Tuition: The Shadow Education Industry
Reliance on Tuition in Singapore
“Our education system is run on the basis that tuition is not necessary. Some parents believe they can give their children an added advantage by sending them to tuition classes, even though their children are doing reasonably well. We cannot stop them from doing so”, said Singapore’s Senior Minister of State for Education Indranee Rajah in a 2013 parliament session when questioned about the ‘shadow education system’ and its social impact. An analysis on the growing need for private tuition reveals a challenge facing Singapore’s policymakers: to continually defend the effectiveness of its education system or to acknowledge the ‘shadow education system’.
Ms Indranee believes that the current education system in Singapore is sufficient and that it is counter-productive for parents to send their academically-inclined children for tuition. Prof Bray (as cited in M.Nirmala, 2013), supports and agrees that Singapore has a good education system that delivers high-quality outputs. In fact, Singapore’s education system is ranked 5th in a global education survey, behind Finland, South-Korea, Hong Kong and Japan (Charissa, 2012). However, despite having a good education system, Singaporeans are still turning to private tuition. A 2012 Asian Development Bank report on tuition stated that over 90% of students in Singapore are enrolled in tuition centres and an estimated US$680 million were spent by parents annually on the engagement of tutoring services (as cited in Chua, 2013).
Mong (2013), in his article titled Singapore’s ‘Tuition Industrial Complex’, opined that there has been a shift in the perception of tuition in a way that tuition has evolved from being reserved for only the weaker students, to becoming ‘a compulsory service’ for almost all students. Many parents now deemed tuition to be necessary to give their children a competitive edge and are willing to pay the high cost as long as their children show improvements
“Our education system is run on the basis that tuition is not necessary. Some parents believe they can give their children an added advantage by sending them to tuition classes, even though their children are doing reasonably well. We cannot stop them from doing so”, said Singapore’s Senior Minister of State for Education Indranee Rajah in a 2013 parliament session when questioned about the ‘shadow education system’ and its social impact. An analysis on the growing need for private tuition reveals a challenge facing Singapore’s policymakers: to continually defend the effectiveness of its education system or to acknowledge the ‘shadow education system’.
Ms Indranee believes that the current education system in Singapore is sufficient and that it is counter-productive for parents to send their academically-inclined children for tuition. Prof Bray (as cited in M.Nirmala, 2013), supports and agrees that Singapore has a good education system that delivers high-quality outputs. In fact, Singapore’s education system is ranked 5th in a global education survey, behind Finland, South-Korea, Hong Kong and Japan (Charissa, 2012). However, despite having a good education system, Singaporeans are still turning to private tuition. A 2012 Asian Development Bank report on tuition stated that over 90% of students in Singapore are enrolled in tuition centres and an estimated US$680 million were spent by parents annually on the engagement of tutoring services (as cited in Chua, 2013).
Mong (2013), in his article titled Singapore’s ‘Tuition Industrial Complex’, opined that there has been a shift in the perception of tuition in a way that tuition has evolved from being reserved for only the weaker students, to becoming ‘a compulsory service’ for almost all students. Many parents now deemed tuition to be necessary to give their children a competitive edge and are willing to pay the high cost as long as their children show improvements
References: http://www.singapolitics.sg/views/tuition-popular-due-education-system-issues http://newslink.asiaone.com/user/OrderArticleRequest.action?order=&_sourcePage=%2FWEB-INF%2Fjsp%2Fuser%2Fsearch_type_result.jsp&month=09&year=2013&date=22&docLanguage=en&documentId=nica_ST_2013_29359276 http://thediplomat.com/2013/10/singapores-tuition-industrial-complex/ http://www.todayonline.com/singapore/mps-call-closer-look-private-tuition-industry-0 http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0011/001184/118486e.pdf http://www.straitstimes.com/microsites/parliament/story/tuition-not-needed-under-our-education-system-20130917 http://news.asiaone.com/News/Latest+News/Edvantage/Story/A1Story20121128-386380.html http://sg.news.yahoo.com/blogs/singaporescene/things-consider-sending-child-tuition-classes-102823408.html