We Are Not Swayed By Ads, Say Parents Who Get Tuition For Their Kids

Some tuition centres promise the moon about what their programmes can do, while others predict doom for students who do not get their help, but many parents are not biting.

- Elisha Tushara

The Straits Times spoke to more than 15 parents, who said that advertising is not what spurs them to get tuition for their children or to choose a particular centre or tutor.

Instead, their reasons include helping their children in their academic areas of weakness, increasing their exposure to a second language, and giving them an added push before the year-end or other national examinations.

Mr Ron Tan, 40, a legal counsel, said that both his pre-schoolers, aged four and six, attend weekly lessons at Berries, a Chinese language centre, to prepare them for mother tongue lessons when they eventually enter primary school.

"Berries does not advertise. (Its reputation) is (spread) usually by word of mouth, which is how we got to know of it," he said.

Apart from the curriculum, he enrolled his children at the centre because it is close to his home and the timing of the classes suits his family's schedule.

Mr Zuriel Zhuo, 44, said his two sons have had Chinese language tuition since they were in lower primary school. His elder boy, a 16-year-old Secondary 4 student, has been taking online Chinese lessons since he was in Primary 2. His Primary 5 son, 11, has been attending Chinese classes at Mavis Tutorial Centre since he was in Primary 1.

Asked why he picked Mavis Tutorial, which has been around since 1986, he said: "It's not because of the advertising. My wife was a former student, and she had a good experience. So she decided to place him (the younger son) there."

He decided that his sons needed extra Chinese lessons as schools were limited by the number of classes they could hold to raise students' exposure to the language, said Mr Zhuo, a homemaker.