'PSLE is not the end, it's the start': Teen shares his journey from scoring 174 to becoming a Gen Z tech entrepreneur
In a performance-driven society, sitting for a national examination can be unsettling.
The Primary School Leaving Examination (PSLE) is often viewed as a key milestone in shaping one's life — but Winston Ng refused to buy into that common narrative.
He scored 174 and enrolled in the Normal Academic stream at Greenridge Secondary School. Seven years later, the 19-year-old is now the CEO of an education technology company.
On Wednesday (Nov 24), Ng uploaded a video of his post-PSLE journey which has more than 86,000 views and 300 comments.
"PSLE is not the end, it is a start of a new chapter — your secondary school life," he wrote in the video.
[embed]https://www.tiktok.com/@w_nston/video/7034090363371523329?_d=secCgwIARCbDRjEFSADKAESPgo86V1RC9iSBRCFpmbN8oFW%2BERNYRnH4VKEF7YBOY[/embed]
"I worked hard in secondary school and made it to the A-level," he said.
In 2020, Ng founded his own company Finute while studying for his GCE A-level at Millenia Institute.
Finute merges education and play using technology to empower the next generation of learners. Since starting his own business, Ng has amassed a number of awards.
In May, together with a few companies, he received the National Youth Entrepreneurship Award for his contributions to Singapore’s startup ecosystem.
As CEO, Ng works with multinational corporations, small and medium-sized enterprises and government agencies.
This year, he collaborated with the government for the virtual National Day Parade (NDP) to keep celebrations going despite the postponement of the actual NDP. During a period of six weeks, his team and him would spend up to 15 hours daily on this project.
[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=besxrzrgTIs[/embed]
"Never would I have thought a 19-year-old can host Singapore's most important national event," Ng said.
On Ng's TikTok page, he has uploaded several videos from games he created that will resonate with the public.
There's a HDB role-playing game where you can play void deck football or block catching with friends. In Ng's secondary school game, you can relive your O-level experience in the school hall.
On Wednesday (Nov 24), the same date the PSLE results were released, many on TikTok shared their scores and what they're currently doing, encouraging students to not let results define them.
ALSO READ: New PSLE scoring system: 98.4% of students progress to secondary school
