Private tutors, including for needy students, may be supplanting teachers' role

The growing prevalence of private tutoring has implications for mainstream schools and teachers.

- Jason Tan

In early October, a global survey by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development revealed that teachers in Singapore worked longer hours and were more likely to report feeling stressed compared with the global average.

I had an epiphany when the news broke.

A few weeks before that, an acquaintance told me that some of her pupils had skipped the optional Primary School Leaving Examination English language revision lessons she had organised during the September holiday period in favour of boot camps conducted by private tuition centres.

It made me wonder: Has tuition, once meant to supplement school, started to supplant it? And has that complicated the role of educators and our mainstream education system?

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Here is a first paradox: Singapore's education system is globally admired for its rigour and results. Yet, beneath that success runs a parallel track: a vast network of private tutors, enrichment centres and, now, exam boot camps that increasingly shape what and how students learn.

The growth is hardly unique to Singapore.

Professor Mark Bray, a leading expert on comparative education who has written on the idea of "shadow education", has cited industry estimates that private tutoring globally will hit US$288 billion (S$374 billion) by 2030, up from US$159 billion in 2023.

In Singapore, its prevalence is particularly striking. A survey conducted by The Straits Times and research firm Nexus Link a decade ago found that nearly eight in 10 primary school parents and more than six in 10 secondary school parents engaged private tutors.

These percentages have likely increased since then, in line with generally rising enrolment rates globally. The latest Household Expenditure Survey showed $1.8 billion was spent on tuition in 2023.

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