THEY came to Singapore thinking that they would get challenging jobs as part of their university work attachment programmes.

The students had signed up with various recruitment agents in their home countries, through their universities, to arrange for their six-month work attachments in Singapore.

But when they got here, they found themselves crammed with 21 others in a small dormitory about the size of two rooms in a Housing Board (HDB) flat.

And the jobs that these university undergraduates got: Salesgirls at boutiques and servers at hotels and restaurants.

Used to their middle-class lifestyle back home, the undergraduates from Indonesia and the Philippines are finding it tough settling in.

The dorm in Tanjong Katong Road, which belongs to Katong Hostel, has 11 bunk beds, with only half a metre of space between them.

Students we spoke to at the dorm had the training work permit required by the Ministry of Manpower, which allows them to work here.

The students asked that their real names not be used.

Miss Em-Jei, whose grandfather is a diplomat, said she did not expect things could turn out this way in Singapore, one of the world's top cities.

She said she had been told by her lecturers and the recruitment agent that she would be living in a dormitory.

But the 22-year-old did not anticipate sharing a small dormitory with 21 others.

"I feel like a squatter," Miss Em-Jei said.

It is not just the lack of privacy.

She was also bitten by bedbugs several times, and had ugly red swells all over her body, she said.

"Inside the room, there are bedbugs. Outside, there are cockroaches and rats," she added.

The students complained to the management, but they said nothing has been done.

Miss Em-Jei said: "It is sad and depressing here. I have been crying a lot. I arrived, thinking Singapore is so modern and clean, but here, it's like a slum."

HOPES DASHED FOR NOW

The girl, who is a final-year student in management and marketing, is now working as a salesgirl in a boutique in town, for an allowance of $550 per month.

She said she works six days a week, from 11am to 9pm each day.

She had signed up voluntarily for the work attachment programme from a bulletin she had seen at school.

She said: "Several students who have been to Singapore for work attachments were later able to find work here, so I thought this would be good for my future."

On her job as a salesgirl, Miss Em-Jei said: "At first, I was just folding clothes. I understand that it is part of familiarising myself with the products."

Later, she was transferred to another location where she got to interact with customers and she felt better.

"But after a while, I found that working as a salesgirl has little relevance to my studies in management and marketing," she said.

"I came here expecting to learn and have cultural exchange. You do not need a degree to be a salesgirl," she said.

Another student, Miss Memei, 20, who is working as a waitress at a hotel, said she, too, had problems adjusting to the dormitory conditions.

"There are just too many people. It is impossible to get any sleep at night, because everyone has different schedules and there is always someone moving or talking or cooking," she said.

When contacted, the general manager of Katong Hostel, Miss Joyce Sim, said most of their international students stayed in double- or quarter-sharing rooms.

She said the dormitories were used only for summer camps.

At first, Miss Sim said there were no students staying in dormitory rooms. But when asked about the 22 students, she said they were different because they were students on training passes.

She added that there were no rats or cockroaches at their hostel, and bedbugs were caused by the poor hygiene of the students themselves.

CHARITY WORK FOR STUDENTS

The students on training passes, she said, are managed by their agent, who rented the room from Katong Hostel and paid the rental fees for them.

It works out to be $150 per student a month.

Miss Sim said that the students had at first been housed in dormitories for 10, but were later given two weeks' notice to move into the dormitory for 22.

She explained that as the trainee students all had different working hours, with many returning late, it was disruptive to the other international students.

She said that Katong Hostel has informed the agent that there are too many people in the room and it does not wish to continue housing the students.

However, the agent said he was unable to find alternative accommodation for them, and it was an expensive option to rent rooms in HDB flats.

The agent, who would give his name only as Simon, said he was also the students' guardian.

He said: "These girls are lucky compared to other foreign workers. There are people sleeping at bus stops.

"I am doing charity work here. I am not earning a single cent from the girls."

He claimed that he was doing a favour to the recruitment agents in Indonesia and Philippines by arranging for training jobs for the students with his clients in Singapore, who are in the hospitality and food and beverage industries.

He declined to name his clients.

He said he would send the 22 students back to their countries within a week, since he cannot find them another place to stay.

This article was first published in The New Paper on June 1, 2008.