass a written exam. In addition the physical and sparring standards even for kids is much harder in the UK than in Singapore for grading. The Singapore General Manager suggested that we get a UK grading referral (which must be within a 3 month period from the time of the Singapore grading) so he will then release the certificate. Unfortunately, the standards in the UK are such that it was impossible for my 9 year old son to complete after moving, normal school and Taekwondo. We are now stuck and my son discouraged and feeling cheated. If you are an expat in Singapore and will eventually move back to your country of origin, I'd suggest rethinking putting a lot of time and money into Taekwondo, unless it is just for fun. We are not happy.