By MP for Hougang SMC, Png Eng Huat
[Delivered in Committee of Supply on 6 March 2015]
Madam,
The Senior Minister of State for Education had said in this chamber that “our education system is run on the basis that tuition is not necessary.” I believe many parents would like to think so but the stark reality on the ground tells a very different story.
An opinion piece in the Straits Times on 24 September 2013 titled “Tuition too prevalent to ignore” cited sporadic but startling data on this issue. It was reported that the private tuition industry is a billion dollar industry and various polls suggest anything from 50 to 90 per cent of households here sent their children for tuition. That is a lot of households and money spent on something MOE thinks is not necessary,
And do we, as legislators, believe that tuition is not necessary under our education system as well? How many of us here in this chamber had put our children through tuition or are doing so right now?
Another article that ran on 30 October 2013 took an even stronger stand that tuition is popular because of issues in our education system.
I urge MOE to conduct a nationwide survey into the tuition culture. Such a survey could be easily done online or by giving each student a simple form to take home for the parents to fill up.
Madam, is MOE not curious enough to study why parents are sending their children for extra private lessons despite having access to one of the best education systems in the world? I am quietly confident the results of such a survey will help MOE decipher this great mystery about our tuition culture and perhaps it will also help formulate more effective policies not just for the students but for the teachers as well.
The “teach less, learn more” movement was started in 2006 to develop our students holistically beyond preparing for examinations. I am not sure how much lesser the schools are teaching right now but the perception on the ground is the students are learning more from tuition.